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Weird Things You Researched for Your Erotica

Thread starter Maryn
Start date Jan 29, 2019

dangerousbill

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Feb 8, 2019

#26

Coddiwomple said:
Out of curiosity I did a little searching and OMG Internet -- I found this lovely compilation of Navy slang. Dunno if the proper term for "sea wife" is in there, but it sure was fun looking. Sixty-seven pages! Including a bibliography!

goatlocker.org/resources/nav/navyslang.pdf

Very helpful. I was in the Canadian Naval Reserve when I was 20, and learned their slang. It was different, derived mostly from the British Navy.

One of my favorites was 'Nelson's Blood', slang for Navy overproof rum. The legend behind it was that when Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed at Trafalgar, they put his body in a barrel of rum to make the trip back to England. When they reached Portsmouth, they found a hole had been drilled in the barrel and the rum was gone. (Most likely apocryphal but still good for a squick.)

DB

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Maryn

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Feb 9, 2019

#27

It's a story I've heard before, but it's better for a squick than merely "good."

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Feb 10, 2019

#28

I'm editing for length and doing less research, but I still had to look up Rodin's "The Thinker" to know where the other elbow was. Which bothered me, because I've seen it, damn it.

Synonym

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Feb 12, 2019

#29

dangerousbill said:
Coyotes are found in Indian legend and folklore from coast to coast, but the exact presentation and attitude to the coyote differs greatly from tribe to tribe. Be cautious to attribute the right beliefs to the right place. I have a book of Hopi legends that has an unusual number of stories involving talking coyotes and very large and very small penises, for example. And if I run over a coyote, I have to be concerned that the coyote's spirit may take over my body.

Sometimes the stories conflate probable truth from probable legend. One was written by a John Holliday, a Navajo, regarding a story his grandmother told him, swearing it to be true. When she was a girl, she became lost. A coyote came near enough to be seen, then trotted away. She followed the coyote, and saw that the animal was waiting for her to catch up. Then it trotted away again, and again, and eventually led her back to her people.

Thank you, bill. I'm aware of the different aspects and the need to proceed with caution. Navajo/Hopi land dispute as well, all that tension is in the back of my mind. I'm debating whether to use it, or not.

NoTimeToWrite97

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Feb 12, 2019

#30

I'm currently doing research on the Earth's atmosphere for a Sci-fi/Romance novel. Other than making myself feel a little dim-witted, it's kind of amazing to learn new things on your own!

Maryn

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Feb 13, 2019

#31

Amen to that. It's awfully easy to let your learning stop once you leave school. Skim the paper, or skip it altogether, that's step one. (Unless you replace it with another in-depth news source.) That's one good thing about having a device at hand all the time, at least: I look up whatever grabbed my interest far more often than in the Dayes of Olde.

Yesterday I did a little geography work on an area of Southern California. What I'm writing needs to be set there, so of course I've never been, and Google Maps doesn't even have street view. The horror!

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Feb 15, 2019

#32

Weight lifters, bodybuilders, and hemorrhoids. Not all research for erotic fiction is fun.

JakeSTamer

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Feb 16, 2019

#33

Recently I spent some time researching a characters name. Thinking I would have to change it, as I didn't think she could be named Arianna in 5th century Norway. I found that Arianna is the Latin form of the Greek name Ariadne from around the same time period. So, even though it's not Nordic it is technically possible for a 5th century Nordic girl to be named Arianna, and I like it, so her name is going to continue to be Arianna.

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Feb 18, 2019

#34

Expensive athletic shoes, the sort the local Dick's store and Zappos don't carry, for elite athletes.

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Mar 10, 2019

#35

Alcohol poisoning and how much intake is required. I didn't get satisfying answers, really. I got blood alcohol levels for poisoning, but the "data" of how much booze that takes was typical for-a-man-this-much/for-a-woman-half-that nonsense, since there are so many to whom it doesn't apply, from daily heavy drinkers to very small or very large people. My character weighs 250-ish and can probably handle more alcohol than a man who clocks in at 160, yes? So how many shots?

I dunno.

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Mar 14, 2019

#36

"Shortest male actors in Hollywood", followed by "hairiest male actors in Hollywood". But not the two combined; I needed the separate results.

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Mar 14, 2019

#37

I'm intrigued. Ruling out little people, you've got who? Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, Elijah Wood, Kevin Hart... Oh, Tom Cruise, too, but he lies about it.

But who's hairy? Jake Gyllenhaal's chest hair shows in tufts above his shirt. Tom Selleck. Steve Carrell or however you spell it. (I remember that scene in 40-Year-Old Virgin, his reaction apparently genuine.) Of course, what's in fashion for men's grooming means that lots of men in Hollywood with hairy chests trim it short or shave/remove it. You can tell Jason Momoa's a trimmer.

Maryn, who is enjoying pondering this

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Mar 23, 2019

#38

The color of wheatfields, and whether it's browner or yellower at different stages. Meh, it was just to make a metaphor.

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Mar 23, 2019

#39

Valve amps and the price of clutch cables for ancient vans.

Maryn

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Mar 28, 2019

#40

Shoe sizes for tall people. My guy's six five, wears a US 14.

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Apr 12, 2019

#41

The proper names of the muscles in the back. I kind of knew them but had to confirm.

DiloKeith

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Jun 6, 2019

#42

I can't remember anything weird or unusual, but I researched sizes of television screens a while back.

More interesting to me is a search that had life-changing results. I read an especially good short story about writing a letter to a porn star. One reviewer, apparently not much of a researcher, said the author had fabricated the star. I easily discovered he was a real person and an appropriate subject for that story. One of the first search results took me to a new-to-me forum where I met some good friends, one of whom regularly visits me from the UK. I found some beta readers there too.

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Jun 6, 2019

#43

I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

I've recently researched what you call the sarong-like garment men in Samoa wear, and how Merriam Webster likes to see it. Lavalava.

SWPelzer

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Jun 16, 2019

#44

Since it is at their place of employment, I have heard the term "work wife" used. I think it is commonly meant in a non-sexual way, but the relationship could grow.

Maryn

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Jun 17, 2019

#45

In some workplaces, it definitely grows, sometimes into a problem.

Kasey

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Jun 18, 2019

#46

In reading through particular thread, I found it interesting that most of the responses had nothing at all to do with sex, but were, instead, minutiae. It just goes to show that no matter what the subject matter of the story, it's the little things that really make it come to live and feel more believable.

Maryn

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Jun 19, 2019

#47

Absolutely true, Kasey.

Yesterday I started seeking wooded areas near Muncie, Indiana for my WIP. My people need a love nest, don't you think?

Kasey

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Jun 19, 2019

#48

Might I suggest a tree house, Maryn. The mind reels with possibilities.

JakeSTamer

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Jun 23, 2019

#49

I recently spent some time researching fairies, fairy wing shapes and colors, and how fast they can fly. I know it's all hypothetical anyway because they're fictional( or are they). I just wanted a bassline of their capabilities before I write them the way I want to.

Maryn

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Jun 24, 2019

#50

I bet there's some great slow-motion video of large insects' wings in flight. Dragonflies leap to mind.

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