Most fun research

zahra · Jul 9, 2012

What did you have most fun researching for your writing?

I recently had to find out the tune for an old music-hall song that one of Jack the Ripper's victims was heard singing on the night she died. I knew the lyrics and managed to find and download the music, so I took it to a guy who helps me with auditions and he played it, and it was just as creepy as I hoped.

I also spent a lovely boozy afternoon with a Detective Inspector a few years ago. He started off quite starchy and ended up ranting quite hilariously.

lorna_w · Jul 9, 2012

I enjoy research of almost any sort, so there's no way I can narrow it down. Put me in a big university library with a puzzle to solve, and I'm content. I'll read for three days to get one line right. I know you're not "supposed to" research as much as I do, but I love the process so much that the reward of learning for its own sake makes it a smart use of time for me. I'm one of those eternal student types, an autodidact. I suppose one day, I'll need to know what sewers are like and then I'll have research I can say I hate, but until that day, it's all good.

Stacia Kane · Jul 9, 2012

zahra said:
What did you have most fun researching for your writing?

I recently had to find out the tune for an old music-hall song that one of Jack the Ripper's victims was heard singing on the night she died. I knew the lyrics and managed to find and download the music, so I took it to a guy who helps me with auditions and he played it, and it was just as creepy as I hoped.

I also spent a lovely boozy afternoon with a Detective Inspector a few years ago. He started off quite starchy and ended up ranting quite hilariously.

You know the tune of Mary Kelly's song?!?!?!

zahra · Jul 10, 2012

Stacia Kane said:
You know the tune of Mary Kelly's song?!?!?!

Yup, I do! And having spent more than a year knowing the words, and having written it into a scene in my book without knowing the tune, it was just so wonderful to finally hear how it goes, I can't tell you. I think that's why I loved the research so much; it was filling in the blanks.

You can see what I did with that scene in Horror SYW, June prompt, btw........It's only a 400 or something word count, I believe.

EarlyBird · Jul 10, 2012

My previous novel is set in an old insane asylum. I was given a tour of one of the famous (to those in the know) Kirkbride facilities. It was amazing!

C. K. Casner · Jul 10, 2012

Mine was the druids. There is so little about them except for Roman propaganda. I actually read through a lot of neo-druid sites for information on rituals and the druid heiarchy. I know they are not the same as the ancient druids, but damn more informative than a lot of other sources.

Its kinda cool to see a resurrection of long-forgotten beliefs.

Filigree · Jul 10, 2012

I'm starting to research a famous festival (it used to rival the Rose Bowl Parade) for a horror novel set in 1930's Arizona. Lots of museum trips and talking to local historians. I'm using a famous RL artist as a main character, though changing his name, so I get to do more research on his life and philosophies.

ladyleeona · Jul 10, 2012

I really, really (really) love researching Scottish clan history. I have to force myself to find what I'm looking for and stop, otherwise I'll go off on some ridiculously intriguing tangent and end up wandering for hours.

I should have been a historian rather than a biologist.

Smile Steady · Jul 16, 2012

I'm jealous of all the fun research you guys have done. Makes me want to take a field trip of my own.

L. Y. · Jul 16, 2012

ladylilchubb said:
I really, really (really) love researching Scottish clan history. I have to force myself to find what I'm looking for and stop, otherwise I'll go off on some ridiculously intriguing tangent and end up wandering for hours.

I'm the same way with the feudal period of Japanese history/samurai. I end with a lot of unhelpful knowledge, at least for my novel.

Miss Plum · Jul 17, 2012

Ooh, great question. I've actually been a paid research assistant for the odd published author. Non-fic, but still . . .

I traveled to a few European countries to research a particular person for a biography. Walked around this teeny tiny town in the snow snapping pix of churches and graves and houses. The heir of the person is a very withdrawn and mysterious person in many ways. I got her phone number. Dialed it. She answered. The author I was working for just about died when I e-mailed her about the conversation we had.

zahra · Jul 18, 2012

Miss Plum said:
Ooh, great question. I've actually been a paid research assistant for the odd published author. Non-fic, but still . . .

I traveled to a few European countries to research a particular person for a biography. Walked around this teeny tiny town in the snow snapping pix of churches and graves and houses. The heir of the person is a very withdrawn and mysterious person in many ways. I got her phone number. Dialed it. She answered. The author I was working for just about died when I e-mailed her about the conversation we had.

Ooh, lucky! A) Being paid to research B) the travelling C) The old graves and houses D) The mysterious heiress (sorry, just a much better word than 'heir', somehow E) Making your employer think you're awesome.

LadyV · Jul 18, 2012

Being a total Anglophile, I love researching anything about Britain. I also enjoy researching obscure mythological creatures.

Hildegarde · Jul 19, 2012

zahra said:
I recently had to find out the tune for an old music-hall song that one of Jack the Ripper's victims was heard singing on the night she died. I knew the lyrics and managed to find and download the music, so I took it to a guy who helps me with auditions and he played it, and it was just as creepy as I hoped.

That is so cool!

One of the things I like about saying I'm a writer is that you can ask almost anyone almost anything (for, you know, *research* - not 'cause I'm naturally nosey!)

victoriastrauss · Jul 19, 2012

Honestly...I don't enjoy researching. I always wind up doing a lot of it, but it feels like taking medicine. Every time I embark on research for a book, I'm reminded of how glad I am that my education is behind me.

The one thing I did enjoy was the art history research I did for my latest book, because it involved going to museums, not libraries.

- Victoria

MarkEsq · Jul 19, 2012

There's a very good reason my mystery series is set in Paris, you know...

zahra · Jul 19, 2012

LadyV said:
Being a total Anglophile, I love researching anything about Britain. I also enjoy researching obscure mythological creatures.

I feel you must set your next novel on Peckham High Street. If you're still an Anglophile after that, they should give you citizenship.

Hildegarde said:
That is so cool!

One of the things I like about saying I'm a writer is that you can ask almost anyone almost anything (for, you know, *research* - not 'cause I'm naturally nosey!)

I know!

victoriastrauss said:
Honestly...I don't enjoy researching. I always wind up doing a lot of it, but it feels like taking medicine. Every time I embark on research for a book, I'm reminded of how glad I am that my education is behind me.

The one thing I did enjoy was the art history research I did for my latest book, because it involved going to museums, not libraries.

- Victoria

Then you should take a leaf out of Mark's - er - book:

MarkEsq said:
There's a very good reason my mystery series is set in Paris, you know...

See?

LadyV · Jul 19, 2012

zahra said:
I feel you must set your next novel on Peckham High Street. If you're still an Anglophile after that, they should give you citizenship.

*Goes off to research*

Eddyz Aquila · Jul 20, 2012

Research is always fun, particularly when you manage to find some really quirky stuff.

dancing-drama · Jul 20, 2012

I got to go on a tour through Berlin's underground bunkers. We were only about 7 people in our group and we all got to lie down in the bunk beds (surprisingly comfortable!) and they played godawful sound effects that made you feel like you were being attacked and the lights flickered etc.
They even asked people with weak nerves to step outside for that part. I thought it was the most interesting experience of the whole tour.

zahra · Jul 24, 2012

dancing-drama said:
I got to go on a tour through Berlin's underground bunkers. We were only about 7 people in our group and we all got to lie down in the bunk beds (surprisingly comfortable!) and they played godawful sound effects that made you feel like you were being attacked and the lights flickered etc.
They even asked people with weak nerves to step outside for that part. I thought it was the most interesting experience of the whole tour.

Wow, so would I! Step outside? Not on your Nelly.

Today I went to visit the Bankside area of London, where I've set my haunted warehouse story. I even got to see an old warehouse that has been converted into apartments, which is what is happening to the one in my story, and bothered the reception staff with all sorts of annoying questions. I'm sure they thought I was a terrorist or something.

I took some lovely pictures and toyed with the idea of walking my MC's route from his work to his home, but I'm far too lazy and it was - yay! - far too hot. Plus I didn't feel like battling all that Olympics fuckery.

It was well worth doing, so interesting and caught a couple of bloopers before edits.

Maryn · Jul 24, 2012

I'm an erotica author.

'Nuf said.

Maryn, unable to resist making the joke

Filigree · Jul 24, 2012

Me too. And it's surprisingly more work than one would think.

The next bit of research won't be as fun, but necessary. I have to read up on White Supremacist compounds in the US, in order to extrapolate a far-future version. Plus Stockholm Syndrome, cultish programming of children, and human cloning procedures. Lois Bujold already did much of it, but I want to be sure of current theories. My villains make me sick, sometimes.

Beachgirl · Jul 24, 2012

Maryn said:
I'm an erotica author.

'Nuf said.

Maryn, unable to resist making the joke

This!

I did tell my hubby we would NOT be personally doing any research for my menage books, though. :tongue

Filigree · Jul 24, 2012

I had to reassure the Mr. about that very point. Neither of us share well.

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