Wednesday, May 3, 2017

#IWSG for May 2017

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

This month's awesome co-hosts are: Nancy Gideon, Tamara Narayan, Liesbet @ Roaming About, Michelle Wallace, and Feather Stone!

May IWSG question: What's the weirdest/coolest thing you ever had to research for your story?

Research is one of my favorite things about being a writer. I love discovering little known myths and strange nuggets of history. I often get lost by following links while researching, and when I close the browser, I realize I've spent over two hours on there.

I've researched a lot about crimes, psychology, and dead bodies. Even though I write about the supernatural a lot, I like to have the hard facts in my stories match reality. For my last story (Totem #8), I did a lot of research on astral projection and bears fighting. For me, the weirdest research I did for it was on luxury snowmobiles. They're totally like smart cars on skis!

I can't wait to hear what you've been researching!

67 comments:

  1. Your research sounds really interesting! It's pretty easy to get in a research hole, isn't it? I don't do a lot of research, but the most interesting thing I've looked at the last year or so is a map of a fancy cemetery. My character was just walking through it, but I wanted to make sure I didn't say something completely off the wall about the layout since I chose to use a real place.

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    1. I find cemeteries so interesting. I love the history and the mystery. Plus they're such peaceful, quiet places.

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  2. I'd love to have a go at driving a snowmobile - whooshing through the snow at speed - YAY!! Have a lovely week, Christine.

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    1. I'd love to drive one too. My son's sled looks like a snowmobile!

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  3. I'm so curious about luxury snowmobiles now!

    My go-to web site is an art supplies site, where I'm learning how to clean different paints from brushes and how to prepare canvas. A bit mundane compared to yours :-)

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    1. I used to paint ages ago, but I'd never been lucky to afford the really good supplies. That makes me curious!

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  4. I really enjoy researching too. I do it a lot for my contract writing job now and have learned so much.

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    1. Awesome! I think all my research helps make me a good Jeopardy player. :)

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  5. Luxury snowmobiles? Who knew?

    I think I might need to start doing more research for my stories - so many interesting facts out there in the world! :)

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    1. I was surprised at what I found out about snowmobiles when I did look it up!

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  6. Well, now I want to know more about luxury snowmobiles!

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    1. They have everything cars have these days. It's amazing!

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  7. LOL! I had snowmobiles growing up, but they weren't that cool. I'm with you on the dead bodies research. My claim to weirdness today is researching the melting of bodies. =)

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    1. Melting of bodies? Now that's interesting... in a writerly way. Heh.

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  8. Ah, your post reminded me (I'd forgotten) the time I needed to research calculating the time of death when faced with a body! Read some interesting forensics papers...

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    1. I bet! Forensics was one of the fields I almost made a career out of ages ago.

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  9. The way you describe researching is exactly the same as I feel. I love it and it sucks me in, away from my writing, all too often. But I know I'll write more powerfully because of it, so I don't mind. It's when it leads to Facebook that I kick myself. Lol

    I'm currently researching for a theme: Death by water - Drowning! I'm totally surprised by what I have discovered. Fabulous.

    Shah X
    shahwharton.com

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    1. Research is that powerful! Now I'm curious about what you've found out about drowning.

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  10. You find the neatest things to research. And those luxury snowmobiles were awesome.

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  11. Very cool. I've started research on astral projection just recently.

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    1. That's awesome. I didn't delve immensely deep into it, but some of the stories I read were fascinating. I love the different theories too.

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  12. I'd have to research the luxury snowmobiles, too. I had no idea such a thing even existed!

    A writer's research is always interesting to me. :)

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    1. You're going to want one when you see them. Though you do live in Florida... but they are like cars. So you can drive it along the beach and be safe from lizards!

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  13. I've researched some on alchemy for my story. Actually, I already knew most of what I needed, but it's so easy to get sucked down into all the myths and legends that I had to force myself to stop. My story is already taking long enough!

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  14. I once googles Antichrist and lost an entire day. There are some bizarre, interesting theories out there. So easy to get lost clicking around the world wide web.

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  15. There's a thing call luxury snowmobiles? o.O

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    1. Yup! And Bert buys them for the heroes in book #8. Hehehe.

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  16. I'm doing a lot of research on my series which is based in Italy, and loving it.
    Shalom aleichem,
    Pat G

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  17. Oh, yes, I've done crime and dead body research. The research I did for floaters was...gross. And I used it in Seismic Crimes.

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  18. I'd love to ride any kind of snowmobile.

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  19. Dead body research is the best. And then there's how to commit the perfect murder search that really stirs the search engine into a frenzy. Great post, Christine! Love it.

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    1. Thanks, Lee! Oh the stories my search engine could tell. Hehehe!

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  20. That is funny smart car on skies. Researching the mystic type stuff is fun too.
    ' Juneta @ Writer's Gambit

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  21. I think hard facts add a certain level of believability to fantasy. Luxury snowmobiles, huh? Seems like it'd be a fun ride. :)

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  22. I do lots of random research for my projects, too. (Yes, dead bodies included, LOL.) Just a couple months ago, I had to look up what it's like to be a door-to-door salesman. Don't think I ever expected to do research like that, haha. Also, really love the research you had to do for Totem #8. Can't help but be intrigued!

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    1. I think these days being a door-to-door salesman could be kinda scary!

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  23. I like to ground my writing in reality, so using hard facts is important to me, Christine. I'm almost OCD about it. Good thing I thoroughly enjoy research! I actually rode on the first ski-do ever! When I wrote about it recently on my blog, I spent hours nailing down the facts. Of course I knew the story of the "ski-dog" well, but I heard it as a young girl over fifty years ago from Father Ouimet who owned and who took me for more than one ride on it. Happy writing this month!

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  24. Research can pull me in, too.
    I love that you ground your fantasy and paranormal in reality - I think that's part of what makes your writing so good.
    Happy writing in May!

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  25. Always cool to see where other people's research takes them.

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  26. Such amazing research topics. Bear fighting. Astral projections. They sound so exotic.

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  27. I know what you mean by getting pulled in. I've been pulled into social media for the past 2 hours. And yesterday I spent the day trying to format my first Newsletter. What a project, and I'm still learning....

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    1. Formatting newsletters gets easier as you go along. It's a great tool to have! :)

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  28. Luxury snowmobiles? I had no idea there was such a thing. That must have been fascinating research!

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    1. It surprised me, too, that there were such things.

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  29. I'm an expert at getting sucked down the rabbit role of the internet . . . one little search does easily turn into 2 hours!

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  30. Astral Projection and bear fights? Are these in the same story?! That would be kind of awesome.

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  31. What luxury snowmobiles? There is such a thing?

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    1. They have all the same things as luxury cars, including a roof!

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  32. Hi Christine - I know you do lots of research ... sounds like you're titillating your commenters here with ideas ...!? cheers Hilary

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  33. You hit the nail on the head about research - one can get totally carried away by it, if the topic is fascinating! I feel pretty lazy about researching, so I'm glad to mostly write from experience. :-)

    Liesbet @ Roaming About – A Life Less Ordinary

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  34. Luxury snowmobiles like smart cars on skis? Now I have a mental picture that won't go away.

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