Top 10 Tips for Translating Research into Fiction

Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 2016

Fiction as Research Practice: Short Stories, Novellas, and Novels introduces the reader to fiction-based research. In the first section, Patricia Leavy explores the genre by explaining its background and possibilities and goes on to describe how to conduct and evaluate fiction-based research. In the second section of the book, she presents and evaluates examples of fiction-based research in different forms including short stories and excerpts from novellas and novels written by different authors. The third and final section explains how fiction and fiction-based research can be used in teaching. Leavy clearly differentiates the term fiction-based research from artsbased research in order to project the emergent field in a clear light of its own. Babbie (2001) explains that just as qualitative research practice emerged as a means of explaining phenomena that could not be captured by quantitative scientific research, social research attempts to study and understand everyday life experiences. Within social research, arts-based research tries to represent phenomena studied aesthetically through various forms of art (Barone & Eisner, 2012). As a form of arts-based research, Leavy describes fiction-based research as a great way to explore "topics that can be difficult to approach" through fiction (p. 20). Topics include the intricacies of interactions in everyday life, race relations, and socioeconomic class and its effects on human life. In carving its niche in social research, Leavy explains that fiction-based research seeks to create a deeper understanding of experiences in a language that is more accessible to people than research published in academic publications. Using fiction creates an opportunity for the writer to simulate the environment, sights, sounds, and smells of reality virtually, which captivates the reader's imagination. The writer is able to either create new knowledge for the reader or "disrupt dominant ideologies or stereotypes" (p. 38). As traditional qualitative researchers, fiction writers engage in intensive research to ensure that they have clear representations of the phenomenon they are presenting. These representations are evident in the realistic scenarios and characters that are portrayed in fiction writing, allowing the reader to be absorbed in the reality of the book. This reality or verisimilitude is the key to effective fictionbased research and traditional qualitative research because both methods try to portray the experiences as true as possible. In describing how one conducts fiction-based research, Leavy compares tenets of qualitative research to those of fiction-based research. She points out that anticipated data is a key consideration in most qualitative research methods but how data is collected, where it is

2021

Fiction as Method, 2017

See the world through the eyes of a search engine, if only for a millisecond; throw the workings of power into sharper relief by any media necessary; reveal access points to other worlds within our own. In the anthology Fiction as Method, a mixture of new and established names in the fields of contemporary art, media theory, philosophy, and speculative fiction explore the diverse ways fiction manifests, and provide insights into subjects ranging from the hive mind of the art collective 0rphan Drift to the protocols of online self-presentation. With an extended introduction by the editors, the book invites reflection on how fictions proliferate, take on flesh, and are carried by a wide variety of mediums—including, but not limited to, the written word. In each case, fiction is bound up with the production and modulation of desire, the enfolding of matter and meaning, and the blending of practices that cast the existing world in a new light with those that participate in the creation of new openings of the possible.

This study considers fiction, its certain character istic features, principles and devices (thematic and narrative), and a number of s tructural elements correlated within interpretative models. The purpose of this study re presents the attempt to establish a vector of methodology, i. e. an interpretative modality aimed at stipulating the direction of approach to the fictional text, and which consists of a set of methods, an ordered system of principles of research used for study in the field of such a part icular concern as Fiction Studies. In this respect, my argument will thus consider the general theoretical level of analysis (a matter of literary theory) based on the structuralist narrato logical evaluation of fiction, as well as the practical applicability of the general principles o f approach (a matter of literary criticism) regarding, in particular, the Victorian novels . 1.1 The Theoretical Background The interest in the approach to novel and other typ es of the fictional ...

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2021

Scholars in literature departments and the social sciences share a broadly similar interest in understanding human development, societal norms, and political institutions. However, although literature scholars are likely to reference sources or concepts from the social sciences in their published work, the line of influence is much less likely to appear the other way around. This unequal engagement provides the occasion for this paper, which seeks to clarify the ways social scientists might draw influence from literary fiction in the development of their own work as academics: selecting research topics, teaching, and drawing inspiration for projects. A qualitative survey sent to 13,784 social science researchers at 25 different universities asked participants to describe the influence, if any, reading works of literary fiction plays in their academic work or development. The 875 responses to this survey provide numerous insights into the nature of interdisciplinary engagement betwee...

2018

Here the authors discuss the role of fiction in screenwriting practice research. The screenplays included in the 'Screenplays as Research Artefacts' special issue of TEXT present a range of stories, worlds, characters, visual scenarios and dialogue exchanges that function as vessels for theories and ideas. These eleven screenplays all use creative practice approaches to research across a wide variety of discourses. All of the works embrace fiction as an important method to convey their respective critical concerns, which, the authors argue, evidences an emerging hallmark of screenwriting (as) research when compared with associated forms in the creative writing and screen production disciplines: fiction as a staple of its storytelling, creative practice and research methodology. The authors suggest that the use of fiction to perform research and present findings illuminates the ways that knowledge can be affective, not merely textual or verbal, something that is exemplified in the selected screenplays.

University of New England, 2016

The transfor mative possibilities of creative nonfiction and immersion r esear ch xi Chapter 1 immersion research 3.3.6 My writing process: interviews with youth participants and youth workers 3.3.7 My writing process: recording group meetings 3.3.8 My writing process: casual conversation 3.4 Chapter summary ix Chapter 4 4 M ethod: composition and ar r angement 4.1 Finding a structure for the work 4.1.1 Structuring material gathered during the immersion research phase 4.2 Incorporating big picture fictional techniques into a work of creative nonfiction 4.2.1 Point of view 4.2.2 Scenes 4.2.3 My writing process: writing the first scene and my choice of first-person narration 4.2.4 Characterisation 4.2.5 My writing process: the Jesus analogy 4.2.6 My writing process: influence of The last American man 4.3 Sharing the writing 4.3.1 My writing process: sharing the work with research participants 4.3.2 My writing process: sharing the work with a professional editor 4.3.3 My writing process: sharing the work with final supervisory team at UNE Chapter 5 5 Reflection on process and outcomes 5.1 Research and gathering material 5.1.1 Research stance, observation and note taking 5.1.2 Interviewing 5.2 Arranging and composing material 5.2.1 Writing early and sharing the work 5.2.2 Focus Chapter 6 6 Conclusion How each of these techniques is realised depends on each writer and their project, but many would agree that observation is a key aspect. Philip Gerard, an American writer, asserts that writers engaged in immersion research in an unfamiliar environment are ' not there to make things happen, only to see what happens, to witness with the clarity and judgement of a well-trained imagination' (2004, p. 52), a point which underscores the importance of observation as a research technique. When discussing immersion research techniques in The art of creative nonfiction, Gutkind (1997, p. 102) maintains that for a writer engaged in immersion research, the activities of ' sitting, watching, and taking the occasional note' are more than enough involvement, and it is not productive for the writer to become ' part of a team' because it impedes the observation process. While this is an important point, a variant argument which is relevant to my project is that research stance depends on the writer and project, just as note taking or interview methods need to be adapted to suit the subjects or situation. I discuss this point further in the chapters on methodology. When preparing for the immersion research phase at the BackTrack welding shed, I was primarily influenced by the methods Talese (1969) used to write Fame and obscurity. Talese was not writing about the poor or disadvantaged in his celebrity profiles, but his work shows the depth that immersion research can add to a work of creative nonfiction. Further, Talese' s style of immersion research seemed do-able for someone like me. For example, in the forward to Fame and obscurity, Talese (1969, p. vii) explains: ' I try to follow my subjects unobtrusively while observing them in revealing situations, noting their reactions and the reactions of others to them. I attempt to absorb the whole scene, the dialogue and mood, the tension, drama, conflict'. Unobtrusive rather than conspicuous research behaviour appealed to me. ' Frank Sinatra has a Cold' is a well-known profile from the collection and is full of telling details, yet Sinatra was not very cooperative during the six weeks Talese spent

Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1998

Story telling has been used for centuries as a powerful vehicle for communication. If you explore the construction of a story in literary texts, you are likely to ®nd that it involves events, characters and what the characters say and do. A point of view signi®es the way the story gets told and the mode established by an author by means of which the reader is presented with the setting, characters, dialogue, actions and events which constitute the story. Although this description is useful I will suggest ways in which you may consider a story as a legitimate research product.

Unfolding Narratives of Ubuntu in Southern Africa, 2019

An introductory chapter in the book, Unfolding Narratives of Ubuntu in Southern Africa, which describes the method that is used for reporting on the research on the African philosophy and social value of ubuntu that is the subject of the book.