For that reason, and because I like to be thorough anyway, I write all my characters very much as individuals, each with a different voice, a different way of talking and thinking, different concerns, different words uses – different styles entirely. It’s habit now (I’m writing the third book in a science fiction series).

Research is hugely important, too. Not just the technical side and expertise in the field, but the psychology as well, just as you said (bad guy psychology is good, too – and fun).

As for jumping into life – man! For me, martial arts was the big one. I wanted to learn how to write a fight scene accurately, but got so into it, I ended up teaching it for some years.

I also learnt to drive semi-trailers (articulated lorries), motorbikes, to fly ultralight aircraft, handle weapons, did a survival course and lived in the wilderness (literally no house) for five years. All either deliberately taken on or gladly accepted purely because it advanced my experiences and would help with my writing.

It not only did that, it all changed my life.

Cheers!

Allyson

It’s like cultural capital. We have to keep that also in mind when we write. Jim Carrey means nothing to me because he is locked into a certain set of cultural capital which I am vaguely familiar with. Jack Black? No blanking clue. Will Ferrell? British examples I might get. I may be American but I watch mainly British TV and movies.

Thanks you just inadvertently answered a question I was wondering about in my writing about using things that involve a certain amount of cultural capital to understand..