All language subtitles for Masterclass N. K. Jemisin Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing - 07.Worldbuilding Research

[MUSIC PLAYING]

N. K. JEMISIN: The
most useful thing

that any artist can
do to make themselves

a better artist is to simply be
open to the world around them.

Experience as much as you can in
every opportunity that you can.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

What I've kind of learned
about art from my father

or from other artists that
I kind of grew up around

is that it is on the artist
to experience as many things

as they can so that they can
accurately render the world.

The artist's job is to speak
truth, sometimes to power,

sometimes just to reality.

But your job is to speak
the truth about the world

as you see it.

Now, obviously,
you're a human being.

You're going to filter things
through your own perception.

That's unavoidable.

But you-- you want to speak
that truth honestly otherwise.

You want to try and make
sure that you're not

letting stereotypes or
shorthand thinking interfere

with your ability to--

to absorb the world.

That is your job as an
artist is to perceive and--

and interpret.

Research in worldbuilding is
probably my favorite part.

So I'm going to try really hard
not to get, like, super giddy

and excited when
I talk about it.

But I'm probably going
to do that anyway.

Research is the
thing that you're

going to do to try and make
sure that your fiction is

as plausible and accurate
as you can make it.

If it's set in a real-world--
real-world place,

then you should try
and visit that place.

If it's based on realistic
people or real-world people,

you either need to read
some books about this people

or research their history
or both, or talk to them.

But if it involves
travel, it's--

that's when it gets fun.

You can first and
foremost consider research

to be part of the cost of
doing business as a writer.

You can deduct it
from your taxes,

or you can deduct part of a
family vacation from your taxes

if you are doing research
as part of that vacation.

You can do a whole trip
that's nothing but research

and then deduct the whole thing.

You need to talk to your
accountant about that,

but you can.

It can be helpful in terms of--

of detail and sort
of place setting

for you to have a conversation
with a subject matter expert

before you've started writing or
in the early stages of writing.

It can help you sort of rule out
lines of exploration or paths

that your story might
have gone down that really

aren't realistic or won't work.

But the crucial piece, the
place where you absolutely

have to incorporate
subject matter experts,

is after the book is finished
but before publication.

So what I usually do is
I'll finish a first draft

or sometimes the second draft.

My-- my raw draft I
call the zeroth draft.

That's the one with lots
of brackets and holes

in it, lots of misspellings.

It's terrible.

No one can see that but me.

[LAUGHS] The first draft
is the one that's actually

legible for other people.

So in a lot of cases, I will
then reach out to experts

that I've either found,
or I'll ask around

until I can find more,
and then I will ask them

if I can engage them as a
sensitivity reader or a subject

matter expert.

For example, for my latest
book, "The City We Became,"

I wanted to visit
the city of San Paulo

because the city of
Sao Paulo is actually

a character in the novel.

But for various reasons, I
couldn't travel at that time.

I had a friend, though,
who was Brazilian

and who was from Sao Paulo,
and I was just kind of like,

can I just run this past you?

And I offered to pay her because
that was her expertise that she

was willing to share with me.

And you know, so
we first negotiated

how much it would cost for me to
have her read this entire novel

and give her opinion on whether
I had accurately captured

the character of Sao Paulo.

And actually, she threw
in not just a critique

but a plate of brigadeiro, which
is a delicious sweet that I

absolutely loved.

And she knew this.

But anyhow-- but we
negotiated it first,

and then she actually
read the whole book for me

and gave me some notes.

Something as simple as
the fact that there's

a reputation for Sao
Paulo people, Paulistanos,

that they are very hard
working and that they--

they're very business oriented,
I had no idea about that.

That's not something you
can get from a travel guide.

So you have to talk to
somebody who's been there

if you can't go there yourself.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

All artists period learn
from every single experience

that they can.

If you have the
opportunity to travel,

if you are privileged enough
to be able to actually do so,

then every single
experience you ever have

will feed into your
writing, whether you

intend for it to or not.

For "The Broken
Earth Trilogy," I

wanted to learn more
about seismology

in general and volcanoes
and ash and things like that

in particular.

I had watched videos of
Mount St. Helens eruption

during my research phase.

And there are a
lot of home videos

from that period of
people, you know,

kind of grainy on-- on old
cameras but still accurate,

of how dark the sky got and
when the ash was falling

and what ash fall looked like.

So I could kind of
see the visuals of it.

But I needed to touch ash,
and I needed to smell ash.

And I needed to kind of
do more to immerse myself

in that setting.

So I went to the Big
Island in Hawaii,

which is composed of
four different volcanoes.

The whole island
chain sits or was

produced by a giant hot spot
that that part of the crust

has moved over.

So I'd researched it, and
I knew a lot about it.

But I hadn't actually
seen and touched it.

So I went there, and I
spent four days there.

Because at the time, I
had a day job and not

a lot of vacation time.

And I visited all four
volcanoes during that time.

I did a helicopter tour
at one point of Puu Oo.

I hope I'm pronouncing
that correctly.

The helicopter operator
decided to bring the helicopter

to hover directly over the
volcano because I was nauseated

and was about to throw up.

And he was like, if
you're going to throw up,

throw up into the volcano.

And I'm like, this is the worst.

Why do I have such terrible
luck with tour guides?

But anyway, it was fun once
I got back on the ground.

What I will sometimes do
after an experience is

that I'll go back, and I'll
write about it, you know.

I tried to put myself into
it as much as possible.

But I-- I do kind of believe--

and this is a personal thing.

I'm not necessarily
recommending it.

But I believe that the
true value of those kinds

of experiences is
their ephemerality,

is the fact that you've--

you know, you've never done
anything like it before.

You probably won't do
anything like it again.

You're there in the moment.

The photos aren't going to--

to help it carry along with you.

The experience itself will.

I will never forget what
that volcano smelled like.

And I will never forget
getting close enough

to poke some lava with
a stick and seeing

how viscous it was
and sort of feeling

the texture and
the heat from it.

Those are the experiences
that I was there to capture.

And memory is best
for that to me.

You might want to look
into organizations

that can help fund any
travel that you want to do

and front the
upfront cost of it,

for example, The Speculative
Literature Foundation,

where I won a travel grant
which allowed me to go

to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The most useful
thing that any artist

can do to make themselves
a better artist

is to simply be open to
the world around them.

Try not to make assumptions.

Try not to form hypotheses or
presuppositions about anything

that you're encountering.

When you meet
another person, try

not to make any kind
of judgments about them

based on how they look
or act or whatever.

Try to just simply
talk to them, and get

to know them, and
genuinely listen to them.

If you are traveling
into any space,

even in your own neighborhood,
walk around at some point.

And try and look at your
neighborhood the way

that a total stranger would.

I mean, you-- and just sort of
pay attention to what you see.

An actually really
fascinating thing that I've--

I've tried to do
is talk to kids.

Kids have a sort of
weird, unique way

of perceiving the world.

They notice things
that the rest of us

have just kind of learned
to tune out, you know.

They're constantly
sort of looking down.

And they see that little
roly-poly that you missed.

Or they notice that
really symmetrical leaf

that you just kind of ignored.

And so if you kind
of pay attention

to what kids are
paying attention to,

and ask them about
it, what is it

that drew your
attention about this--

this spider web or
this strange thing

that you noticed and have them
explain it to you, [LAUGHS] you

know, you're going to get a lot
of sort of weird conversations.

But on the other hand,
it will help you sort of

reset your willingness to--

to absorb information.

You will start to see a
little better what they see,

hopefully.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You do have to remember
that because you're not

writing a textbook, you can't
go overboard with the research.

You have to do something to
kind of keep yourself from--

from either spending
too much time on it

or getting too immersed in
it and bogging yourself down

in research as
opposed to writing.

So what I like to do is
put a time limit on it.

There's a phase when I'm
working on a new book

where I will just simply devote
a month or two to nothing

but research.

And during that time, I'll
talk to professionals,

experts in the field.

I'll talk to sensitivity readers
if I need to get some advance

information.

I will travel.

I like to travel in February.

February is a great time
to travel just in general

because it tends to be off
season for a lot of vacation

spots.

So you can get pretty good
deals on hotels and air travel

and thing like--

things like that.

But you-- you immerse
yourself in that research

for a limited period of time,
and then at the end of it,

you're done.

You stop-- stop researching.

Start writing.

And even if you still don't know
everything you need to know,

you put it in brackets
as you're writing,

and then you go back and
research it again later

after the manuscript is done.

Because otherwise, research
can become kind of a time sink.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There are times when it's
necessary to fudge reality,

basically.

For example, with
"The City We Became,"

set in real-life, modern-day
New York, a place where I live,

a place where I have
many friends that I

have to answer to if I decide
to mangle the city [LAUGHS]

or change something that
they don't agree with.

But at the same time,
this is a fantasy novel.

And it's not going
to be our New York.

And I have to kind
of grapple with that.

Well, at one point
in this story,

the Williamsburg
Bridge gets destroyed.

And I have to continue to-- to
write as if the Williamsburg

Bridge is destroyed
even though it

is in every other way the New
York that I know and love.

But you know, that's what's
necessary for the sake

of the story.

Readers understand.

As long as it's clear
that you're doing it

for story purposes, as long as
it's clear that you don't legit

believe that the Williamsburg
Bridge does not exist,

then they're willing
to suspend disbelief.

There are going to be
times when you may not

have the means to do
research in person in depth.

And you know, that may be a
matter of not having resources.

It may be a matter of you
not being able to get access.

For example, with "The
City We Became," there's

a really critical
scene that takes place

in Old City Hall Station, which
is underneath the existing City

Hall Station.

And there are tours
of that old station

that you can undertake if
you go through, I think,

the Transportation Museum.

And for various
reasons, I was not

able to get one of these tours.

And this is a pivotal scene.

I needed to know, like,
just the blocking of where

the characters
would be standing,

how far away was the
platform from the wall,

and things like that.

And you're just going
to have to fudge it.

That's where being an
artist also comes in.

You got to use your imagination.

And you're going to
get some things wrong.

You have to own and accept
the fact that as an artist,

you will sometimes
get things wrong.

That is unavoidable,
and that is also

part of your learning process.

If you get something wrong
that is offensive to people,

then apologize, and move on.

Apologize.

Say that you're
going to do better.

Actually do better, and
then grow from there.

And then do better next time.