Research Dump: Using The Info You Find That Never Makes It Into Whatever You Wrote That You Needed The Knowledge For.

Man, that’s a long title, bet it ends up with a higher word count than this blog entry. Writers research a lot, things most people would never consider. Our browser history is packed with oddities, and government watch lists must be full of authors. I’m going to share some research under this heading from time to time. Why? Because I hate not using it. And someone might find it illuminating or exciting, who knows maybe it sparks an idea for them.

Regardless, I know when writing, I will have to stop to research something. Like for example, the name of my main character in the Middle-Grade novel I spawned. It needed to fit the story. The name had to start with the letter A. On top of that, the number of syllables mattered to me. It came down to three names, to which I straw polled real people, co-workers, family, strangers, to get their reactions. After significant consideration, the most famous person with this name settled it for me. I had narrowed the field to two, and after researching the namesakes of each, it was clear from a philosophical vantage point which the winner was. I will follow up, this blog with the information I uncovered on the main character’s name.

I’ve been gifted/cursed with retaining so much otherwise useless information that I often only need to fact check myself. On occasion, I’m entirely out of my depths, I research, which means going to libraries, google searches, reading, and consulting with experts. It’s incredible how much information you can store in the grey matter, even more surprising how little information, no matter the knowledge level, a person contains. So being curious is an excellent trait for a writer. Being bold is another. Combined, those traits could unlock so much information, if you just ask the questions.

So I begin, yet another section to this blog. The research dump is open for business, so if any of you writers out there would want to dump information you uncovered. I’ve got space for you too. Just let me know in the comments.