What weird stuff did you research for your novel?

Libbie · Nov 25, 2009

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 · Nov 25, 2009

I tried Copenhagen snuff...

mscelina · Nov 25, 2009

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 · Nov 25, 2009

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

thethinker42 · Nov 25, 2009

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 · Nov 25, 2009

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. =)

Caitlin Black · Nov 25, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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

Misa Buckley · Nov 26, 2009

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

Maxinquaye · Nov 26, 2009

- 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 · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

... 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 · Nov 26, 2009

Ken said:
... 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 · Nov 26, 2009

... 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 · Nov 26, 2009

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. )
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.

Tanydwr · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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 · Nov 26, 2009

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.

)

Priene · Nov 27, 2009

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 · Nov 27, 2009

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...

What weird stuff did you research for your novel?

Worst song played on ugliest guitar

Sailed away years ago

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you

Real Men Have Gills

Abnormal Romance Author

AW Addict

Wild one

Boldly going nowhere in particular.

Know what you write...

Extraordinary Romance

That cheeky buggerer

Soldier, Storyteller

Around and About

With great power comes

Citizen Of Planet Random

i luv you giant bear statue

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Blowing in the Wind

Somebody give me an A

Out to lunch

I'd rather be a cat.