What are we all researching right now?

[Finchbearer]

I’ll go first.

One of my main characters is a horsey type, along with the fact that my world in set in a time where horses/horse and carriage were the main modes of transport. So I’ll need to research horse breeds, horse maintenance, where the horses get kept when travelling, saddles, other horsey stuff.

🗡Along with this I know nearly nothing of knives and other hand weaponry, so again this is an area I will need to research. One of my characters comes from a wealthy background, the other a poor one, and so what would the differences be in the quality of weaponry they would have.

🕯There no artificial light, so candlelight is in order - I know a little about rushlights, tallow, candlefishes etc but I want to look into this more too.

I need my story to sound authentic, as there nothing worse than reading a book where the writer hasn’t enough knowledge on subjects they’ve chosen to include in the writing. Research also in theory equates to rich storytelling in my opinion.

So, commence the thread…

 

[pmmg]

Last thing i researched was the name of some parts of a boat. Prior to that was on why rivers tend to flow north to south. And prior to that was do shrews eat roaches, and yes they do. Prior to that was how fast does oxygen return to a cave after a fire has burned it all out— too much ‘it depends’ on that one.

I am not sure if research is not too strong a word for it. I go till im satisfied with the answer enough to move on. One of my rules is no research while writing.

 

[Curatia]

One of our upcoming projects has a character who is beginning his college journey, so I spent most of last night delving into the University of Washington's admissions information to make sure that we know the steps and deadlines for getting him into our fictitious University of Washington-Seahaven. While I was there, I went ahead and took notes on the requirements for his eventual application to UWSH's College of Medicine. I followed the rabbit hole a little further than we needed for now but managed to stop myself before seeing if I could sketch UWSH's mascot, the Kraken. I can't promise that it won't eventually show up on a t-shirt in our CafePress site, but I think I'll save that for getting a little closer to the novel where we first see UWSH.

 

[Finchbearer]

Oh why no research when writing? Does it interfere with the creative flow?

Well, my version of researching is googling until the internet throws up a series of plausible answers.

 

[Curatia]

One of my rules is no research while writing.

We try to do most of the big research during the development and outlining stage, but that hasn't stopped us from stopping production to research things on the fly like the invention of the BLT.

 

[Finchbearer]

One of our upcoming projects has a character who is beginning his college journey, so I spent most of last night delving into the University of Washington's admissions information to make sure that we know the steps and deadlines for getting him into our fictitious University of Washington-Seahaven. While I was there, I went ahead and took notes on the requirements for his eventual application to UWSH's College of Medicine. I followed the rabbit hole a little further than we needed for now but managed to stop myself before seeing if I could sketch UWSH's mascot, the Kraken. I can't promise that it won't eventually show up on a t-shirt in our CafePress site, but I think I'll save that for getting a little closer to the novel where we first see UWSH.

Oh wow? What would you call this? Method researching? The next step is to apply to university and go through the whole process yourself, make sure you wear the t-shirt.

 

[pmmg]

Cause pulling up the internet while writing is a recipe for f-cking around on the internet and not writing. Do research after, use place holders during.

 

[Curatia]

Oh wow? What would you call this? Method researching? The next step is to apply to university and go through the whole process yourself, make sure you wear the t-shirt.

We ironically consider ourselves Method writers because during the development and outlining phase we have been known to roleplay as the characters to nail down the dialogue and our house has two big open spaces because we physically block out important choreography to make sure we don't leave anything major out. Adding method researching to the mix sounds just about right for us.

 

[Finchbearer]

Cause pulling up the internet while writing is a recipe for f-cking around on the internet and not writing. Do research after, use place holders during.

This isn’t procrastination?

 

[Finchbearer]

We ironically consider ourselves Method writers because during the development and outlining phase we have been known to roleplay as the characters to nail down the dialogue and our house has two big open spaces because we physically block out important choreography to make sure we don't leave anything major out. Adding method researching to the mix sounds just about right for us.

I haven’t actually considered roleplay as a research method, but it makes total sense. Does talking to yourself while sitting in the bath count ?

 

[Curatia]

I haven’t actually considered roleplay as a research method, but it makes total sense. Does talking to yourself while sitting in the bath count ?

Absolutely.

 

[Mad Swede]

We ironically consider ourselves Method writers because during the development and outlining phase we have been known to roleplay as the characters to nail down the dialogue and our house has two big open spaces because we physically block out important choreography to make sure we don't leave anything major out. Adding method researching to the mix sounds just about right for us.

There's a story told about the late David Gemmell, who used to choreograph some of the action sequences (mostly sword fights) in his books to make sure they would work in reality. One evening after work he was doing this with a broom handle when one of those polite and ever so slightly snarky UK policeman quietly walked into the room and asked DG what he was doing. So as method it has it's risks.

 

[Mad Swede]

My current research is ruthlessly pragmatic: trying to make One Note work with my dyslexia software. The various story lines in my books are getting so complex and intertwined that it isn't enough to keep it all in my head any more, I need some way of getting it into the PC in a form I can have it read back to me when I need to. It's just a bit embarassing when my editor picks up a continuity mistake that I'd missed.

The last story related research I did was poisons and how to distill them from flowers and other plants. All very interesting, but not something I'd want to explain to anyone other than my editor.

 

[Devor]

I recently had to look up motorcycles. The villain in the chapter runs a horse and buggy shop, and I wanted her line of saddles to pair up with motorcycles.

 

[pmmg]

The last story related research I did was poisons and how to distill them from flowers and other plants. All very interesting, but not something I'd want to explain to anyone other than my editor.

That's just the kind of thing you want in your history if law enforcement ever decides to seize it.

 

[BearBear]

Hmmm, does watching Wednesday on Netflix count as research? I'm going to say yes. I love the Adams family franchise and I'm so glad they didn't ruin it with modern radical culture. The casting is great imo as well. The writers are old school so I suppose they have kept their game and not folded to modern pressure. Even though Wednesday as a character is obviously OP, I like it, call me a sucker for strong female leads even if they didn't earn it in the current iteration.

That said, Iike the modern spin on new things.

 

[Ben Scotton]

Hmmm, does watching Wednesday on Netflix count as research? I'm going to say yes. I love the Adams family franchise and I'm so glad they didn't ruin it with modern radical culture. The casting is great imo as well. The writers are old school so I suppose they have kept their game and not folded to modern pressure. Even though Wednesday as a character is obviously OP, I like it, call me a sucker for strong female leads even if they didn't earn it in the current iteration.

That said, Iike the modern spin on new things.

Netflix definitely counts as research.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Ships, ships, ships, and more ships and sailing, of course. Which is tricky because most knowledge of this comes from the age of sail. But this way I can throw in types of construction (clinker build!) and make it sound like I know a little bit of somethin' somethin' instead of being an ignorant landlubber like I am.

 

[Finchbearer]

Ships, ships, ships, and more ships and sailing, of course. Which is tricky because most knowledge of this comes from the age of sail. But this way I can throw in types of construction (clinker build!) and make it sound like I know a little bit of somethin' somethin' instead of being an ignorant landlubber like I am.

You know I have a lot of old seafarers in my own family, Navy and also shipbuilders, but I know absolutely nothing. I have good sea legs though.

 

[Finchbearer]

I was pondering more on researching I follow one of favourite authors over on Goodreads, and they read a lot of book, including old fairytales. I think my own writing has been heavily influenced by my reading, and it varied reading too not just fantasy.