Research...Too Much or Just Enough?

So the theme for this month is investigation. More specifically: research. Every writer worth their salt does a lot of research. Whether we're creating worlds from scratch or trying to get the correct terms for a particular occupation to get things just right, we do a lot of research.

I once had a teacher (believe this or not) say that there was such a thing as too much research. Initially I thought, "what rubbish," but now I can honestly say that when it comes to certain things, yes, there can be too much research. Research for it's own sake is good I think. Never stop learning and expanding your knowledge base are two things that I feel are important to a writer. Read more on my blog...

Thank Gods for the Interwebs

I remember being back in college. Research papers were always a pain. Research meant long hours sitting the library sifting through the card catalog and pulling books from shelves. It meant hours reading and taking notes.  Continue Reading...

Wikipedia Hole of Doom

I don't always like admitting to people that I often start out my research on Wiki-freakin'-pedia. I once had a professor throw up his hands into the air all dictator-like and say, "Anyone who cites Wikipedia in their paper will fail my entire class,and also I will hate you until my dying day, cursing your name in the eternal fiery pits of hell." 

Read more...but not on Wikipedia. 

MGR Tour: Researching Routines

Do I have researching routines?  I guess the most routine thing I do is pull out the handiest device I possess with internet access and do a search.  For about 80-90% of the questions I have, I obtain a satisfactory answer via this methodology.  For other questions, read more here.

Merry Go Round Blog Tour - Research

Research, investigations, searching. It's all part and parcel of being a writer. Even if it's nothing more than going to some baby name sites to pick a character's name.

I like doing research. It's fun to learn how something works, or where a thing comes from, or how something was made. 

Click here to read more. 

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly thirty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara!

Research? Yay!

Oh yes, the wondrous world of research where you think you are looking up something on Victorian England and end up digging through the history of Sargon and his successor, Rimush. You pull yourself back to Victorian England and end up reading Bleak House and studying fishing cycles in the North Sea. Oh yes. Research.

Read More

I'm a Research Junkie

Let’s get that out of the way first, shall we?

Back in the late seventies, I read a science fiction short story about Josef Mengele. At the time, the knowledge of him wasn’t well-known (at least not in my small town.) I tore my local library apart before I finally located a piece of information that proved that the menace, Mengele, existed and conducted those horrible experiments in Nazi Germany.

And the book Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson (a.k.a. Somewhere in Time)...

I dug through all the pertinent historical facts in that novel. I located a young actress who performed the appropriate play at the appropriate venue and dates, the same one that the Main Character fell so deeply in love with that he went back in time to find her. (The names had been changed to protect the innocent.)

All that before I graduated high school. (And before the convenience of the internet!)

Continue Reading...

Research Borne of Necessity

This is a copy of the back of a check I should have received, but didn't. This is a copy of the back of a check made out to me, but intercepted and deposited into a stranger's account without being endorsed. This is a copy of the back of a check that this person's bank simply credited, even though the name on the check differed from the name of the account holder.

This has been my research project for much of this week. I wish I could say it has been for a book in progress. Unfortunately, it's just life. (to see the check and read the rest of my tale of financial woe, head to the Once in a Blue Muse Blog. . . )

Research by magpie

Let's start off by admitting that I don't have a routine for learning about things. I am a magpie, chasing the latest shiny thought, a bee that goes flower to flower to flower. I love learning new things, but I'm unpredictable in what sets me off.

If you want to see more about my routine that is not a routine, you can read the full post <a href="http://www.erinmhartshorn.com/on-research/">on my blog</a>.