Thursday, January 12, 2017

How to do research to write characters from a different culture?


Let's say I'm French and I'd like to write a Korean character.



How can I build their personality traits, values, etc. in a realist way?


I'm afraid to end up with a character only superficially Korean : eating kimchi and listening to k-pop but without any depth or realism.


I'm especially interested on how to do research in this situation, and then how to organize and use the results. Researching a culture's cooking/music/clothing is easy but psychology/values/feelings are complicated.


I can't move to Korea or enroll in a Korean history class in my area.


Should I watch/read Korean things to form a first impression of how Korean directors/writers see the world? Should I write something and then find a Korean to proof-read it?


Is there a way to find good books/documentaries on a country's culture? (And be certain it's not a collection of stereotypes even if you don't know anything about it beforehand)




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