Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Hey guys. I was visiting DL Hammon's blog the other day when he was talking about being half-cocked in the writing process...go check it out if you didn't get a chance to read.
I knew the term and others from my research on flint-lock rifles for my last novel.
You get the picture.
Please share!
Also, this year I'm participating in Rach's Second Writers' Platform Building Crusade. So if you're looking for a new way to meet blogging friends, join in!
Also, this year I'm participating in Rach's Second Writers' Platform Building Crusade. So if you're looking for a new way to meet blogging friends, join in!
57 comments:
I'm funny like that. There are common place things EVERYONE (except me) knows and then there are bizarre things I've picked up that I don't realize aren't common knowledge.
Duelling.
With swords.
Enough said.
^_^
The ancient Maya. Even though the book is shelved it was awesome to learn so much about a culture I knew nothing about!
I wish!! I learned a bit about hunting from hubby cause I needed to write about it in my current WIP,
Currently, I'm learning a ton about the gypsy lifestyle, customs, and magick...too fun!
Wait ... we are supposed to research?
I've learned about law stuff, fashion stuff, horse stuff (well, I already knew about the horse stuff--teehee).
Pretty much every book gives me some small new information.
~JD
I guess I know more about building boats than most people would guess. Makes me want to build one!
I think it's interesting to learn where sayings come from, and also all the nifty details that are unearthed in research. You just never know what tangent it might take you on, and what that can do for a story.
Have a great weekend,
Karen
LOL, I could get lost in research every day. From this past WIP, I now know how an MRI works. From others, I know about volcanoes, tunnel-digging machines, comets, nanotechnology, antiques... I love learning about new things. I just have to make myself stop long enough to get the scene written. ;o)
I studied up on the history of Peanut Butter. Fascinating, really. :)
Like the previous poster, I read up on peanut butter- specifically peanut allergies...um...right now I'm learning more than the average person does about hippos :)
Fun post!
Yup, I've learned a lot more about rifles and hunting knives than I ever expected to LOL! Great post - unique!
Sailing. Firefighting. Diamonds. Hydrogen. For starters.
Enjoy your weekend.
I'm learning all kinds of things. The most recent deals with drugs in sports. It was something I was interested in while working on my MSc in exercise physiology, but now I get to use that interest/knowledge in a novel. Of course things have changed, so I had to do some more up-to-date research. :D
I can't help it, I just get the warm fuzzies anytime I'm mentioned in another bloggers post? Thanks for that!! I actually did some research to learn more about half-cocked for that very post. Apart from that I've learned more than I ever wanted to about the psychology of school shootings and domestic bio-terrorism. :)
I know things about planes that would surprise people.
I know of narrowboats and canals! And yes they feature heavily in my current wip!
:-)
Take care
x
By researching a particular character's interest I learned a lot of architecture that I otherwise would never have known. That's often the best part of writing for me, learning new things through research.
Hmmm... can't think of anything. :( But I am a bit of a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles when it comes to useless trivia.
I read several books about Blacksmithing for a chapter in my novel that was about ... yep, forging a sword. The best book I found was The Craft of the Japanese Sword.
Lydia, what a beautiful site you have! Love the colors and the floral design. I met you over on my site in the Shade. ; )
HA! I learned about medieval torture procedures (horrible!) for one novel. And had to research what, exactly, chloroform smelled like. I bet writers raise a lot of flags with the guys at Google...
I learned about head injuries, thanks to info you gave me!
Great question! Umm...tachyons. A tachyon is a hypothetical subatomic particle that moves faster than light. LOL. I needed it for my novel which involves time travel.
I also know A LOT about mythology from a book called... "Don't Know Much About Mythology" (I do now!) I know about the mythology from around the world. Now I've created my own mythology.
I know a lot about weapons. Not guns or anything but all different types of swords, what they're good for. Other old style weapons like maces, clubs, spears, bows, chakrams, whips....and on and on.
My mom saw all my research on these weapons once...terrified the crap out of her. She was like... are you planning on killing someone. I don't think it helped when I answered yes. :P
Interesting! I love learning things like this! I repeat them at parties and am instantly popular.
LOL, nice post!
Hmm, what have I learned??? I researched anemias for part of my dystopian, though I have to admit it was more of a refresher from med school...Not too many people have a Harrison's pocket guide though, I bet! ;)
Lovely post - In my NaNo novel I had my female MC collect fine china cups and saucers. I had a glorious time on exquisite auction houses sites!
Hi Lydia, nice to meet you, fellow crusader. Thanks for visiting my blog.
For what it's worth I recently had to figure out where my character could get shot in the torso (arms or legs wouldn't do) and be sufficently patched up the next day that he could pretend it hadn't happened. I put the question out and it turns out the shoulder is the best place. Most other places will lead to complications that just wouldn't heal like that.
It wasn't a flintlock gun, though, that shot him, it was a futuristic weapon that I invented.
I did a private investigator's course for my first book's research. I now know way more than I should about tracking people down via public records. 0_o
Edge of Your Seat Romance
I researched stealth technology - probably got the NSA looking at me for that one. I researched how one could wash their hair in space.
Hey!
Nice to have you along for the crusade :-)
xx R
Interesting tidbit. Research does yield some really cool bits of information. Now I know the origin of flash-in-the-pan,I'm not likely to forget it.
Interesting post!
I know the techniques police use to break up crowds like using tear gas, rubber bullets, mounted officers, etc.
Ah, great question Lydia. I love doing research, so I am always learning something knew. I'm in research mode right now and it's very exciting. In fact, I'm learning a bit about steel myself.
I did some research on sporting clays by actually getting out and shooting clay pigeons. Great fun and very educational.
Have a good weekend!
Enjoyed visiting your blog, fellow crusader. I love the medical angle.
My current WIP is set in the old west, so I've been researching my head off. I love old west slang and I've had to research guns and rifles from that time too.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, crusader.
Boxing. I starting kick boxing because one of my character was big into it. And, I fell in love with the workout. Lots of fun! Big wave to a fellow crusader, Lydia!
I've learned a lot about the politics of Czechoslovakia in 1942, metamorphic and igneous rocks native to the southern shores of Lake Superior, the civil war in El Salvador, and the contents of your average ambulance. It was so interesting to read everyone else's comments. Great post, Lydia.
I didn't know about both the usages..
I think I know every architectural term for a Midieval castle. Research for a recent fantasy novel I just finished writing.
I joined the Crusade too - should be fun!
I guess I now know more about picking locks than I ever would have hoped to know. Still doesn't mean I could do it, but I can hopefully at least write convincingly about it.
Lovely to meet you fellow crusader! I'm guilty of chatting people up at parties if I find they know something I need for research, even if it's simply the fact that they happen to be native speakers of a language in one of my books. I've always been in love with Welsh and Scottish and all that - never thought I'd be hankering after learning Spanish, but my main character comes from Spain, and suddenly I want to visit that country first out of all others I haven't been to yet!
Hey Lydia- lovely to "meet" you too, fellow Crusader. I, too, am trying to fit 25 hours into every day, and it ain't easy.
I'm writing WWI fiction, and last year, while torturing one of my characters, made the mistake of Googling for information on geniturinary war wounds. Yikes! The pictures I ran across are still hiding in my brain right now. As a doc, you probably have a good idea why!
Tapetum lucidum
I love research. I get lost in it for hours. But if I don't write it up immediately, I tend to forget the trivia I learned.
I guess my brain only has so much memory :)
......dhole
I like doing research especially for the features I write for the newspapers. I store these bits of information for future use, perhaps in books or stories.
I love doing research for any reason at all. Let's see: Dissociative Identity Disorder, dueling swords, light...related to MS. Non-related: caffeine withdrawal, early onset bi-polar disorder, autism....
Everytime I start doing research I somehow ending up spending hours reading all sort of interesting tidbits...some things not even related to my novel. Yup... I definitely get distracted way too easily.
Note to self: refrain from upsetting Lydia or end up in duel.
I did a lot of research about orbital patterns and the surface of the moon for a ms.
I hope you picked up the Write Hard award when you stopped by!!!!
Huh. I knew what half-cocked was, and not a hen who shares her husband. But I thought that "flash in the pan" had to do with photography from the same period, where the guy had his head under a towel and held up a pan...
Thanks for the comment and follow!
My dad has a percussion-cap muzzle-loader. It's soo loud!
I've been learning a lot about the French Roma from the 1920'S and '30's for my manuscript. Very interesting!
First, welcome to the Crusade! Second, it seems I've boggled many a mind over the fact that the KKK had such a large presence in the Midwest during their heyday in the 1920s. I was even told, by a supposed critiquer in a contest, that I didn't know how to research and that I needed to get my facts straight. Ha!
ew, fun stuff! I never knew what "flash in the pan" meant, but I was familiar w/"half cocked." Thanks, Lydia! :o) <3
I have a fascination with the Romanov family and have researched the lives of the family of Tsar Nicholas II for years. I also do research on notoriously famous serial killers which is hair-raising and likewise just as fascinating.
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