What weird stuff did you research for your novel?

[Libbie]

Today I was thinking about all the odd stuff I researched while working on my novel. Among them:

-Ingredients in Egyptian perfumes 3500 years ago.
-How women dealt with menstruation in ancient Egypt.
-Whether men or women or both shaved their heads back then.
-How to put on a typical Egyptian dress.
-Natural childbirth and the phases of labor.
-Available gemstones and semi-precious stones in Egypt 3500 years ago (especially whether ivory was available.)
-How to harness/unharness a pair of horses from a chariot.
-How often it rains in the vicinity of Luxor, and whether it's plausible that a person living in the area could go 19 years or more without seeing rain.
-How to use a spindle and distaff to spin flax.
-How ancient Egyptians WENT POTTY.
-Whether ancient Egyptians ate cheese (FYI: Yes.)
-The cones on the head: Possibly actually perfumed wax, or more likely some artistic rendering of smell or whatever? (I went with the wax option -- research indicated opinion was about 50/50.)
-Prayers to Mut. ("Fear of Mut is in every land." This didn't make it into the final version, but now I know that fear of Mut is in every land.)
-Could Amunhotep I have died of a heart attack? (Nothing I found said he couldn't have....)
-How scoliosis effects health and how it causes death in sufferers.
-What physicians' knives were made of.
-Types of shade trees in ancient Egyptian gardens.
-Types of critters living in the Nile valley that would be just too large for a hawk to comfortably fly away with.
-Whether avocets go as far south as Luxor.
-Symbolic representations of the god Set (color red; fish -- this didn't make it into the final version, either, alas.)


So...what things did you research that you never thought you'd learn about?

[ORION]

I tried Copenhagen snuff...

[mscelina]

Aleister Crowley.

Yeah, I know that doesn't sound weird, but trust me: when your hardcore, clean-living, church-going sixty-five plus year old stepmother comes up behind you when you've got a webpage open on Aleister Crowley it doesn't go over well. Especially not on Wednesday night as she's getting ready to go to church.

[OpheliaRevived]

The history of the flintlock pistol and the history of Butchery.

[thethinker42]

This is all stuff I've researched (or at least fact-checked) for the purpose of writing erotic romance novels...

* Hiking trails on Maui
* Driving time from Norfolk, VA to Savannah, GA
* Whether or not alligators are nocturnal
* If it's possible to apply a tattoo to oneself
* Chess strategies
* How to suture a cut on someone's arm
* Removing and installing a bathroom mirror
* How to do a handstand push-up
* Billiards strategies
* Educational requirements for college professors, biochemists, surgeons, and personal trainers
* How to play a bass guitar
* German words and phrases, particularly of the obscene and insulting variety
* How much blood someone could lose before losing consciousness
* How far someone could drive while losing a lot of blood before crashing
* How badly a person would get hurt if someone smashed various pieces of kitchenware over his neck and shoulder (from bottles to large china serving plates)
* Sexual harassment protocols in corporate America
* All about the amphitheatre at Epidaurus
* Deafness/hearing impairment
* Muay Thai, kickboxing, and boxing
* Graduate degree programs at Stanford University
* Training level dressage tests
* Master's degree requirements, thesis defenses, etc
* Forensic linguistics
* 16th century erotic and romantic poetry

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but there you go.

[Albannach]

I spent a lot of time finding out how long it took someone to die if they were eviscerated and exactly what it would look like. The idea that the FBI might be tracking my searches started getting alarming. =)

[Cliff Face]

I researched police ranks, which actually vary around the world. I also researched the basic premise of an artificial intelligence, which didn't come in handy one bit, more or less, past what I already knew.

[Jess Haines]

I researched all kinds of stuff. For the first book, most of it was about New York City. It's been a long time since I've been there, so recalling the nomenclature to spatter here and there and the exact layout of certain locations to make it authentic was a PITA.

Not even going to bother listing what I researched for the second book. I'd be writing a whole 'nother one just to go over it all. :e2yawn:

[Stijn Hommes]

I'd say the weirdest thing I ever researched was cause of death in goldfish and the related statistics...

[Misa Buckley]

For OOT (a novel currently in stasis after my laptop got stolen with 90% of the MS on it) I researched quantum physics, string theory and wormholes. Eddies in the time-space continuum *fights urge to quote H2G2*

TRtS' research has been slightly less technical but considerably more bloody. Mainly how badly I can injure my MC without him a) dying and b) being utterly useless for the rest of the novel.

God, I love science fiction :D

[Maxinquaye]

- I've researched the benefit system for single EMPLOYED mothers in London
- I know that kid offenders don't necessarily go to youth court, but they NEVER go to the Old Bailey (if you read a book and a petty criminal is tried in the Old Bailey, put the book down)
- Kids can be "named and shamed" in the UK court system, if they go the Crown court instead of Youth Court
- It takes 35 minutes to go from Peckham to Kensington by the underground
- You can barely move anywhere in London without being recorded on video by someone
- ASBOs are excellent for a community to kick the shit out of someone they don't like

[Linda Adams]

Let's see:


The number of eyes a spider has
What a tuxedo is made of
What color a L.A. fire captain's hat is
How to properly address Royalty
Can vinegar hurt your eyes
How to use a fire extinguisher
What's a shucking pin?
What does a protocol officer do?
What does a curator do?
Auctions
Blacklisting
Types of forts

[Ken]

... what that contraption was that people used to clean clothes with prior to the invention of the washing machine: a clothes wringer. And also how to spell 'wringer.' Didn't realize it had a "w" in it, at first.

[Birol]

... what that contraption was that people used to clean clothes with prior to the invention of the washing machine: a clothes wringer. And also how to spell 'wringer.' Didn't realize it had a "w" in it, at first.

I've used one of those. (More truthfully, I've helped use one of those.)

[Ken]

... the wringers seemed neat. Wouldn't mind trying out one, myself, and seeing how they operate. Hands on research is probably the best way of going about research, if one can manage it. No better way of getting a perspective on things than experiencing it first hand.

[kaitie]

Hm. For the last book off the top of my head:



Driving directions on Mapquest.
Ways to bypass infrared security cameras.
Ways to get around keycard locks.
How to use cell phones as a remote bug.
Lots of information on hacking/code breaking.
Legal issues.
How to make a dirty joke in Chinese.
How to say "There's a brown dog under the tree" in Spanish (unfortunately that got cut. :P)
Bagdhad (everything related to it that I could find).
Incidences in Iraq with large numbers of soldiers killed (which are actually in the story, though you'd have to know the specifics to get that they're legit).


There's probably more. I felt like I had to research just about everything for it. Not sure how much of that is weird, but I definitely found myself thinking I hope my internet's not being monitored at work considering how much "how to do illegal things" stuff I was looking up. :P

[Tanydwr]

Oh, I've got lots.

*Random words in Welsh and Old English. Iron, for example, is haearn in Welsh and isen in Old English (which probably explains where Tolkien got 'Isengard' from).
*The infections associated with infected wounds and how long it would take to die from it (admittedly, mostly by talking to my dad, who's a doctor and now likes to say he contributed to Harailt's death).
*The fact that septicaemia is blood poisoning, but blood poisoning is not necessarily septicaemia.
*How much a ton of iron and a ton of steel weighed in comparison to each other in the fourteenth century (and then got used to help me build currency).
*Where particular colours of dye come from, how expensive they are, and which would be valuable imports/exports (the red dye 'crimson', the dye 'imperial purple', woad, indigo, etc.).
*What types of servants existed in royal/noble households, including nobles who worked for the king as seneschal/Lord Chamberlain/Lord Steward.
*What a castellan is.
*How old castles were designed (outer wall, inner wall, keep).
*How long horses can travel for in a day.
*Where various gemstones come from.
*That you can do a high kick in a loose ankle-length skirt and heels (more than one skirt and how effective the kick is still have to be ascertained, but definitely manageable with practice).
*The metamorphosis of crown shapes over the years.
*The meanings of various different flowers/plants in 'flower language'.
*That there were horses who had the ability to amble and gait in the medieval period and before.

That's by no means a complete list - I have pages of names meanings and various notes that might be useful for fantasy-set stories.

[Ellefire]

How much chocolate will kill an Alsation dog
What the remains of a buried baby will look like after several years
What the gates of our local cemetery look like
Ways to get through a locked door
Day in the life of a funeral director
The world of Fireman Sam
Autism and Aspergers syndrome
Living with amputation
Living with dwarfism

[Kitty Pryde]

First Book:
-the disease process of septicemia in squids
-genetic variety among squid species
-historical prosthetic limbs
-theater backstage terminology
-roman and polynesian mythology

Second Book
-travel in England for people with physical disabilities
-whether you can get motion sickness riding the London Eye (yes!)
-how you can break into Kensington Gardens after dark (not easily!)
-which Tube station that can be evacuated by stairs is farthest underground
-what happens if you knock over one of those wax museum statues
-how fat/tall you can be and still play professional soccer
-soccer match insulting cheers for fat players

[Matera the Mad]

The origin and history of parsnips
Mineral distribution in Poland
Migration patterns of reindeer
Primitive musical instruments
Penis use and maintenance
and a whole lot more

[Chasing the Horizon]

A lot more than I have time to type here, that's for sure.

**Everything about ships 1860-1920 (most of which I didn't end up using. And does anyone know the names for the decks on an ocean liner? Cause I can't find them anywhere)
**Everything about telegraphs
**Coal mining and coal mining disasters (most fun research I ever did, reading early 20th century newspaper articles)
**Flora and fauna of the Amazon rain forest
**Types of batteries available 1850-1920 and what they looked like
**Steam locomotives, specifically how fast they'll go and what's involved in operating them
**The diameter of the Earth
**Effects of higher atmospheric pressure and oxygen levels on the human body
**Radio communications and technology circa 1900
**The history of audio recording techniques, specifically 1880-1910

[a_sharp]

Hey, this is fun. What a great idea.

-Qualifications and pay for a state Corrections Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
-Lady Madonna bike shrine
-Houses made from shipping containers
-Vintage cabooses of the Pacific Northwest
-Used jackhammer disposition

[shethinkstoomuch]

For a WIP:
What one had to go through to receive a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1888
Edinburgh street maps circa 1884
John Snow and the discovery of the spread of cholera
Various infectious diseases
Alternatives to laudanum
Surgical tools! (This involved a museum trip. :D)

[Priene]

I've just started reading a book on Oswald Mosley, the founder of the British Union of Fascists. I hate everything about the man, his aristocratic hangers on and his thuggish followers.

[Broadswordbabe]

Among the odder things: The type of motorbike used in The Great Escape. British Isles mythology related to madness. How to survive a crocodile attack. Whether someone can be deliberately but reversibly rendered mute. Goldmining techniques in the Roman Empire. The legend of Inanna. Not all of these were for the same book, mind...

[Priene]

Among the odder things: The type of motorbike used in The Great Escape. British Isles mythology related to madness. How to survive a crocodile attack. Whether someone can be deliberately but reversibly rendered mute. Goldmining techniques in the Roman Empire. The legend of Inanna. Not all of these were for the same book, mind...

It'd be a hell of a book if they were.

[kaitie]

Oh yeah, Arabic insults. That was an interesting one lol. They get very um....colorful. ;)

[bearilou]

Not for the same novel. :)

Exotic weapons
Cataracts
Regency Fashion
Epilepsy
Travel times/distance covered on horseback
Militias
Black powder rifles

[CaroGirl]

Research? I'm supposed to do research?

[cscarlet]

This isn't weird per say, but I did stress quite a bit over "How to pick a lock" in the early 1900s. You'd be surprised how little information there was to find! :)

[Snowstorm]

Let's see:

- The history of Florence, Nebraska, and the Council Bluff, Iowa, and in which territories did they belong
- The name of California between when it belonged to Mexico and it became a state
- The travels of the Mormon Battalion
- Drugs and healing plants from the mid-1800s
- Tatting process and the materials used in the 1800s
- Old log cabins (easy since I live in one!)
- Quilting bees
- Old religious songs
- What type of straw is used in baskets and hats
- Faro
- Oxen
- Sickness and manners of death in the 1800s
- the Quaker religion (impressive)
- What was the weather on Feb. 25, 1847

Great thread!

[FOTSGreg]

Entomology! To the extent that I can tell you how insects can reproduce in various nonsexual ways, how they respirate, how spider's legs really work, and how toxic a puss moth's larvae's urticating hairs are.

The origin of eucalyptus trees in California.

The biology of eucalyptus groves.

Kleiber's Law

The Square/Cube Law

Real space combat maneuver times over 6 light hour planetary system distances given X velocities, Y thrust vectors, and Z scales.

Theoretical interception probabilities for X many projectiles fired at Y velocities at Z distances.

Given a sublight speed of X, with distances between instantaneous jump points of Y, how long it will take a fleet to move across Z many systems.

Given Y above and a light speed communciation system, how long it will take a message to travel Z many systems assuming the message can be beamed through a jump point.

How powerful an X-ray laser has to be to roast a planet and how accurate the lasing system has to be to lock on a planet and keep it aligned.

etc.
etc.
etc.

[JamieFord]

Going to Tokyo in March for the annual reunion of the Tokkotai. (Surviving Kamikaze pilots). Care to join me?

[heyjude]

I'm all about Irish bare-knuckles boxing right now. My husband is getting increasingly worried.

[funidream]

Beyond the normal of book/internet/library/museum research - I once coerced a historical re-enactor into letting me shoot his reproduction flintlock rifle.

That was cool!

[Susan66]

These are among the topics I've researched for 3 different projects (one finished and in subs to various publisher, 2 WIPs):

-gastric bypass surgery
-Elvis impersonators and Elvis's music
-Which parishes in Louisiana have the New Orleans type accent
-Pittsburgh, PA in the 1920s
-drive time between the West and East coasts of Florida
-Finnish surnames
-European countries that had compulsory military service in the 1970s
-rules for competing in high school cross country
-optical engineering
-Cuban-American culture and food
-length/type of sentences received by the Mayflower Madam and Heidi Fleiss

[Horserider]

* Training level dressage tests

*pricks ears* For? I've got copies of last year's tests on my computer.

The weirdest thing I've ever researched was this ant that makes itself explode when it's attacked and injured. And that was because my mom told me about it and I wanted to fit it into the story somehow.

[half.jaded]

I asked my mom so much about gangrene at one point. Wikipedia wasn't enough for me.

Haha. The look on her face was priceless.

[Jerry B. Flory]

Operation: Desert Shield.
The ingredients of Diet Coke and the process in which they decompose into life-threatening poisons.
Naval bases in Saudi Arabia
Popular men's suits in the nineties
Portraits of Ayn Rand
Only Child Syndrome and Sociopathy
Control issues and obsessive disorders
Domestic bestiality
Pierce & Pierce
Intensive Memory Training Programs (Gov't sponsored)
Reproductive cycles of mice.

[Jerry B. Flory]

Oh. and twunt paste, but it appears scarletpeaches is the only living authority on the subject.

[thethinker42]

*pricks ears* For? I've got copies of last year's tests on my computer.

I used test 3. One of my main characters in World Enough and Time is a dressage trainer, and she's riding Training Level Test 3 during a particular scene.

I know dressage fairly well, just had to brush up on the test for the scene. :D

[Katrina S. Forest]

I wasn't sure how to describe how it felt to scream if you couldn't actually hear yourself screaming. So I went in my room, put my hands over my ears, and screamed as loud as I could.

Warned my husband what I was up to, but not the neighbors. Maybe I should have. ^_^;;

[C.bronco]

Aleister Crowley
Astral projection
Edgar Cayce
ATV's (not all for the same novel).

[Alana Mortensen]

Currently I am rewriting chapter 7 and researching Jack The Ripper. It has not gone over well with family. It is hard to do this on-line only, not much on victimology, precision of wounds, how they were inflicted and what organs were removed, or precision of the act. It scares people when I say that my book involves him.

[Chris P]

1. My first one is Egypt too. What fossils are found in the limestone used to build the Pyramids?

2. What type of vegetation has a higher evapotranspiration rate, grass or pine trees?

3. Is there a bridge across the Ruvuma River from Tanzania to Mozambique?

4. We know plenty about where the Egyptian pharaohs were buried, but where did they rule? Where was the throne room?

(answers: 1. Nummulites; 2. They are about the same per acre; 3. No, oddly enough. Nobody on either side wants to get to the other; 4. We're still not sure, the only known thrown room was in Medinet Habu, the temple of Ramesses III)

[Chris P]

Currently I am rewriting chapter 7 and researching Jack The Ripper.

Jack the Ripper is awesome. Be careful doing research online. I did an essay on the "Badgeman" photo of the JFK assassination and it is sometimes tough to know what to take seriously and what to avoid. That being said, the book "The Diary of Jack the Ripper" had some good facts in it, even if the diary itself is clearly a fake (although presented as real).

[dolores haze]

I'm immersed in astral physics at the moment. Who knew it was this damn fascinating?

[cptwentworth]

Chicago street maps
Can gas fireplaces be used in high rise condos? (Yes)
Where certain functions are located in the brain
What mannequins are made of
Distances between major cities
University of Pennsylvania
Airline pilot duties
Audi coupes

Lots of things I can't even recall. Always exciting to learn something new, I think.

[KaysenParkerPlath]

The Dancing Plague of 1518.

[Kaiser-Kun]

Appropiate size of a planet. Important because the events in the book take a global scale, so I couldn't just describe a continent.

[motormind]

I investigated al I could about bottlenose dolphins. They can be quite a bunch of bastards, which pleases me to no end.

[The Lonely One]

I've always got something odd I've left on my google bar on the ol' browser, from quick research for whatever I need at the moment. My wife must think I'm crazy. Right now up there it says "one meter."

Because I didn't know how long a meter was. No joke.

[Aidan Watson-Morris]

Hm................................................ .................................................. ................

Spelling. For brands, words, etc. I turn off spellcheck while I'm writing because it distracts and gets in the way. And I use a lot of alien species names and stuff, so spellcheck is really misleading.

[Mike Martyn]

Lobotomies. Sickening stuff.

They were often performed as an office procedure from the 30's up to the early 1960's. The patient was first stunned by electro shock to the temples then the doctor inserted a surgical instrument shaped like an ice pick under the patient's eylid and hammered it through the skull then twiddled it back and forth to sever the frontal lobes. It was considered as a cure for many mental illnesses. The youngest patient was a boy of 12 whose step mother back in 1963 considered him "unruly" and had him lobotimised. You should note that she didn't need any govermental approval nor was there any professoinal over sight. She just trotted him into the doctor's office told the docytor about what a difficult child he was and that was it for the kid.

You can find before, during and after pictures of the kid on the internet if you've got the stomach for it.http://absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon6.gif

[Gentle Giant]

Pace egging.

http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/history/pace-egging.shtml

[Libbie]

I investigated al I could about bottlenose dolphins. They can be quite a bunch of bastards, which pleases me to no end.

Yes, they are basically a bunch of swimming pricks.

I love 'em.

[LOG]

The weirdest I've done so far is that I had to look up a crater on the moon.

[Libbie]

John Snow and the discovery of the spread of cholera


I didn't know there was a cholera outbreak at Winterfell.

badum-ching!

[ejwriter]

death by food - all the different ways a person can just keel over right there in the middle of a meal. turns out it's not too easy!

[soapdish]

Well I’m not going to list them (mostly because people will laugh)--but my husband recently discovered my “favorites” list in IE and said “you know…you should be careful, the government has certain sites flagged.” :tongue

He was kidding for the most part, most of my “favorites” for research aren’t that controversial. But it got me thinking--does anyone worry about this? And what do you do about it if you do? What if you were writing something about how to make a bomb (or I don’t know--something equally flag raising). This goes for internet research or library research too.

[Libbie]

Well I’m not going to list them (mostly because people will laugh)--but my husband recently discovered my “favorites” list in IE and said “you know…you should be careful, the government has certain sites flagged.” :tongue

He was kidding for the most part, most of my “favorites” for research aren’t that controversial. But it got me thinking--does anyone worry about this? And what do you do about it if you do? What if you were writing something about how to make a bomb (or I don’t know--something equally flag raising). This goes for internet research or library research too.

Yeah, that makes me really relieved/happy I have no interest in writing thrillers or murder mysteries. Nobody's going to care about my favorites pages featuring Egyptian toilets and Polish ballerinas.

[Matera the Mad]

A lot of interesting things turn up during research on primitive technology, such as: How stick people became extinct (http://wildwoodsurvival.com/humour/stickpeople.html)

[CACTUSWENDY]

Notification to all who have posted here. You have all been reported and are now being 'watched' by all the appropriate 'eyes' of the law. Please be aware that this is your first and finale warning. They now know who you are and what you are up to. Claiming to be doing 'research' for a book will not get you off the hook. It would pay you to get a lawyer and to check the door before opening it. They will be coming for you soon.

That is all. Carry on.

[soapdish]

damnit...I knew it.

[Rhoda Nightingale]

Oy, let's see....

Mountain trails and caves in Norway
The plagues of Egypt
Emperor Constantine
Stone Henge
The ancient Celts
The proper way to break down an entire pig for use in a modern Bistro in New York, including the amount of time it would take to do it
Las Vegas clubs
Subway schedules

.....this is all for one WIP, by the way

[icerose]

The smell of embalming fluid.

Order of decomp (stages).

Types of knives.

The whole morgue industry.

Requirements and residency of a pathologist.

Things like that.

[Collectonian]

For my paranormal romance between an 18 year old girl and a 400 year old demon, which is set in Japan, I researched:

* Japanese hospitals and various locales in Hokkaido (primarily Hakodate and Sapporo)
* The Japanese views on transplants and medical care (the former being rather sad)
* Medications used to treat heart conditions and their side effects, timing and dosages of medications, dealing with sudden breathing and heart attacks
* Japanese school systems and furthering researching into honorifics and the politeness thing
* The system of family registries, getting married in Japan and dealing with one not being Japanese
* Meiji era habits, architecture
* History of concubines and samurai in Japan
* How to actually spell most of the Japanese words I knew, and looking up a few more words and phrases

For my first completed novel, I researched
* the geography of North Carolina's mountain regions,
* the breeding, personality, history, health, etc and most preferred spelling of the Caucasian Owtcharka breed of dog
* Sniper rifles and how close and what angle would be needed to pick someone off while being led out of a packed courthouse

:-)

[Albannach]

Well I’m not going to list them (mostly because people will laugh)--but my husband recently discovered my “favorites” list in IE and said “you know…you should be careful, the government has certain sites flagged.” :tongue

He was kidding for the most part, most of my “favorites” for research aren’t that controversial. But it got me thinking--does anyone worry about this? And what do you do about it if you do? What if you were writing something about how to make a bomb (or I don’t know--something equally flag raising). This goes for internet research or library research too.
While researching the best way to cut someone's throat and how long someone would live after being eviscerated--

Yes, I definitely thought of that.

Edit: I'm already on someone's list to spy on most likely (gotta love politics) and being a published author I have a verifiable excuse, so I shrugged and went about my business. If the research police show up at my door, oh well.... They'll have to read my novel, won't they. :)

[Maxinquaye]

Well I’m not going to list them (mostly because people will laugh)--but my husband recently discovered my “favorites” list in IE and said “you know…you should be careful, the government has certain sites flagged.”

Which is going to mean that if I ever go to New York, it's going to be a fun experience trying to get through your customs, considering some of the sites and subjects I regularly visit...

Will they believe I'm a novelist and journalist?

On the other hand, "my" government declared Iceland to be a terrorist state and seized its UK assets...

[Albannach]

Which is going to mean that if I ever go to New York, it's going to be a fun experience trying to get through your customs, considering some of the sites and subjects I regularly visit...

Will they believe I'm a novelist and journalist?

On the other hand, "my" government declared Iceland to be a terrorist state and seized its UK assets...
Well, everyone is scared of Iceland, right? I mean--they are actually PAYING OFF their debt from the recent bank problems. Unconscionable!

Can't have that! *ahem* Sorry. Politics rearing its ugly head.

Edit: *checks under monitor* I don't see them but I'm sure they're there somewhere. (Just because you're paranoid... ;) )

[Kate Thornton]

I once needed to know how much height/force would be necessary to shove a Waterford sailboat paper weight through someone's skull.

Recently I needed stats on child abductions in Connecticut.

I don't worry about the cybercops - when I worked for them, they were all too busy with real stuff to care about what junk we're looking up on the internet, including porn, bombs and murder methods. We are just users of data - there are other things for them to monitor.

[Maxinquaye]

Well, everyone is scared of Iceland, right? I mean--they are actually PAYING OFF their debt from the recent bank problems. Unconscionable!


Iceland is supremely dangerous. They've got... cod pieces. Lots of that too.

[Albannach]

Iceland is supremely dangerous. They've got... cod pieces. Lots of that too.

Scary people! No doubt of that.

Politics--I'm not going into that subject on a writer's forum. I spend enough time on it outwith...

[JulieHowe]

Well I’m not going to list them (mostly because people will laugh)--but my husband recently discovered my “favorites” list in IE and said “you know…you should be careful, the government has certain sites flagged.” :tongue

He was kidding for the most part, most of my “favorites” for research aren’t that controversial. But it got me thinking--does anyone worry about this? And what do you do about it if you do? What if you were writing something about how to make a bomb (or I don’t know--something equally flag raising). This goes for internet research or library research too.

I clean out my cache and dump cookies in my internet browser.

Edited to add: Because some of the stuff I research is a little weird. LOL.

I also won't do 'weird' research in a public place. If I need to know how to blow something up (for research purposes only), I think the best place to look that stuff up is at home on my own computer. The internet computers in our public libraries are out in plain view. Some of the library branches have privacy screens installed over the monitors but others don't. Also, the same thing goes for a public place like Starbucks.

[Kitty27]

1. The Crusades and the life of a knight.

2. How much blood it takes to fill a bathtub.

3. Voodoo and Hoodoo.

4. Neighborhoods in New Orleans.

5. Looking at ugly clothes online and watching Ugly Betty to get a sense of how a fashion challenged person might dress. *horrifying*

6. How the inside of a human body looks and where organs are placed.

7. Sioux Indians and their culture.

8. African myths and legends.

[Jess Haines]

Just spent a bunch of time researching an ancient Greek statesman, trying to reconcile all the conflicting reports on how he died.

[Ardellis]

For a random selection of projects...

How much and what kind of neglect it would take for a flintlock to explode. And what kind of damage it would do to the poor guy holding it. And how a surgeon would deal with the necessary amputations afterwards.

Concussion, blood loss, opium addiction, sociopathy, and poisonous spiders.

The care and handling of horses, swords, and rape survivors.

Fashion, race issues, sodomy laws, and the entertainment industry in Boston in the 1920s.

[RadioactiveFox]

Last month it was all 60s/70s rock music, especially that connected to musicians who died at a young age.

For my current project, it's Chinese astrology, dragons, phoenixes, Washington D.C., and gang warfare. Yep, all for the same project. :D

[Mistress of distress]

I reasearched every single detail I wasn't sure about. My fear was writing something that would be inaccurate.

[Big Wolf]

I have a WIP, so I am still researching. Some of the things, in order of less to more difficult to find:
- personal names among various ethnicities in the Roman Empire
- ranks of military and non-military offices in the Roman Empire
- who exactly the Huns were
- distances by water, land and road between Bratislava and Belgrade
- the origins of the Slavic peoples
- Cthonic versus Solar mythologies
- baptismal and confirmation rites in 6th-century Orthodox Christianity
- spells
- overlapping mythologies of eastern Europe
- how fast you can row up the Danube river
- how fast can you walk across Romania
- Gnostic rituals
- whether a literary agent will ever be interested in this stuff

[Gabriele Campbell]

Oh, I've got lots.

*Random words in Welsh and Old English. Iron, for example, is haearn in Welsh and isen in Old English (which probably explains where Tolkien got 'Isengard' from).
*The infections associated with infected wounds and how long it would take to die from it (admittedly, mostly by talking to my dad, who's a doctor and now likes to say he contributed to Harailt's death).
*The fact that septicaemia is blood poisoning, but blood poisoning is not necessarily septicaemia.
*How much a ton of iron and a ton of steel weighed in comparison to each other in the fourteenth century (and then got used to help me build currency).
*Where particular colours of dye come from, how expensive they are, and which would be valuable imports/exports (the red dye 'crimson', the dye 'imperial purple', woad, indigo, etc.).
*What types of servants existed in royal/noble households, including nobles who worked for the king as seneschal/Lord Chamberlain/Lord Steward.
*What a castellan is.
*How old castles were designed (outer wall, inner wall, keep).
*How long horses can travel for in a day.
*Where various gemstones come from.
*That you can do a high kick in a loose ankle-length skirt and heels (more than one skirt and how effective the kick is still have to be ascertained, but definitely manageable with practice).
*The metamorphosis of crown shapes over the years.
*The meanings of various different flowers/plants in 'flower language'.
*That there were horses who had the ability to amble and gait in the medieval period and before.

That's by no means a complete list - I have pages of names meanings and various notes that might be useful for fantasy-set stories.

That list makes me interested in your novel(s). :)

[Gabriele Campbell]

I have a WIP, so I am still researching. Some of the things, in order of less to more difficult to find:
- personal names among various ethnicities in the Roman Empire
- ranks of military and non-military offices in the Roman Empire
- who exactly the Huns were
- distances by water, land and road between Bratislava and Belgrade
- the origins of the Slavic peoples
- Cthonic versus Solar mythologies
- baptismal and confirmation rites in 6th-century Orthodox Christianity
- spells
- overlapping mythologies of eastern Europe
- how fast you can row up the Danube river
- how fast can you walk across Romania
- Gnostic rituals
- whether a literary agent will ever be interested in this stuff

That's another cool research list. What are you going to do with it?

[Gabriele Campbell]

I just need to polish up my Latin a bit and I'd be able to pass as Roman shoud some time travel accident pop me into the Roman Empire. Did enough research all over the place those last years (plus a bit of reenactment). :)

[Kitty27]

Vampire Book 1:
The Crusades and medieval England. The behavior of predators in the wild and serial killers.

Vamp Book 3:

Just how many people would it take to fill a tub with blood? Plus,the nobility before the Revolution.

Angel WIP:
Types of angels,names,and good old Lucifer.

YA Book:
Voodoo. REAL voodoo,not what Hollywood and the NO tourism industry portrays.

Werewolf Book;
The behavior of wolves in the wild.

Vamp Book 4:
Chinese immigrants in 19th century California.

Vamp Origins/Powers in Book 2:
The vampiric myths of nearly the entire world.

[mtrenteseau]

I could have sworn I'd posted in this discussion already...

For my first book, most of my research was conducted by going to the restaurants and classy hotel bars that my characters frequented. I know, poor me. :tongue

Working on book two now. I'm researching the "Fashion's Night Out" on September 10, 2009. Someone gets killed in a fitting room at the store where two of my characters are attending an event.

I'm currently planning a large catered event in an incredible space at the New York Public Library. Five hundred people for cocktails and heave hors d'oeuvres. Trying to decide of someone gets killed there, too...

[lachlan]

Cigars and cigar collecting, which never actually got used.

Roman names for several European cities (Londinium, Caletum, Nicaea, etc).

Height of a 12-year-old girl, and what kind of sword she can reasonably wield.

[Calliopenjo]

About the only strange thing I researched was the infamous F word. I was looking for the word it came from but, couldn't find it.

[stormie]

How to make compost.

[Kaiser-Kun]

What'd be an appropiate size for a planet, judging from speed and length of the trains. How would the gravity of said planet affect the gravity of an approaching meteor.

[Chris P]

Age of consent and child porn laws. Let me tell you, I locked the door and held my breath with every click of Google after doing a search with "child" and "porn" in any proximity, expecting the cyber cops to come after me.

And yes, the "change the age of consent" websites with the Viagra ads made me a little uneasy...

[wrangler]

Off the top of my head:

*The memory of a fetus
*Symbolism
*The pressure of high-school cliques
*Chess
*The Mayans
*Emotional dependency
*The history of Sound
*Language

[khawari]

I was searching in a novel site and found a link for the best written novels of 2007, here's the link http://bit.ly/aYRciw (http://bit.ly/aYRciw)

but the thing is that this website's name redirects here: http://www.taurosmedia.com (http://www.taurosmedia.com/)

What is this all about?

[Big Wolf]

About the only strange thing I researched was the infamous F word. I was looking for the word it came from but, couldn't find it.

From what I remember, it derives from the German word "fricken," which I think means "to strike." But there is also a link to the old Germanic goddess Friga, who was a goddess of female fertility, and to Frig, the god of male fertility.

[rifferaff]

i researched alot of random stuff. one that sticks out in my memory is looking up how to shoplift from a sephora. it's sort of mind boggling how much you can find on this very topic.

[Scarpelli87]

My novel takes place in the world of the Mafia. And like most author's I want my novel to be VIVID and PRECISE.

So here is a list of things I am afraid to ask people about. And I am sure for obvious reasons. Any suggestions on going about researching this would be excellent.

Cutting up human bodies
Disposing of human bodies
How the Mafia makes bodies disappear

[firedrake]

Spinning wool with a distaff and spindle;
Bee-keeping in Anglo Saxon Britain;
Terms of endearment in Old Norse.

[milly]

ummm...don't laugh...I spent a good deal of time researching Randy "Macho Man" Savage...the wrestler...long story but...I think it worked

also locusts...researched a good bit on their calls and locations, etc

[Lyra Jean]

My mom went to different banks in her town to find out if it was possible for a homeless person or a group of homeless people could get a loan. Some of the bankers weren't too nice even though she said she was writing a novel and that it was just research.

[Midnight Star]

I did a lot of research on:

- Serial Killers, the classifications of serial killers, their personalities, behaviors and patterns
- Blood coagulation
- Blood spatter patterns
- How to tell a pre-mortem scar from a post-mortem one
- Strychnine poisoning, its effects and how long it takes to die after having it put in your system
- Remote control cars (sounds silly, I know)
- Radio waves
- Counterfeit money, what color a $5 and $100 bill's ink strips glow under black lights
- Alcohol poisoning
- Car accidents
- The smell of a dead body
- Force needed to shove a sword through the breastbone and heart
- Difference between CSI and Detective
- Environment of Philadelphia
- DNA testing, specifically in animals such as cats
- Warrants and how to obtain one
- What happens if a suspect is interrogated without being read his miranda rights

and so much more I can't think of. Google is my best friend.

[Gabriele Campbell]

That sounds like one of your characters has killed someone. :D

[Midnight Star]

More like sixteen someones.

[Lydia Sharp]

My lastest sci-fi short involved cryogenics, and some of the stuff I read about what people are doing with it NOW made me want to vomit. Too gross to even mention here.

For my first sci-fi novel, WEB, I had to do a lot of research on insects and snakes. I also spent a solid week reading about nothing but how venom is used in modern medicine. Did you know that conch snail poison is a key element in breast cancer research? Amazing.

[Horserider]

- Whether or not jumping out a second-story window could put someone in a coma
- Comas
- Weed (whether or not it actually stains walls, and the withdrawal symptoms of someone who's quitting)
- Teen suicide
- Lakes in Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania climate
- Local restaurants close to aforementioned lake

[reiver33]

The OTs-38 revolver. Snub-nose, self-silencing ammunition, reduced flash. Absolutely NOT an old KGB 'snuff piece' for talking out someone in a crowd.

[Jilly McGilly]

Here is my very assorted list:

Monkeys
Epilepsy
Ricky Gervais

[starryeyedkt]

Pretty boring stuff on my behalf - you guys seem to have fun things to research! :hi:


Military rankings in the US (snore)
Ammunition and guerilla warfare tactics (double snore)
Swedish. Don't ask.
Etymology. So...many...names...and...origins...can't...go...o n...living....*dies*
Military procedure with homosexuality, clothing, relationships, background checks and ethnicity (some pretty cool thigns found here, actually)
Watching 'Generation Kill' and 'Platoon' about a bagillion times. Not such a bad thing :D

[Greeble]

I went to a backstage trip to a dolphinarium, to know how dolphins sound, look and feel. One of the dolphins really seemed to dislike me and sprayed me with water all the time, which pleased me to no end, since the dolphins in my story are not always all that friendly. I would have loved to see dolphins in the wild, but I am bad at scuba diving or even snorkeling.

[Bookewyrme]

Lets see....
-Walking times between most of the towns and cities in the UK and Europe.
-Victorian swear words and names.
-Ancient Egyptian views on a variety of subjects, including but not limited to: Child birth, aborting pregnancies, paternity, step-children, infidelity.
-Ancient Egyptian bed-chambers.
-Scandinavian mythical stories about Valkyries and ravens.
-Street layout of ancient Ephesus.
-Political history of Switzerland.

That's all I can think of, and no those aren't all the same book!

[RemusShepherd]

I've spent months studying up on various sociological and philosophical texts, from Aristotle to Wittgenstein.

I now have a cohesive theory for the Meaning of Life, and it's going into the novel. :)

[blacbird]

The quaint American frontier custom of tarring and feathering.

caw

[TameraLynnKraft]

How to smoke a pipe.

[Miranda Lois]

Let's see:

- Drive time from Omaha, Nebraska to Denver, Colorado
- Map and topography of the French Quarter in New Orleans
- "Craft service" on major film sets
- West Hollywood architecture

[Shady Lane]

I've had to research...

The Washington D.C. Metro sniper shootings, in horrendous detail
September 11th attacks, similarly
Type 1 diabetes
Moves that make men cry
Osteomyelitis
Effects of ecstasy and cocaine on someone with a heart condition
Immaculate conception
What states require blood tests for marriages


not all for the same book, of course :D

[mewoone]

mmm, i researched on Emasculate community and I discovered fascinating world.