Research.....

[Perihelion]

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?
I find this to be one of my largest writing challenges, but I'm highly detail oriented so I don't want to fudge on any facts in my writing.

On a side note: How many of you think that traveling to the actual locale in which a story takes place is absolutely necessary to the integrity of a novel? Lonely Planet guides and DVD's about said place don't suffice?

I'm also curious about how you find and employ fact checkers.

Thank you.

[Birol]

Um, I'm a research junkie. I can lose myself in it for hours as one thing leads to another.

[SC Harrison]

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?
I find this to be one of my largest writing challenges, but I'm highly detail oriented so I don't want to fudge on any facts in my writing.



One of my profs told me to start out with a preconceived notion, and then dig to either prove or disprove it. This gives you a focus to your research—a "mission", as it were, but it doesn't keep you from learning other (possibly important) details along the way.

Whenever possible, you should use some form of primary source, which may include traveling to the area/place in question. In the absence of this, you should seek corroborative information from multiple non-primary sources.

[Linda Adams]

I'm detailed-oriented, too, and here's what I've learned as I worked on my book (a thriller with a historical setting): Don't pay so much attention to the details. Do make sure you get what details you use reasonably right, but don't spend a lot of time making sure every nitnoid item is 100% accurate. To start with, it'll make you nuts and isn't really a good use of time. But the second reason is that it's too easy to focus on the little things in the story and not the overall story. The overall story is what the agent is looking for, not the little details.

Try these ideas and see if they work:

Write the story and when you run across a place where you need to know more, mark it and move on. Then you can group all your research together and go find out the information at a later date.
Weigh in exactly how important that detail is to the story. For example, if your hero surives because his gun fires seven bullets instead of six, that's an important detail that should be emphasized in the story. On the other hand, it make no difference whatsoever in the outcome of the story, it's not worth mentioning.
Ask how important this detail is to the intended audience. For example, since my thriller is for women readers, it was important to spend a little time on the clothes of the time. That audience would have expected a little bit of that.
Visiting locales: Obviously it depends on the location (especially since some may be inaccessible or cost prohibitive), but it's best where possible to get an idea of the place by looking around. There are simply going to be things that books and DVDs aren't going to cover.

[WerenCole]

I agree with Linda, write the story first. If you need to go back to a specific detail you can flesh it out with research later, but the important thing is to get the plot out while your creativity is alive and well. If you get bogged down every third paragraph with a specific detail, then you are doing yourself a disservice. My technique is to keep a notepad by my computer and make notes on places that I will need to research, often inserting into the text {Research Here} type of notes, then using the notepad to help me find the place again. For instance I will write on the notepad "pg 45, para 4- research on anatomy of a frog." It is not necessary, but it helps me keep my writing goals in place and not forget where in the WIP I needed that specific information.

In terms of locale, it may not be necessary to have visited the place, but it sure doesn't hurt. I find most of my stories to be based in cities, NYC and Boston and such, places I have been though do not live. I know enough about them so as to get through the rough spots but I will still look things up when needed. If you know nothing of South Africa you can find a general picture without jumping on a plane tomarrow.

In my last novel I was writing about two brothers, one of which was in the Maine State Penitentiary. I found the MSP website and got directions, floor plan information along with visiting hours and the such. It proved very useful when it came to certain scenes in which the free brother visited the jailed one. (I also grew up in Maine)

Any hoo, good luck and keep at it.

[(grasshopper)]

Um, I'm a research junkie. I can lose myself in it for hours as one thing leads to another.

I know what you mean, Birol. A few years ago I went to the library to get a few facts on the birth of stars for a scene I was writing about the development of life on planets. One thing led to another and I ended up spending several hours a day at the library for over three months! I kept going off on glorious tangents.

Nailed that scene, though.

[LightShadow]

What do you mean make research more palatable? It's fun. If you love the subject you're writing about, learning more about that subject and fashioning your new knowledge into a workable manuscript is more enjoyable than a barrel full of monkey books. (Nothing against Tarzan and Edgar Rice...) OO OO EE EE !!

[James D. Macdonald]

Start off in the children's room, reading recent books about your subject area. From there, move to the general books in the adult library, then the specialist books.

By that time you, personally, will be enough of an expert to write your own book. Don't forget to have a genuine expert among your beta readers.

[batgirl]

For what it's worth, I heard Samuel Delaney on a panel at a con once, talking about having visited Greece, and how after being there about three months, he looked at a story by Robert Silverberg set in Greece, and figured that Silverberg had been in Greece about that long when he wrote it, that they had about the same depth of knowledge of the locale.
Later, he asked Silverberg about it, and Silverberg said that in fact he'd never been to Greece, and had it all from guidebooks.
This is from memory, so I could be wrong on the details.
I can't help on the research side, as my difficulty is usually forcing myself to stop researching and start writing. It's probably a form of work avoidance.
-Barbara

[Cheryll]

I personally happen to love research. I can get lost in it for hours. I use Google and Dogpile search engines a lot, as well as my local library and reference books on the subject I'm researching.

As for visiting the locales in your writing, some writers are real sticklers about that. Elizabeth George comes to mind... I believe she's based all of her novels on actual places that she's been to. I guess it's a matter of preference. Of course, when you make the kind of money Ms. George does, it's a lot easier to go trotting around the globe in the name of research. ;)

In my first novel, most of the story takes place in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which is a place I've visited numerous times over the years, so I felt I was able to adequately capture the essence of that area. But in a major flashback involving my central character, I needed to go back to South Korea circa the Korean War - rather hard to do since the events happened over 50 years ago. LOL For those parts I utilized a lot of reference and history books.

The important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it.

[(grasshopper)]

I've often wondered, if you travel to a place and then use descriptions of that place in your novel, can you write off your travel expenses?

What if you write the scene but it gets nixed by the editor/publisher?

[Diana Hignutt]

I'm in the midst of the most daunting and involved research I've yet done...and I'm loving it. One of my characters is a historical figure, and I'm working on getting a very thorough feel for the character before I start writing about them. It's been quite a few years since I've done this sort of research (my previous books were fantasy novels) and I'm finding it very rewarding. Very soon I'll start writing, but right now I'm researching and outlining.

I plan on doing some traveling in the spring to visit some of the places I'm writing about. Luckily the farthest locale is just a couple of hundred miles away from where I live.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I hate research simply because I DO get lost in it. I have this part in my WIP where my character visits the Royal Library of Alexandria and I'd like to describe it somewhat accurately (even though there are no records of what it looks like), so my research has taken me many hours over the course of several days trying to figure out if they used Doric or Ionic columns in Alexandria at the time the library was built, who the most important librarian was, how he created a catalog for storing the scrolls, and on and on.

All for a piece in my novel that will only encompass maybe 2 pages at the most.

For my previous WIP I spent months researching Vikings.

[JerseyGirl1962]

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?
I find this to be one of my largest writing challenges, but I'm highly detail oriented so I don't want to fudge on any facts in my writing.

On a side note: How many of you think that traveling to the actual locale in which a story takes place is absolutely necessary to the integrity of a novel? Lonely Planet guides and DVD's about said place don't suffice?

I'm also curious about how you find and employ fact checkers.

Thank you.

Research can be fun for you if one or more of your characters is involved in something you enjoy or maybe in a locale you've enjoyed reading about in the past.

In my prior WIP, I had fun researching San Francisco and a bit of research on the old-time Hollywood movie studios; San Francisco is a fascinating city with a fascinating history and I spent a lot of my teenage years going through movie books (wherein there was usually a clip from the movie with a short synopsis of the movie). So there are 2 things in that story which I liked very much, so doing any sort of research I found fun.

Interestingly, as part of my research into San Francisco, I won a bid on Ebay for a San Francisco map from 1938 or 1939 (important to the story that I know some of the streets, the relation of the Golden Gate Bridge, that sort of thing). My hubby saw it, and decided, hey why don't we go to San Francisco next year? And we did, last year. Didn't tie in completely with my story, but I got a feel for the energy of the place, fixed several landmarks in my mind, that sort of thing, so I think it helped me somewhat.

Is it necessary to go to a locale? I don't think so. But it's a good idea to get detailed maps of the place you're going to set your characters in, just so you have an idea of which direction you're going to send your characters in.

Fact checkers - what's that? No, I'm serious; I have no idea what those are. That sounds to me like more of a non-fiction thing.

Oh, and don't forget something I learned - you have to stop at some point with your research and write the story.

Good luck! :)

~Nancy

[eskkar]

Once upon a time, a famous (read: well-paid) author was questioned about the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of his historical fiction novels. He replied, "I never let facts get in the way of a good story."

If readers want to know the facts, they can read history books, or science books, or even geography books. Readers want a good story that entertains and enlightens them. Keep the focus on the story. Once you've got a good story down, you can sprinkle a few facts (true facts or untrue facts, depending on which sound better) throughout the story.

good luck,

eskkar

[Jcomp]

You just have to dive in. Everyone's tastes are different, so some material is fun to research, others not so much, but it has to be done, so just tackle it. I don't think visiting a specific locale is necessary, but if you can swing it I can't see how it would do anything other than benefit the authenticity of the story. Also, anything you can get firsthand is that much more interesting, don't be afraid to ask someone in the know, no matter the situation. I recently got arrested (stupid traffic warrants I should've paid) and while riding in the squad car headed downtown, I asked the arresting officer some questions regarding a story I was working on. He was actually cool about it, and thought it was cool that I was writing a story and asking him questions (though not so cool that he decided to turn around, drop me back off at my car and make those warrants vanish. Oh well...), so you never know.

[jackie106]

The library is an excellent source of information, but not all research has to take place there.

Ways to supplement library research:
1) Eat at restaurants that serve cuisine from that country. Try to find a place with a reputation for authenticity. If it's a Chinese restaurant and all the other patrons are speaking Mandarin, you're probably at the right place.

2) Attend religious services that people in the country you are researching would attend. If your book is about Greece, visit a Greek Orthodox Church. (Call ahead of time to make sure that it is okay to attend services. Some religious services are closed to non-believers.)

3) Try to find out if any museums have exhibits pertaining to your country of interest.

4) Watch movies from the country. (This is a lot easier if you are writing about a country with a large movie industry, such as India.) Check the local paper for listings. Sometimes local colleges or ethnic organizations have film festivals focusing on a specific geographic area.

Jackie

[jackie106]

What if you write the scene but it gets nixed by the editor/publisher?

Perhaps you could recycle the research information and use it in a later novel.

[(grasshopper)]

Perhaps you could recycle the research information and use it in a later novel.

Yes, Jackie, I have a folder called "Old Stuff" and I put copies of everything I've ever researched or written in there, hoping to be able to use it someday.

But my question was more concerned with travel expenses. I was wondering what happens if an author actually decides to spend a thousand dollars to fly out to Tibet to get first-hand information on the life of monks, then writes that information into his novel, proving he really did research in Tibet (instead of just vacationing there).
And then what if the editor decides to drop that scene so that his proof never shows up in the published novel. Can he still write off the thousand dollars on his taxes as "research"?

(Sheesh, I just realized that I sound like a kid trying to figure out some little nit-picky detail that might occur in some made up scenario. Please ignore this post.)
I'd delete it, but I'm working on my first 50. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

[SC Harrison]

But my question was more concerned with travel expenses. I was wondering what happens if an author actually decides to spend a thousand dollars to fly out to Tibet to get first-hand information on the life of monks, then writes that information into his novel, proving he really did research in Tibet (instead of just vacationing there).
And then what if the editor decides to drop that scene so that his proof never shows up in the published novel. Can he still write off the thousand dollars on his taxes as "research"?



I can't imagine that the editing out of the researched material would change the tax status. Especially if you keep all of your notes handy for the audit :)

Check out the Travel & Meals section of this page:


http://www.artstaxinfo.com/writers.shtml



I think I've figured out how to make my vacations less expensive ;)

[Gabriele]

I hate research simply because I DO get lost in it. I have this part in my WIP where my character visits the Royal Library of Alexandria and I'd like to describe it somewhat accurately (even though there are no records of what it looks like), so my research has taken me many hours over the course of several days trying to figure out if they used Doric or Ionic columns in Alexandria at the time the library was built, who the most important librarian was, how he created a catalog for storing the scrolls, and on and on.

All for a piece in my novel that will only encompass maybe 2 pages at the most.

For my previous WIP I spent months researching Vikings.

Ok, I don't hate research, but I'm so with you about spending days researching for a 2 page scene. :)

[Gabriele]

Once upon a time, a famous (read: well-paid) author was questioned about the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of his historical fiction novels. He replied, "I never let facts get in the way of a good story."

If readers want to know the facts, they can read history books, or science books, or even geography books. Readers want a good story that entertains and enlightens them. Keep the focus on the story. Once you've got a good story down, you can sprinkle a few facts (true facts or untrue facts, depending on which sound better) throughout the story.

good luck,

eskkar

Hm, I'm not sure I agree with such a sweeping statement. There are some facts in history you better don't get wrong because they'd change everything. Have Napoléon win the battle of Waterloo and you're writing Alternate History.

Also, it shouldn't be asking to much to take some care about the smaller details, the everydays life that won't influence the plot. Potatoes in the 12th century really piss me off, there's no reason why the characters can't eat grain based products. And the basic documentary for such information isn't difficult to find.

Tampering with less well known historical characters, playing a bit with timelines, merging two battles into one, inventing a first marriage for someone who's recorded to have married late enough for another one to sneak in - that sort of thing is perfectly fine with me, especially if the author explains it in an afterword.

[crosseyed reader]

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?
Hmm...drink heavily?

Seriously, your research is an extension of your story, so you should embrace it as much as you do your writing. Personally, I find it helpful to actually go to the places that are involved in my stories. That philosophy has taken me some pretty strange places, but it's also enriched my writing as well. I'm a sensory type of writer. If I can taste it, smell it, see it, touch it, then I can write about it. Research is the catalyst for my writing. You may be able to write just as effectively by hitting the library. But do yourself and your writing the honor of hitting the library hard.

Tossing the fates up to the wind in terms of not doing proper research brands one a hacker. There's nothing more irritating than reading a book, albeit fiction, and seeing glaring errors of fact. This shows a lazy author who exhibits disdain for his readers. Do the homework and reap the benefits.

[eskkar]

Hm, I'm not sure I agree with such a sweeping statement. There are some facts in history you better don't get wrong because they'd change everything. Have Napoléon win the battle of Waterloo and you're writing Alternate History.

Also, it shouldn't be asking to much to take some care about the smaller details, the everydays life that won't influence the plot. Potatoes in the 12th century really piss me off, there's no reason why the characters can't eat grain based products. And the basic documentary for such information isn't difficult to find.

Tampering with less well known historical characters, playing a bit with timelines, merging two battles into one, inventing a first marriage for someone who's recorded to have married late enough for another one to sneak in - that sort of thing is perfectly fine with me, especially if the author explains it in an afterword.

Gabrielle,
you're right, of course. I didn't mean that you should get your basic facts wrong. But how many times do writers drown their readers in facts that don't move the story along? I'm sure we've all seen plenty of those stories. What I was trying to say was that the story is more important than the details, and that writers, especially those starting out, shouldn't be spending lots of time and effort on research. Your agent and editor (and before them, your critique group) will be the ones who tell you what to include and exclude.

If a writer's basic facts are wrong, his readers will let him know. And if he's got readers interested enough to finish his book and then complain about his facts, he's got an established readership base.

Do you know how many readers complained when Bernard Cornwell brought his bad guy back to life (after his head had been stomped on by an elephant) so the hero could kill him again in the next book? Thousands! And guess what? We all kept buying his next book.

eskkar

[SC Harrison]

What I was trying to say was that the story is more important than the details, and that writers, especially those starting out, shouldn't be spending lots of time and effort on research. Your agent and editor (and before them, your critique group) will be the ones who tell you what to include and exclude.



Please don't take this the wrong way, but...new authors need to spend a lot more time and effort on everything, and that includes research.

I see so many people advising that, as long as the story is good, other things (grammar, punctuation, accuracy) can be dealt with later. The problem with this is that later never happens.

If you get to a point that calls for more research, and the needed information may change the direction of the story, go get it. If the needed information won't change anything, you can do it later, but you still need to do it.

Just my nickel on the subject.

[crosseyed reader]

What I was trying to say was that the story is more important than the details, and that writers, especially those starting out, shouldn't be spending lots of time and effort on research. Your agent and editor (and before them, your critique group) will be the ones who tell you what to include and exclude.
I kindly beg to disagree. It's true that an agent or editor will be the ones to slice and dice, but the writer needs to get it right first. While the story is more important than the details, it's those details that breathe life into the foundations of your story. You must KNOW which details are important and which are expendable, and the only way to determine that is to thoroughly research your topic. Facts is facts, as they say, and new writers are in no different boat from the old hat writer.

[(grasshopper)]

Can anyone offer tips for making research more palatable - "fun" even?
Thank you.


You know, Perihelion, it just occurred to me that it might be helpful to adjust your unspoken assumption here.

[badducky]

If you don't enjoy research... um, why are you writing novels? Go do something snarky like non-fiction books about your zany friends and family.

As per the travel... GO TO THE LOCALE!!!!!

Just go.

I'll never forget the first time I stepped off the plane in North Dakota in January, and experienced the cold that I needed to write about for those couple scenes in the book.

I'll never forget actually riding in a riverboat.

It changes the way we talk about these things, and our experiences will only feed the muse!

[victoriastrauss]

If you don't enjoy research... um, why are you writing novels? I don't enjoy research. I never did, even while writing marathon research papers in college. Nevertheless, I do it, because my writing requires it. The up side is that I don't have a problem, as some writers do, of researching forever and never getting to the writing. The writing is a reward for the research.

I pace myself, research-wise, by doing the broad general research before I start writing, and the spot research (if for instance I need to know how to take care of camels or what an opal mine would look like) as I write.

- Victoria

[L M Ashton]

I enjoy research too much - I get pulled in all sorts of tangents. Sometimes, though, those tangents prove to be inspiration for resolving plot problems or for creating a whole other story.

But I agree with others - the facts need to be there. I especially like the one piece of advice upstream - if your story will change depending on the facts, research it now. If it won't, move on and research it later.

I'm a plotter, so facts that affect the plot are (almost) always researched beforehand. But I still tend to put <<figure out the name of the plant and what it looks like - insert it here>> sort of thing into my manuscripts for those things that don't alter the plot. That way, I can keep going with the flow of the story. It works for me. :)

[Cheryll]

Ok, I don't hate research, but I'm so with you about spending days researching for a 2 page scene. :)

**raises hand**

I've done that. Many times. LOL

Cheryll

[Cheryll]

Hm, I'm not sure I agree with such a sweeping statement. There are some facts in history you better don't get wrong because they'd change everything. Have Napoléon win the battle of Waterloo and you're writing Alternate History.

I agree with you 100%. My flashback involved my main character, who 50 years earlier, had been an American Navy serviceman aboard a U.S. battleship during the Korean War. You can't make that stuff up. I needed to know the logistics of the war, which ships were over there during that time, the manuevers they were involved in, etc. etc.

If it's a completely fictional place you're writing about, you have free reign to do as you please. But if you're referring to actual places or events in history, it's my opinion that you should try to be accurate. Readers notice things like that. I know I do!

Cheryll

[Brandi]

you're right, of course. I didn't mean that you should get your basic facts wrong. But how many times do writers drown their readers in facts that don't move the story along? I'm sure we've all seen plenty of those stories. What I was trying to say was that the story is more important than the details, and that writers, especially those starting out, shouldn't be spending lots of time and effort on research. Your agent and editor (and before them, your critique group) will be the ones who tell you what to include and exclude.


I disagree. I find the facts are important, and a writer loses me if I know that his or her facts are wrong. My post-graduate training is in American history, and I stay away from most (not all) historical fiction involving the time period I studied because the authors get so many facts wrong. I'm not talking about nitpicky details, but when there are events and timelines that don't add up, I cannot continue reading. Playing with reality, as in bringing someone back to life or time travel, is far more acceptable to audiences, in my view, than inaccuracies in the fabric of the story.

Of course, I think it also depends on your audience. If they're looking for a beach romance, they're probably more forgiving than people expecting to be pulled into a novel that will challenge them to think.

Brandi

[(grasshopper)]

This is an interesting turn in the conversation. And it just reminded me of something. I have used a real city in my novel, but in this real city, I have invented a hospital and a shopping mall that don't actually exist there.

Does this break any rules?

[Shadow_Ferret]

This is an interesting turn in the conversation. And it just reminded me of something. I have used a real city in my novel, but in this real city, I have invented a hospital and a shopping mall that don't actually exist there.

Does this break any rules?

That is an interesting question. I've often wondered when I read fiction how many of the places are real and how many are made-up. I also wonder -- if you use a real place, do you have to get their permission to use it? In your case, if you used a real hospital, St. Joseph's Medical Center on the corner of Burleigh and 51st Streets, for instance, would you have to get their permission to use that name? Or SHOULD you make up names like that to avoid litigation later on?

Never having read a novel set in my own hometown, I don't know how close to real you have to be in fiction or what is the accepted norm for these questions.

[Niesta]

Another vote here for visiting the locale, if you can afford it. Yes, you can learn a lot from books and film (and you should definitely read and watch, even if you travel!), but BEING someplace is substantially different. Lonely planet will tell you the important monuments of Greece, but it can't convey the smell of Athens in summertime (or of your cabbie's cologne), the color of sunrise on the Acropolis, what it's like to be chased by semi-feral dogs on the Pnyx, or how many blisters you'll have after just 24 hours.

That was MY trip to Greece. Nothing inspires, revives, or gives you quite as many good stories as travel, IMO.

[crosseyed reader]

This is an interesting turn in the conversation. And it just reminded me of something. I have used a real city in my novel, but in this real city, I have invented a hospital and a shopping mall that don't actually exist there.

Does this break any rules?
Absolutely not. People will forgive your taking Thomas Guide license with their fair city. Unless it's non-fiction. Then you may have an angry mob armed with torches a la Frankenstein.

[(grasshopper)]

Oh, Good!

What a relief.

Hope I don't get any complaints from people who might visit the city and go looking for that shopping mall, though . . . :)

[TheIT]

I've heard mixed opinions about using real places in fiction and changing them. If your story hinges on a place which doesn't exist (and is verifiable that it doesn't exist), you might lose credibility with people who live in that area. One suggestion I've heard is to create your own town near a real location. This gives you the freedom to come up with your own map, but you've got the association with a real place which readers can draw from.

[SC Harrison]

I've heard mixed opinions about using real places in fiction and changing them. If your story hinges on a place which doesn't exist (and is verifiable that it doesn't exist), you might lose credibility with people who live in that area. One suggestion I've heard is to create your own town near a real location. This gives you the freedom to come up with your own map, but you've got the association with a real place which readers can draw from.

I agree. IMO, the main objective is to allow the reader to live the story; in order for this to work, real places need accurate details. If I am writing about a specific city, I try to make sure a resident of that city could not find fault. On the flipside of this, I have noticed some writers use too much detail of real places, as if they're trying to prove to the reader they've actually been there. More is not always better.

Which brings up another issue when it comes to research, and that is using only what the story needs. After doing (sometimes) painstaking research, our natural impulse is to use as much of it as possible. I have caught myself trying hard to find ways to insert newly aquired information into the story, so my time won't have been "wasted". After letting it sit for a few days and rereading, I'm thinking "where did that come from?"

[James D. Macdonald]

After doing (sometimes) painstaking research, our natural impulse is to use as much of it as possible.

That's called "I've suffered for my art -- now it's your turn."

[Richard White]

SC,

I agree there's a fine line between a well-researched book and boring the reader.


In one of my fantasy works, I've got tons of research and tons of backstory, names of places and people, who rules what, who wants to rule what, etc. I know 90% of it will probably never see the light of day.

But, it was something I needed to do to make the world real. I was able to work with my degree in Medieval history and then warp the world slightly to make my fantasy realm. It's still a fantasy, but it's real enough that people shouldn't be jerked out of the book, going "Nah, that's not right."

Do the readers need to know I have all the islands in a certain kingdom named ahead of time? Nope. Does it help me when I need a name for an island and don't want to make up a bad name off the top of my head? Absolutely.

I'm certainly not saying everyone needs to do the level of planning and research on a topic that I do, but personally, I prefer to get everything worked out ahead of time. That way, I don't have to stop the writing process to look something up beyond opening my notebook and turning to X page to get the info I already have on hand.

[SC Harrison]

That's called "I've suffered for my art -- now it's your turn."

Right. And if someone doesn't appreciate the extra effort the artist put into the work, they're just not being objective enough. That and fifty cents will get you a cup of coffee.

Leaving some stuff out is hard, though. Especially when you come across a piece of information that makes you say "Wow. I did not know that."