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The research rabbit hole

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RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
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Ever go to look something up, so you have a basic understanding of a place/subject/etc. to make a story setup work, and fall down a rabbit hole?

I wanted to use wood turning as a means of bringing the two MCs together for another silly little stroke story, and popped over to YouTube to watch a couple of videos. I was looking to pick up some terminology — nothing more.

Now I'm subscribed to three wood turning channels and I'm never going to look at a dead tree or chunk of firewood the same way again.
Verbal
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Yeah, I've done that. I wanted to learn how squid tentacles worked for my story Beyond and a couple strange little stories about the Isle of Thorns. I ended up reading two different books about squid and cuttlefish and octopusses (the plural is not octopi, as it turns out).
RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
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Fortunately, I grew up in a poor household with no cable, so I watched a lot of Bob Ross. Watching these videos gives you the same "I could do that" feeling, but comes with a far more extensive start-up cost.

It's more happy trees. You're not fooling me!

Maybe just a small desktop lathe...

:: Smacks self in face :: Stop that!
Guest
Lurker
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Quote by RejectReality
Ever go to look something up, so you have a basic understanding of a place/subject/etc. to make a story setup work, and fall down a rabbit hole?

I wanted to use wood turning as a means of bringing the two MCs together for another silly little stroke story, and popped over to YouTube to watch a couple of videos. I was looking to pick up some terminology — nothing more.

Now I'm subscribed to three wood turning channels and I'm never going to look at a dead tree or chunk of firewood the same way again.


I'm so glad you brought this up. Lately I've been focusing on providing a lot more "atmosphere" to my stories so I do a lot more in terms of researching settings etc. I spend a lot of time doing research (which I enjoy) but then when it comes to actually writing the story I feel burned out.

I have an obsessive personality so I try and learn every little thing. I do extensive research and view numerous youtube videos to get the exact feeling right. I'll look up movies that are based in the area that I'm interested in and watch them to get an image in my mind.

I think I actually like doing research more than actual writing...
Just_A_Guy_You_Know
Certified Mind Reader
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I tend to base most details of my stories on my personal experiences/knowledge base. If I have to do too much research, I worry that I'm not capturing the experience authentically because it isn't my experience. It's one reason I stay away from the Historical Fiction category.

Post-avant-retro-demelodicized-electro-yodel-core is my jam.

RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
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"Write what you know" will only get you so far. At some point, you're going to run out of interesting scenarios based upon things you're fully knowledgeable of.

That's when you start to branch out into similar things, where you do have a frame of reference to understand the basics, but you just haven't been exposed to those basics yet.

It also helps when you're just writing a basic setup for some pr0n, like I am. You're not going to be providing a lot of detail. A few "keywords" are all you really need to deliver the setting. That's especially true when you're purposely setting up a character who is a self-taught amateur. Then any flubs you make can be put on the character, and add to the flavor ;)

As to historical fiction — almost all of it is romanticized to one degree or another. That's what most people are familiar with. What you need to write enjoyable historical fiction could be as simple as having come from a one television household where your parents religiously watched Little House on the Prairie and Westerns. LOL It may not be entirely accurate, but it's familiar, and has enough nuggets of truth to pass the suspension of disbelief test for most readers.

Experimentation can be extremely rewarding.

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know
I tend to base most details of my stories on my personal experiences/knowledge base. If I have to do too much research, I worry that I'm not capturing the experience authentically because it isn't my experience. It's one reason I stay away from the Historical Fiction category.
Unknown User
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I'll do research if I'm setting something in a particular place or time that I am not personally familiar with. Or if I'm getting into unfamiliar territory in other ways, e.g. when I was creating a trans character in one of my stories. I don't think it's ever been intense enough yet to become a "rabbit hole".

Akin to research in some ways, though, is world-building for fantasy. If you read my Monster Sex story here or my fantasy story on Storiesspace, they are both set in the same world (in different places and time periods, though). I have a whole section in my OneNote writing notebook where I jot down thoughts about that world as I go. And that can be a rabbit hole all its own.
sprite
Her Royal Spriteness
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i just make shit up that sounds plausible and hope nobody notices...

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.

Green_Man
Primus Omnium
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Quote by sprite
i just make shit up that sounds plausible and hope nobody notices...



We notice. Never fear. But that's how it is when you are adored. We just overlook your "foibles".
sprite
Her Royal Spriteness
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Quote by Green_Man



We notice. Never fear. But that's how it is when you are adored. We just overlook your "foibles".


you're just lucky it's your bday, otherwise...

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.

Green_Man
Primus Omnium
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Quote by sprite


you're just lucky it's your bday, otherwise...


You realize you are simply tempting me?
Verbal
Gravelly-Voiced Fucker
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Quote by sprite
i just make shit up that sounds plausible and hope nobody notices...


Actually I think there is something to that - if you state details with confidence and plausability, it sounds like you've done the research, the details themselves don't matter (my series of Shards on uploading video to a porn site had made-up details or details I culled from uploading onto Youtube) (really!!!).

Maybe that explains the upswing in fake news.
sprite
Her Royal Spriteness
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Quote by Verbal


Actually I think there is something to that - if you state details with confidence and plausability, it sounds like you've done the research, the details themselves don't matter (my series of Shards on uploading video to a porn site had made-up details or details I culled from uploading onto Youtube) (really!!!).

Maybe that explains the upswing in fake news.


all depends on the details and what you're writing. if it's an fantasy story, as in elves and shit, than yeah, as long as it doesn't push the borders of disbelief, people will just accept it. smile

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.

Guest
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Quote by sprite


all depends on the details and what you're writing. if it's an fantasy story, as in elves and shit, than yeah, as long as it doesn't push the borders of disbelief, people will just accept it. smile


So elves are not real?
sprite
Her Royal Spriteness
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Quote by StephTaylor


So elves are not real?


yeah, hate to break it to you. next year, we're gonna have to have a talk about Santa, too...

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.

Guest
Lurker
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Quote by sprite


yeah, hate to break it to you. next year, we're gonna have to have a talk about Santa, too...


No not Santa too..
Grace
Force of Nature
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Quote by sprite


all depends on the details and what you're writing. if it's a fantasy story, as in elves and shit, then yeah, as long as it doesn't push the borders of disbelief, people will just accept it. smile


I know all about elves and giants and dragons and such. You aren't going to pull the wool over my eyes. And I know you aren't a real sprite. You are too tall and can't fly fast enough.

Looks like we're in for a nasty spell of wether.

Gracie Goes To Hollywood's - True

The Night They Tried to Close RUMPLATIONS Bar (with JamesLlewellyn)

WannabeWordsmith
Writius Eroticus
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Quote by vanessa26
I usually just make up stuff on the night but having never been to Abisko I had to do loads of research and now YouTube constantly shows me Abisko tour ads as does every site I visit that has ads...


Sounds like someone needs to turn off interest-based ads in their browsers ;)

In response to the OP, yep I've been down that rabbit hole when in research phase; all of a sudden finding myself on random sites that bear little relation to the subject I intended to verify.

When, ahem, researching some facet of relationships or sex to inject some adding zing into a story, one site often leads to another and before long all roads lead to Pornhub or Xhamster. *sigh* that spells the end of writing for that night...

Please browse my digital bookshelf. In this collection, you can find 101 stories, nine micro-stories, and two poems with the following features:


* 25 Editor's Picks, 69 Recommended Reads.
* 14 competition podium places, 9 other times in the top ten.
* 20 collaborations.
* A whole heap of often filthy, tense, hot sex.

AbigailThornton
Orgasm Aficionado
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Quote by RejectReality
Ever go to look something up, so you have a basic understanding of a place/subject/etc. to make a story setup work, and fall down a rabbit hole?

I wanted to use wood turning as a means of bringing the two MCs together for another silly little stroke story, and popped over to YouTube to watch a couple of videos. I was looking to pick up some terminology — nothing more.

Now I'm subscribed to three wood turning channels and I'm never going to look at a dead tree or chunk of firewood the same way again.


Makes me think of Parks & Recreation / Nick Offerman

RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
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Even deeper into the rabbit hole. I'm now regularly watching 4 different restoration channels as well. Recommended videos from the wood turning channels.

The original story that prompted the research is still in the title/cover mock-up/outline stage. LOL Not a single word of the actual story on "paper".

The second level of the rabbit hole will help with another title idea I've had sitting around in my wordplay title file with a cover mock-up for a while, because it's led me to a channel that does motor rewinding as part of old electrical device restoration. It will add another level of detail to that story, even if it's only a couple of sentences. Won't mean much to the average reader, but for those special few with a passion for restoration, it should help prevent them from being brought up short by the missing detail.

Now, I just need to get my writing drive back online so I can make use of all the new bits and bobs I've picked up.

Wish I'd known all this when I was a teenager spending days removing rust from the giant wrenches used on strip mine cranes with files and sandpaper.
Guest
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I gloss over details that aren't important to the plot. I need a charactervin one of those hard plastic cast things. I forget the name now. I just had thr doc tell her she needed it without mentioning the tyoe of injury, mainly cuz IDK what they're used for.
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Quote by Bigbaddaddie
I gloss over details that aren't important to the plot.


But you don't gloss over details. The intro paragraph of your story about Agatha Allbut is packed with detail. I know it's only the first part, but I'd wager her breast size won't drive the plot. I expect it’s there because you think that detail helps the reader picture her.

Research isn't the same as detail. If I’m writing (oh, I dunno, plucked out of NOWHERE) a historical story, I like to know as much as I can about a place and the period. So I’ve read small-town newspapers. Looked up weather reports, studied maps and TV schedules. Read interviews to find out how people spoke. I never think of this research as a way to add detail. Only a fraction of it will appear in a story (and often in an oblique way, because you’re right, it won’t drive the plot). But I never think of it as wasted, either. I’ll know it’s there and that gives me confidence. By displacing myself into a period I know it better. Dialogue comes easier. Ideas flow. Plus, I enjoy it for its own sake.

Everyone wants to tell a fictional story as truly as they can. If you can drop in grains of authenticity it helps a reader trust. That’s the best part – if you have the reader’s confidence then every twist, every co-incidence, seems natural.
rpickman
Active Ink Slinger
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I'm very vulnerable to this.

I was trying to come up with an exotic material with a pseudo-scientific background which would end up getting a one-line mention in the story (I ended up using Red Mercury, which also has a fascinating history behind it) and I ended up reading long articles on super-rare elements like Rhenium and their weird specialized uses. Then looking up how exactly cloth-penetrating security scanners work in airports.

On my current story I've spent like an hour looking up different types of boats to try and figure out what to call one boat that ended up sticking around for only a page or so.
RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
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May as well send a transmission up from the rabbit hole. It's probably taking about as long to reach the surface as communication with the Voyagers at this point.

We can add sawmilling to that list, although I haven't yet hit the subscribe button, I have little doubt I will. Again, recommended videos from wood turning, which is where the rabbit hole started.

Also, the LockPickingLawyer and BosanianBill. Now, I knew how to pick locks, but this was back in the 80s and 90s. I had assumed that lock makers had evolved sufficiently that those ancient, largely unpracticed skills would be all but useless in this day and age. Turns out, I was wrong. Just about anything you buy at a big box store — no matter how high on the "max security" scale it is — is still vulnerable to many of the non-destructive attacks that worked back in the 90s. Non-destructive meaning that you can lock the lock back up after opening it, and it still functions perfectly. No damage to any hasp or other attachment point either.

What I'm getting out of that is the modern terminology of locksmiths and lock sport. I'm sure my old lock picks are still somewhere in storage. There are boxes I have been moving from place to place since I was 19 that haven't been opened. No need to dig them up, though. I was able to pick my front door using a small flathead screwdriver as a tension rod and a shim of metal out of a broken toy bent with a pair of pliers silly Your average lock isn't security, folks. It's a deterrent at best.

That research has already made a small appearance in "Tit for Tattle".

Other ideas have been leapfrogging the story that started this descent, and I still haven't written it. LOL
Guest
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Quote by RejectReality
Ever go to look something up, so you have a basic understanding of a place/subject/etc. to make a story setup work, and fall down a rabbit hole?

I wanted to use wood turning as a means of bringing the two MCs together for another silly little stroke story, and popped over to YouTube to watch a couple of videos. I was looking to pick up some terminology — nothing more.

Now I'm subscribed to three wood turning channels and I'm never going to look at a dead tree or chunk of firewood the same way again.


Yes. Lots. Everything from insects to gargoyles to transitioning.

Check out my favorite woodworking site: https://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/

I've followed this couple for years, and a few years ago, they moved to Arizona and he build a dream workshop. They then decided to start a family and moved to Colorado to be near family. He currently works out of his shop-converted, triple-car garage. PBS has had a number of great woodworking shows over the years too.
RejectReality
Testing The Waters.
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Seeing one of my favorite things on there already. Using the skills they have to make their shop more efficient/useful/organized. You really get this on the restoration channels. "You know, I could really use a metal shear..." Oh, look, here's one in scrap pile covered in rust. *ding* Adam Savage ( of Mythbusters fame ) is OCD with this, and it tickles me to death. The best part is when you see that newly created thing in use a few weeks later on another project.

Quote by Ping


Yes. Lots. Everything from insects to gargoyles to transitioning.

Check out my favorite woodworking site: https://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/

I've followed this couple for years, and a few years ago, they moved to Arizona and he build a dream workshop. They then decided to start a family and moved to Colorado to be near family. He currently works out of his shop-converted, triple-car garage. PBS has had a number of great woodworking shows over the years too.