How to stop researching (or worldbuilding) and start writing
This is actually advice my mentoring professor gave me when I was writing my first thesis.
He said: Accept that you are never done. There is always more to know, more to research, more questions raised than answered. At some point, you just got to start writing.
Now, āeasier said than done, this acceptingā, I thought.
I started writing because my thesis deadline was looming. But what if youāre writing a novel and you have no deadline? How do you know when itās okay to stop researching? When is it okay to stop worldbuilding? (Which is just like doing research, but in your own head instead of in reality.)
My advice to you is: start writing, and youāll run into the gaps you still need to fill. Then you know what to research before starting your second draft. Let your story tell you what it needs.
Just fill your margins with a to-research-list for your future self.
That way, itās also managable: āI finished my first draft, and I have a list of 317 things I need to decide on.ā Instead of: āI saw on tumblr that you canāt build a world without knowing everything about the sewage system! And gosh, I havenāt invented three languages yet!ā
You donāt spend your time inventing things youāll like so much that you want to infodump them into your story.
You mainly research things that are relevant to your story.
Well, knowing you, you already researched enough irrelevant stuff too.
I hope this was helpful. Donāt hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!
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Tag list below the cut, a few people I like and admire and of course, you can be too. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.
titsay
kaledo-art
tangentwithtanner
pixelskylines
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
