Assumptions

I started writing again yesterday, and I realized that I needed to do some data gathering and analysis before I went where I thought I wanted the story to go. I gathered some demographic data by parish in Louisiana, and this morning, started sorting the data to analyze it.

It didn't take long for me to be surprised by the data. Things I believed to be true are not supported by the data set.

That made me excited, and kind of happy. I know for most people when your data doesn't support your hypothesis, that can be a bad thing. But I'm not writing a research paper, or trying to get a grant, I just wanted to check and make sure my observed world was actually supported by data. And so far, it isn't.

Which is really cool and reinforces that we can all make assumptions based on observation that are not accurate and are not supported by data. We see what we look for, in other words.

I know I could have skipped this step, and just written a fictional story based on my assumptions. And even though St. Elizabeth parish, and Bayou Beni are fictional places, I want them to feel real to the readers. So I feel that they have to be supported by real places.

This adventure has taken a new turn, and so might my story. And I feel good that I checked myself, even though it probably only matters to me.

Assumptions can always mislead us. It is always a good thing to check to see if there is a data set to support what you think or believe.