The stuff where I put more stuff in

Write first, research later?

You know, it's a fairly common technique to create conflicts based off of actual conflicts. Maybe that would help? :P

Write whatever, be corrected by history dudes/Type-MOON dudes/cultural dudes, research not needed.

Originally Posted by Irothtin

Write first, research later?

Problem is, dude is walking through the streets as he gives the reader some backstory. Pretty much allowing me to do an exposition dump with a good framing, but I can't really dump anything without the research.

Originally Posted by Sei

You know, it's a fairly common technique to create conflicts based off of actual conflicts. Maybe that would help? :P

Sadly, it doesn't really, I used the actual NATO bombings in the backstory, so yeah.

I think I'll drown myself in some more stuff about the war, then write one chapter, since outside of that chapter the info is pretty much irrelevant. Which makes the whole thing frustrating since it feels like I spend a lot of time on something that's only a really, really small fragment of the story. But I like getting details right.

I'd say make something up or leave it blank, then. You can go back and edit later, right?

And perhaps the answer will amount to "Of course you fool, this is Beast's Lair Forum", but is your target audience going to know enough to care whether his backstory is historically accurate (in a fanfiction of a fictional work. no less), and do you think they'll care enough to rake you over the coals if isn't?

Quick! Get Leo in here; he can help you!!

Also, you could either a) pick a different city or b) check Google Books, if you haven't already.

It's less an issue of the audience caring as it is an issue of me caring. Pseudo-OCD at its finest.

Also, lack of research came up quite often in the "What annoys you in fanfiction" thread, so don't underestimate that.

So, go back and edit later?

Most people don't reread fics for edits though. :/

But then it was wrong. And I will always know that it was wrong once, and I wronged the wrong thing!


AAAAAAAARGHHHHHHH

Underlying issues with perfectionism?

I am not really a perfectionist when it comes to writing, but I don't wanna kick people out of their experience by getting really, really dumb stuff in my fic.
And also research brings inspiration.

Hmm, did someone call about Serbian conflicts? jk, heh, I'm honestly not extremely proficient here, but the thing with the Serbian cleansing is that, similar to what Sei said, there really is a lot of opportunity for you to make things up. In this case, there are quite a few small towns in Serbia, many of which would have come under attack in various forms. it would be perfectly plausible to invent one and call it razed to the ground in the war.

Now, if you're attached to him being from a city, that's a bigger problem, because cities don't go away. But, it should be less of a problem to find resources if you go big. Sarajevo itself was under siege for about four years, and there's certainly resources on it.

Main question is:
A city with a nice industry, but away from any borders and in a good distance from Kosovo should be almost left alone, except for the industry obviously getting NATO'd, right?
The one I looked at was Kragujevac, because it seems pretty much perfect for what I need, since I don't want his dad to be an active partisan, in the military or anything like that, just a normal factory worker.
Researching conflicts was more a way of getting a grasp on what's NOT affected, lol.

I would assume that if Wiki doesn't mention otherwise, the only damage it took was from NATO. Maybe a few Serb groups going nuts and killing a few people, but that's not large scale. If you just need him to be a factory worker, you don't necessarily have to have it be in a heavy industrial city: there's light industry scattered all over the place, though if he's supposed to be a steel foundry pourer or the like that's harder to move.

Quick Google doesn't show anything other than NATO, yeah.

Niiiice. That helps a lot, thanks. Of course it won't take place in the actual city, but yeah. Think Kobe/Fuykui.