Johnny Cosmo
Inkling
@Elder the Dwarf: Ha, yes. I actually prefer the first album, but this one has beautiful artwork. Not that I dislike the latest album, it's great too.
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Books or the Internet?
- Thread starter Dreamer
- Start date
Elder the Dwarf
Maester
I like the first album better, too. My favorite song is probably the wolves. Bon Iver really gets better the more you listen to it. This forced me to make a new thread, here: http://mythicscribes.com/forums/chit-chat/1524-what-do-you-listen.html
Ghost
Inkling
I remember things better if I read it in print. Online resources are so distracting because I end up googling things from the articles or clicking on links in Wikipedia until I'm in totally unrelated territory. I like books that have shallow information on a large amount of things, like an encyclopedia of mythical beasts. As nice as Wikipedia is, looking up obscure mythical creatures leads me to stubs half the time. And googling, ugh. Googling "elves" nets me a ton of crappy elf drawings, RPG characters, Tolkien references, and Christmas stuff. I have to get very specific to find what I'm looking for.
I still like both methods, but I get something different out of reading printed books. For me, internet research is better for spawning ideas. For learning and retaining information, I prefer books. I'm lucky that my local library has nifty books, like The Folklore of World Holidays or Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. I even found The Language Construction Kit there, but I already got what I needed from the website.
I still like both methods, but I get something different out of reading printed books. For me, internet research is better for spawning ideas. For learning and retaining information, I prefer books. I'm lucky that my local library has nifty books, like The Folklore of World Holidays or Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. I even found The Language Construction Kit there, but I already got what I needed from the website.
Johnny Cosmo
Inkling
In my opinion, this is the biggest issue with internet research. Though, at least the extra time is spent on consuming information, rather than on the hassles printed sources.
And yes, it is a different experience, but I'd lean towards using books more for leisure purposes rather than research (unless I couldn't get the information online, which is not often for the type of research that applies to fantasy writing).
SeverinR
Vala
I think it depends on what you need the information for,
If you are creating a world, looking for general information to make something believable, the internet fits that perectly.
If you are trying to make a more historical fantasy fiction, then maybe you need to check the creditials a little better. But online sources can be as reliable if you cross reference the information.
Being smart about how you use the internet helps to avoid wrong information.
When I had a two year old horse, everyone on one websight yelled at me for letting the trainer start him under a saddle. I looked it up and geographcally there is preference for horses to be three years old before starting with a rider.
I don't think a book would have shown the controversy, either I would have found a source that agreed with my trainer(writer being in my location) or them(writer in theirs), probably not both, or that even mentioned the others way of thinking.
If you are creating a world, looking for general information to make something believable, the internet fits that perectly.
If you are trying to make a more historical fantasy fiction, then maybe you need to check the creditials a little better. But online sources can be as reliable if you cross reference the information.
Being smart about how you use the internet helps to avoid wrong information.
When I had a two year old horse, everyone on one websight yelled at me for letting the trainer start him under a saddle. I looked it up and geographcally there is preference for horses to be three years old before starting with a rider.
I don't think a book would have shown the controversy, either I would have found a source that agreed with my trainer(writer being in my location) or them(writer in theirs), probably not both, or that even mentioned the others way of thinking.
lawrence
Troubadour
I use the internet by far the most, as I write on my laptop and can research as and when I need, during story progression as well as preliminary info gathering.
I have found it useful to take out a bunch of historic books from the library, and read for the joy of learning but at the same time look out for gems of info for story inspiration. For example, reading about the Roman Empire recently, I came across several fascinating battle incidents that were recorded by their historians, highly dramatic and sources of potential scene ideas.
I have found it useful to take out a bunch of historic books from the library, and read for the joy of learning but at the same time look out for gems of info for story inspiration. For example, reading about the Roman Empire recently, I came across several fascinating battle incidents that were recorded by their historians, highly dramatic and sources of potential scene ideas.
Otherlands
Acolyte
I do prefer the internet for broad searches of information. back in time I used to spend entire days in the library with a table creaking with the books I wanted to scour through. Now with search engines and Wiki, I feel that less time can be spent searching and more time writing. Obviously there is a lot of misleading information too, that is where some quality library time serves it's purpose - checking that detail!
writeshiek33
Sage
for research i use the combination of books and internet as i process information from each differently
