Today was my sixth day in outlining a new novel using the program outlined in First Draft in 30 Days. It was my third research day, and technically day 9 in the book’s plan.

I finished pulling up and bookmarking basic sources I’ll be going through for background research in the next few days. I would love to read a few novels in the genre I’m working in during that time, but there simply won’t be the time. So I’m committing a royal sin as a writer, and trying to work in movie versions instead (keeping in mind that I used to be an avid horror reader years ago, and quite a bit in this specific niche  – so this is really just for a refresher course).

I watched the first today. I don’t want to share the niche / sub-genre, so I can’t go into details about the movies. There are 12 more I’d love to get my hands on, but realistically I’ll probably only watch about four – I still have plenty of other research to do with my time.

This is why the book suggests you start your research long in advance of beginning your outline. I absolutely agree. However, for testing purposes that obviously wasn’t possible (a few months ago I had no intention of working on a novel, nonetheless this one). So I’m doing the best I can with the time I have.