Research is so much fun

[SamBomb]

When I started writing I did some searching around for a city that doesn't have a winter, because I thought having to involve winter coats would not be fun, so I picked San Diego and have had a blast over the last year learning about San Diego and San Diego University. The subway system, shopping centers, etc..

My new story, it's set in Seoul and a K-Pop group. I know K-Pop, but the more I get into the story the more I need to research. It's the freaking best. Not only does it make the story better, but it's just fun learning.

What's everyone's deal with research? Do you just write what you know, or are you diving in deep to a culture, location, job, or whatever? Isn't it the best? (Maybe that's my old uni days bias showing.)

 

[Voboy]

are you diving in deep to a culture, location, job, or whatever? Isn't it the best? (Maybe that's my old uni days bias showing.)

I love doing this.

"Write what you know" bores me. The research is part and parcel of the writing process, and I love doing it.

Just this morning I was trying to figure out volumetric conversions in early Anglo-Norman England. It was completely fascinating.

 

[SamBomb]

I love doing this.

"Write what you know" bores me. The research is part and parcel of the writing process, and I love doing it.

Just this morning I was trying to figure out volumetric conversions in early Anglo-Norman England. It was completeely fascinating.

Yesterday I spent so much time trying to figure out what is the healthiest, but most gross tasting Korean dish for my story. That was a journey!

I really should write something historic sometime, I always keep modern.

 

[Voboy]

I really should write something historic sometime, I always keep modern.

I have to actively hold myself back sometimes. They're so enjoyable; if I let myself, they're all I'd write.

 

[SamBomb]

I have to actively hold myself back sometimes. They're so enjoyable; if I let myself, they're all I'd write.

The closest I ever got was sending a modern girl in some kind of time travel to something like the early Hollywood time.

 

[THBGato]

Today, I have been working out how 0.76 gravity would affect atmospheric pressure and therefore the lift required for flight.

On my planet, chickens will fly.

 

[HordHolm]

I've recently spent a considerable amount of energy researching trans-Atlantic airships for a story. Great stuff. And there are some excellent resources. Before that I was researching police slang - the stuff they use themselves, not what we use about them. Equally interesting.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I love the challenge of having to do research for stories. The deepest dive I've done was probably for Queen of the Roller Derby.

First of all, I didn't know all that much about roller derby. I'd seen some modern matches, but the bulk of the story takes place in the 1950s and I had no idea of the history of teams, leagues, rules changes, etc.

In addition, I had to learn lots of facts about the geography of the time in both Detroit and New York City, and cultural things like, "Would a middle class white girl in the 1950s know anything about Puerto Rican cuisine?".

At one point, the MC picks up a newspaper and looks at the front page. I picked a date that worked in the stories time line and looked in the Detroit Free Press archives to see what the headlines were on that date. The lead story was that Packard had announced they were going to stop making cars. Earlier in the story, her father had bought his first car. I went back and changed the model to a Packard, which gave things a nice resonance. That sort o thing is one of the reasons I love doing research for my stories.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Research is fun but sometimes all consuming to the exclusion of the story. In my stories I assign real world cities in similar geographical locations to my fantasy capitals and use their weather to give colour to my world. Similarly I use other cultures to inform my peoples, their appearance, their language, their mores.
I used to GM fantasy role playing games and inventing a world from scratch is fun. Well, it is the first time. No wonder JRRT spent 30 years writing TLOTR. It’s hard work being original and consistent

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Today, I have been working out how 0.76 gravity would affect atmospheric pressure and therefore the lift required for flight.

On my planet, chickens will fly.

I look forward to how you corral the descendants of T Rex when they can gain aerial superiority over you!

 

[ElectricBlue]

Today, I have been working out how 0.76 gravity would affect atmospheric pressure and therefore the lift required for flight.

On my planet, chickens will fly.

I did that, finding out what the atmosphere on Titan was composed of, how dense it was, how cold. Could an alien with wings fly like an angel? Of course it can.

I fucked up the falling effect of gravity though, and forgot that a much lower gravity means a much lower mass, so less impact when the human astronaut hit the ground. I got a comment from a slightly pompous physics guy, who said that lost credibility in the story for him. He was fine with the idea of a weird fuck between the alien and the alien angel, fine wiith the idea of being on Titan in the first place, but, "Oh my god, not the wrong gravity!"

That's the most research I've ever done. Every other location in any of my stories I know, because I've been there or already know about it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Today, I have been working out how 0.76 gravity would affect atmospheric pressure and therefore the lift required for flight.

On my planet, chickens will fly.

Chickens can fly on this planet! Not very well, and many chicken keepers will clip their wings to prevent escapes, but there's plenty of video around.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I don't do a hell of a lot of research for my stories here on Literotica (I do tend to write what I know, and more frequently, what I would *like* to know!), but in other writing areas, I do a lot more, and I'm in total agreement: research can be a lot of fun, and sometimes almost an end in itself.

 

[MiaBabe23]

Researching for a story is sooo much fun, and it’s also great generally reading/ researching and developing a story idea from that
And I really enjoy doing so with areas outside my expertise. One of my favorites was around objects that shouldn’t go in a microwave - purely reading and YouTube, no practical element lol

 

[Bramblethorn]

I did that, finding out what the atmosphere on Titan was composed of, how dense it was, how cold. Could an alien with wings fly like an angel? Of course it can.

I fucked up the falling effect of gravity though, and forgot that a much lower gravity means a much lower mass, so less impact when the human astronaut hit the ground.

Lower weight. A given object has the same mass no matter where it is, but the weight varies with gravity.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I do enjoy it when it comes up. Right now I'm trying to get a handle on the available technology in Europe circa 1910. Cars, electricity, medical care, etc.

 

[LonRivers]

What's everyone's deal with research? Do you just write what you know, or are you diving in deep to a culture, location, job, or whatever? Isn't it the best? (Maybe that's my old uni days bias showing.)

I enjoy doing research so that I can learn new things and not look like an idiot by writing about something that I really don't know much about. I constantly have my browser open at the ready to look up certain things like dates and clothing styles, when was this or that first invented or the use of slang and other terminology. I have looked up things that should have flagged me by Homeland Security to the simplest of things like plug outlets, underwear of the 1800's and all sorts of little tidbits to add to my stories.

I add just enough to give the story color and allow the reader to imagine the rest.

Right now I am starting a story where a vampire wakes up after going to ground in 1864. Getting the right terminology that she would use is fun in itself.

You do enough research on things and you slowly get to know more than you think. I find myself knowing exactly what shit is if I hear it mentioned on television. At 55 years of age though, I do know quite a bit of useless information that does come in handy from time to time. DuckDuckGo helps me refine and fill in the rest. #fuckgoogle

 

[AllenWoody]

When I started writing I did some searching around for a city that doesn't have a winter, because I thought having to involve winter coats would not be fun, so I picked San Diego and have had a blast over the last year learning about San Diego and San Diego University. The subway system, shopping centers, etc..

My new story, it's set in Seoul and a K-Pop group. I know K-Pop, but the more I get into the story the more I need to research. It's the freaking best. Not only does it make the story better, but it's just fun learning.

What's everyone's deal with research? Do you just write what you know, or are you diving in deep to a culture, location, job, or whatever? Isn't it the best? (Maybe that's my old uni days bias showing.)

Lately Greek mythology. I studied it a bit in college, and have read some novelizations lately, so I'm sort of in tune. But I've also read up on things like ancient Greek names, places, specific myths, and even topics like Plato which isn't mythology but might as well be. I've written two Pandora stories and may write another one based on Plato's Symposium, and I'm considering re-imagining the story of Theseus.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I did that, finding out what the atmosphere on Titan was composed of, how dense it was, how cold. Could an alien with wings fly like an angel? Of course it can.

I fucked up the falling effect of gravity though, and forgot that a much lower gravity means a much lower mass, so less impact when the human astronaut hit the ground. I got a comment from a slightly pompous physics guy, who said that lost credibility in the story for him. He was fine with the idea of a weird fuck between the alien and the alien angel, fine wiith the idea of being on Titan in the first place, but, "Oh my god, not the wrong gravity!"

That's the most research I've ever done. Every other location in any of my stories I know, because I've been there or already know about it.

Imagine how Larry Niven felt when the MIT students started chanting "The Ringworld is unstable" at him. Of course, he went and wrote another book to explain why they were wrong.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Lower weight. A given object has the same mass no matter where it is, but the weight varies with gravity.

This is why you are Bramblethorn and I'm not . 50/50 chance of getting it the right away around, and I picked the wrong fifty. lol.

 

[MrPixel]

I do whole bunches of research on locales. I'll spend hours on Google Earth and Google Streets to nail every detail of the world my characters live in, street names, where to turn left, and the whole nine yards. Second most frequent is researching hotels with bars, where the characters go to pickup strange when the mood strikes.

In a previous series, as mentioned in another thread, I did substantial research on birth control methods and abortion. A fascinating learning experience.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I really enjoy the research but I wonder how much the readers care. I remember making a couple of pretty big mistakes (far enough off on a number it didn't even have the right number of digits anymore) and not hearing a peep about it.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I really enjoy the research but I wonder how much the readers care. I remember making a couple of pretty big mistakes (far enough off on a number it didn't even have the right number of digits anymore) and not hearing a peep about it.

Lucky you. I had a commenter on If Only In My Dreams call me out because my character had a ballpoint pen in December, 1945. He claimed they were not available at that time. But my research was right, they went on the market in the USA earlier that year.

 

[DrHappy]

I’ve enjoyed my research into areas that I thought were interesting. For one story, I found out common customs for male-female greetings in various European countries, weather temperatures for various times in late winter early spring, clothing styles in Moscow, differences in language and accent between Russia and Ukraine, a traditional alcoholic beverage in Latvia, and which European countries had lenient prostitution laws.

I found an unexpectedly high number of YouTube videos covering the Ukrainian language. Most are related to single women looking for men. I wrote my story before the current war crisis over there.

I’m working on my first Sci-fi erotic story and found myself doing some math with genetics. The basis for my story almost fell apart, but it works as long as I get my numbers right.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Lucky you. I had a commenter on If Only In My Dreams call me out because my character had a ballpoint pen in December, 1945. He claimed they were not available at that time. But my research was right, they went on the market in the USA earlier that year.

It's true that I have not done anything historical. That's a whole new level of difficulty. I really enjoyed your roller-derby story, though.