tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post5369031462435725451..comments2024-03-27T10:02:56.747-04:00Comments on Fiction University: Guest Author Amie Kaufman: Six Ways to Make Researching Easier Janice Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-40390938444950848672013-10-24T09:25:19.598-04:002013-10-24T09:25:19.598-04:00I can't believe I was using Google Street View...I can't believe I was using Google Street View and checking out actual locations I wanted to use in my story. It certainly gave me many ideas and made me discard some that would have been impossible. And then I read your article in which you suggest the exact same method. Wow! Wonder in what other ways we could use technology to write better...<br />savitanarayan@blogspot.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11760806966286918250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-65146566385090137032012-10-03T15:02:10.810-04:002012-10-03T15:02:10.810-04:00Great ideas, thanks!Great ideas, thanks!Alix https://www.blogger.com/profile/04684209302932310537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-12613367312008911432012-10-03T11:55:06.689-04:002012-10-03T11:55:06.689-04:00Great tips! I love research. It's the very one...Great tips! I love research. It's the very one thing that can get me out of serious writer's blocks, and every time it does, it's a feeling of being reborn.<br /><br />Something very weird happened to me once. I had thought up a completely crazy storyline in the spur of a moment, simply because it fitted and felt outrageously creepy. I thought it was just too much, that I couldn't do it to characters based on real people (who lived 500 years ago on another continent, but anyway). I just wouldn't get away with it.<br />When I looked up a random fact about one of these people though, I found out that it had actually happened, and exactly that way, too. There it was, just like I had seen it in my mind, on the pages of several history books I had definitely never seen before (easy to prove because I had just learned the language they're written in).<br /><br />That was my little essay titled "How Research Made Me Find Out I Was Psychic". *lol*Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-2848569061895133402012-10-03T10:14:20.995-04:002012-10-03T10:14:20.995-04:00Great post, Amie!
My WiP is set in late Victorian...Great post, Amie!<br /><br />My WiP is set in late Victorian England. While Google Maps and Google Streetview can't show me what certain rural areas once looked like, they are extremely useful for gauging distances.<br /><br />As I live in Tokyo, there are few opportunities to "talk" to experts or find books in English. Yet the Internet has bridged the gap in so many ways. I've contacted a museum in England and they've guided me as to how I should research certain areas or time periods. Blogs too, by amateur photographers or local residents are also great sources.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-29916339441434638502012-10-03T08:38:14.920-04:002012-10-03T08:38:14.920-04:00I have a European-based fantasy set in medieval ti...I have a European-based fantasy set in medieval times. Though I didn't watch Game of Thrones during the writing of it, I was able to catch a few things (that had just NOT occurred to me earlier)that I needed to tweak or delete after I had watched a few episodes. <br /><br />Also, I decided to use real-life places as templates for my fantasy kingdoms. One is similar to the Loire valley in France and the other, the Aosta valley in Italy. I used Google Earth and Google Maps to help me figure out distances and the walking rate between different "locations". They also helped with visual cues, such as the geography of a plain-built town vs a town squashed in a mountainous valley. And I also used some good, picture-heavy travel guides.<br /><br />Thanks for all the suggestions. These are great!!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14324491231695823916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-1040230165242802732012-10-03T06:46:17.000-04:002012-10-03T06:46:17.000-04:00Awesome suggestions for fairly easy places to rese...Awesome suggestions for fairly easy places to research to be sure your story is accurate. Thanks for sharing the tips. And can't wait to read your new book.Natalie Aguirrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03756087804171246660noreply@blogger.com