What's the strangest thing you've ever done for your novel?

[Celia Cyanide]

I was writing a scene in my novel in which the protagonist starts making a patchwork quilt out of paper, since it's the only material she has. I tried to imagine what she would have to do to the paper to make it soft enough, and how the peices would fit together. To really figure out how it would work, I tore out some notebook pages I didn't need and made a patchwork square myself.

Not that it was that much effort, but I found it funny, because it's not like I have to worry about some "expert" reading my book and saying to him/herself, "That's not the way you make a paper patchwork quilt! The paper won't be soft enough to sleep on if you only crumple it once!" But it did make it much easier to describe when I could actually see it.

Does anyone have any stories about something they did that they would never have even conceived of doing if they weren't writing about it?

Come to think of it...I've done things I've actually wanted to do, but used writing about them as an excuse...

[Maryn]

I engage my young-adult kids in re-enacting accidents or violence. How would you land if I shot/stabbed/pushed you here? Okay, how about here? You're on a rug--how bad would that landing hurt on a street? How fast can you get up from that position, or roll over? Is your gun, sword, or knife pinned under your body? Do your arms have time to pinwheel on the way down? What if your foot went through the floor?

Researching erotica is much more fun, though...

Maryn, enthusiastic researcher

[Garpy]

Good question. I've googled a variety of unusual subjects. I just hope to God the Effer-bee-eye and Homeland security haven't been snooping my search subjects

-WhiteHouse floor plans
-Uranium enrichment techniques
-microbiology pathogens

Uh?....doorbell just went. Back in a minute.

[SeanDSchaffer]

I think the strangest thing I've ever done for any manuscript was to draw pictures of my characters that were pornographic in nature.

Although a close second to that might be that, for one manuscript, I wrote a country's entire constitution with a typewriter, basing it loosely on the U.S. Constitution, so I could get the Supreme Law of that particular land down pat.

Then I tried writing all the other laws down. That didn't fly quite as well, and I eventually abandoned the finer details of the country's laws.


I'd say those are the two strangest things I've ever done for a manuscript.

[KelseyF]

Moved to France.

[Avalon]

I tied myself up once and wiggled around on the floor to see the effect it had on my field of vision.

My dog thought I was nuts.

[HConn]

I sprayed pepper spray in my living room to see what effect it would have.

Luckily, my roommates were out, so they didn't see me opening all the doors and windows so the breeze could blow through. But that poor cat....

[E.G. Gammon]

When I'm writing dialogue, I tend to "become" the characters and run through each scene - out loud - even the female parts. I got caught once by neighbors who knocked at the door (I didn't hear them because I was talking so loud), heard me talking "in character" (and it - OF COURSE - wasn't a male character), and peeked in the open, screened window at me. I tried to correct the situation by picking up the phone before I answered the door, and acting like I was on it with someone then and when I was talking a second ago [Thank God I wasn't in a 1950's sitcom because the phone would have rung in my hand], but I doubt they bought it.

Well, that wasn't really "research," which is where this thread kind of veered off towards, but I guess my 'method' and incident is strange enough to post here. I still do act out each scene of dialogue - but I make sure nobody's around and all the windows are tightly closed...

[goatpiper]

Well...when I was working on something where the protagonist was into bestiality, I...


Oh...come on...I'm not really serious.

[goatpiper]

In all seriousness, this thread reminds me of a famous anecdote involving Dustin Hoffman and Sir Lawrence Olivier. Hoffman is, of course, infamous for beating the crapola out of himself to 'get into the role'. Olivier, solidly in the 'master your voice' school of English acting, just fakes it. When they were working together, Olivier said to Hoffman "Oh, Dustin, why can't you just act?"
Seems to have a certain parallel to writing, neh? Not that it can't be fun 'getting into your characters'.

[aadams73]

For my current WIP--watched puppies being born. And given that my stories are animal based, I ask my vet TONS of questions.

[CaitlinK18]

I'll act out scenes, with dialogue, in front of the mirror to make sure they work. Or I made my ex boyfriend do it with me...poor guy. He's be shot, stabbed, handcuffed and kicked in the nuts more than any man, real or fictional, should have to endure. And also spouted far more bad dialogue.

I've also gone around talking with a British accent for entire days to get the speech patterns down. I convinced several tourists I was from Britannia.

It's fun being a writer.

[zornhau]

See avatar pic.

[banjo]

I don't know how strange it is, but my neighbor thought so.

I was writing a desperate hand to hand combat scene from the Korean War. I'm more familiar with the weight and balance of an M-16. To get an accurate feel for the weapon, I bought an M-1 Garand and bayonet. I was practicing sparing with the weapon, in my back, yard when I noticed my neighbor peering down at me. He had a trange look on his face, as if he thought I'd lost it. He never spoke of it.

Wait til he sees me out there in the uniform, doing it again.

[My-Immortal]

Hmmmm....I wonder if I could convince my wife that I need to do some research on this nympho character I just created....

I learned some basic swordfighting...

I act out some of the scenes and I read nearly all of my dialogue out loud (with different voices for each character).

I've researched sailing ships, weather patterns, foreign languages and mythologies and even olive trees...

Oh yeah, and then I wrote the book. That was probably the strangest thing...

[banjo]

My-Immortal

Is the swordfighting in any way related to your nympho research? :box:

[My-Immortal]

My-Immortal

Is the swordfighting in any way related to your nympho research? :box:

LOL

Hmmm...that would make for an interesting character though....

[FolkloreFanatic]

I joined a fan-based RPG as an evil, bisexual male wizard to learn...well, many things. THAT was interesting.

[Jamesaritchie]

Well, I never considered any of it strange, but I have made a walking stick using the same tools a character had to use. I've also made paper, ink, goosefeather quills. Then made candles, and wrote by candelight. I grew up using weapons, but I've used some specifically because of my writing. Primarily 18th and 19th century black powder weapons. I've also climbed a couple of cliffs freestyle to see how that would affect a character. Early on, a took a few part-time jobs because they were ones I wanted a character to have.

[HConn]

I've gotten up at 2 am so I could write for a couple hourse before work. :sleepy:

[My-Immortal]

I've gotten up at 2 am so I could write for a couple hourse before work. :sleepy:

I do better staying up until 2am working on my novel and waking up at 6am to be daddy. :)

[blacbird]

Submit it. A stranger experience has never crossed the arc of my lifeline. And I was in the Army.

bird

[hoyateach]

Jean M. Auel, of the Earth's Children series set in the Stone Age, not only visits archaeological sites but regularly camps outdoors in situations similar to those of her characters.

Tom Clancy hangs out with military types but I don't know if he engages in much actual combat training.

Several writers are former journalists -- David Simon and Jennifer Weiner come to mind -- and I'm sure they incorporated events/people into their work.

On a much softer note, I'm tinkering with a modern-day fantasy series (think JRR Tolkien meets Robert Ludlum) in which the protagonist flies all over the world. I have managed to keep every scene set in a city/place I have actually visited. Of course, this is now making me want to go forth and travel more. Have any of you ever been to Johannesburg, South Africa? Or Hong Kong? Mumbai, perhaps? Or Rio de Janeiro? Neither have I. Someday...

BTW, does taking advice from people on AW count?:wag: