Strange-Looking Research

Oh my, your mom's reaction to your pile of book titles for research is quite humorous! I must admit that I, myself, have wondered how I end up where I do sometimes in my research for an article. Good luck with your NaNoWriMo!

I've had that problem before. I checked out several books, and printed out several articles, on sword play, amour, and military tactics. My father thought that I was planning some sort of attack on someone. He's into conspiracy theories anyway, so it doesn't take much to make him think something's up. But I couldn't help to laugh, and play along telling him what was going on in the plot of the story I was writing at the time, from the view point of my main character, it took him a few minutes, but he caught on to what joke I was playing on him. And then proceeded to have a 'conversation' with that character, and I was surprised on how much he knew on the subject. I've scared him one time though, one of my best friends was dating a Muslim man, and considering converting. I knew very little about it, so I checked out most of the books in the library on it, fact on what they believe, and opinions from both sides. Now my dad comes from a small town, and of course well to say the least is totally against Islam. So he threw a fit at me, without letting me in, until I was crying, and finally my cousin got a word in edge wise saying I was trying to get enough information to help a friend from making a bad decision. Since then whenever I look at someone elses research material, I always try not to judge until I know what they're really doing.

Well it sounds like a very interesting read. I have never really noticed what other people are reading. I love to read myself and when I am in that reading mode or gathering my own reading resources to pay attention to what everyone else is gathering. I wish you luck with your novel. I can't wait to hear more about it.

In first grade I was very curious about witches and sorcery , so I checked out numerous books on the subject. My parents discovered one of these books and because there were a few excerpts from spells, written in them, they went ballistic. My knowledge of spell casting was limited to "ALA PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES" and I've never actually got that one to work.

Kudos to you for writing a book. I have many ideas for books, the ability and desire to write, but not the time. Seems the research I do is to help with my kids' school work or for my home business. Maybe when the kids are out on their own, I'll have the time but that's on my bucket list. Top priority is stories from my mom who is 85 who has gone through WWII and has lived through all the other interesting historical decades up to today. Can you imagine the changes in the world a person of that age has seen?

It would happen all the time if my friends and family didn't know I am constantly researching something for an article or project someone wants done. Nonfiction writing -- and the research that goes with it -- keeps my mind active now that I'm retired. You might also want to look online in places like Scribd and Manybooks for information as well as other online libraries when you get time. Once you start looking, you'll be amazed what you can find!

That is something that happens to me a lot, where I am researching something and have to go some rather seedy places or resources to find the information I need. Or at the very least, resources that might look the least bit suspect to those who don't know the entire story of what I am writing and why I am writing about it. Unless you know the story. Research can really take you to some rather insane areas to really get the entire scope of the issue. There are just going to be many times where like if I researched an article about weapons, there would be resources about how to make them, articles about how to use them for the most fatal damage, and all that. It is rather fascinating, almost to a twisted level.

I'm afraid I don't have what it takes to write fiction, and my nonfiction tends to be about art, nature, or personal relationships that are rather tame -- personal experiences and such. I don't think I've ever researched anything that would have made my other nervous -- or even my husband.