Jan 2021
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Feb 2021
Mar 2022
blackorchid
Jan '21

I don't know where to start, but I shall with the fashion.

https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/dictionary/ (great little resource)

My novel is loosely 1770-ish. So Baroque, Georgian, Colonial and the like.

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So, when I say wide-dresses, I feel like people don't believe me. They are not this extreme in my book, but the fashion plays a huge role in it, for the women AND MEN.

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I refuse to let people forget the amazing and colorful and fun fashion of men's suits.

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This is such a small sample of the gowns and styles for men and women. This was a time period that I didn't really care about, but since I've started looking it to it, it's just gaaah

I would also like to the time to PSA to all my writers and illustrators,

CORSETS DO NOT GO ON BARE SKIN

No. Stop it. And also TIGHT-LACING DOESN'T BECOME A THING UNTIL LIKE THE 1890s!

Okay, I have to stop or I will rage.

Anyway, I got so mad at 'costuming' that I had to make a whole pinterest board on period accurate clothing. So, if you need something, hit me up. I probably got it.

Oh yeah...the novel, lol:

alexlcuri07
Jan '21
Freemints30

Fam, same.

Uh, we're going to go with injuries and treatments: concussions, stab wounds, stitches and sutures, triage. In my defense, one of my characters is a doctor. (And a few people might also, maybe, possibly get hurt, haha)

Also, like @N1ghtm4r3 I looked up a lot of superpowers. This site was a life saver:

Esco
Jan '21

I researched a lot about mental disorders such as ADHD, DID, depression, etc. I also researched my home state Illinois since that's where the story takes place.....kind of.

Tanidreams
Jan '21
2

Ah! Editing this because I shared something I researched for my comic instead of my novel. So sorry! Here's research I did for my novel:

I researched what dance competitions may need when it comes to props, a good tip dance teachers make with chairs is to have rubber stoppers. I also used what little I know about the dancing world: https://www.ihsa.org/documents/dance/2013-14/Scoresheet-Rubric.pdf

I otherwise studied my local downtown to develop my setting and used my knowledge of the soft, whispy voice of the very talented Jennifer Tilly for one of my characters.

Not sure if this counts as research, but I also re-watched a few episodes of the Twilight Zone because it was one of the main inspirations for the novel. My favorite episodes to refer to are "The After Hours," "The Invaders," "Jesse-Belle," and "To Serve Man."

blackorchid
Jan '21
alexlcuri07

I have two stories now where a main character is a doctor of some sorts, and oh man, the research for that gets real fun. I am incredibly lucky that I have close family and friends in the medical field, who can give me pointed research topics, bc my stomach is not that strong.

The fun stuff has been the 'not modern medicine' angles I've had to find. Moss man, moss is way cooler and more useful than is let on.

Since we're doing research, here's a quick pull from Wikipedia:

Preindustrial societies made use of the mosses growing in their areas.

Laplanders, North American tribes, and other circumpolar people used mosses for bedding.[7][31] Mosses have also been used as insulation both for dwellings and in clothing. Traditionally, dried moss was used in some Nordic countries and Russia as an insulator between logs in log cabins, and tribes of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada used moss to fill chinks in wooden longhouses.[31] Circumpolar and alpine peoples have used mosses for insulation in boots and mittens. Ötzi the Iceman had moss-packed boots.[31]

The capacity of dried mosses to absorb fluids has made their use practical in both medical and culinary uses. North American tribal people used mosses for diapers, wound dressing, and menstrual fluid absorption.[31] Tribes of the Pacific Northwest in the United States and Canada used mosses to clean salmon prior to drying it, and packed wet moss into pit ovens for steaming camas bulbs. Food storage baskets and boiling baskets were also packed with mosses.[31]

Fedriz_Marini
Jan '21

Believe it or not, for making the "Marocca Species" of my series, I've researched many Families of Frogs and their subfamilies and particulars species, such as the Dendrobatinae's family, the Mantelinae, Conraua etc... and depending on the types of frog, decide what role they would have fit (Example, Conrua have "Goliath Frogs" which in the series are either Guards or Soldiers).
Frog's weren't the only thing i've researched for my Series, Reptilian as well and various type of lizards and dragon to make up for humanoid draconic species of the Salamanders, or also various type of Bird for different variants for the Harpies (Ara's family for example are based on Parrot and there are some of Prey similar to Owls or Condor... or to breed like Chickens!), and the fact that both of them are actually descendent of a common ancestor, similar to how it happens with Birds and Reptiles descending from Dinosaurs as common ancestor.
There are tons of other things that I've researched to shape my Story, but at this actual point it would be just spoiler :wink: .

Anyway, set in a "Fantasy" world with Sci-fi roots, "Stories from the Golden Garden" is a "Slice of Life" anthology that, following the Prologue, tells 5 short stories based around 4 Holidays that are celebrated by the Main Characters, and the origin Story of the main protagonist of "The Golden Garden".

I release it both in English:

And in Italian (My Motherlanguage):

I hope you might like it, despire only a few pages of the Prologue being pubblished as of now.

Enjoy your Stay, Have a nice day!

HippieGhost
Jan '21
HippieGhost

Replying to myself to provide an example. Most of my work in spellcraft is in divination and sigils, and I spend a lot of time making sigils for both my works and for actual use.

The above sigil is a protection sigil I made for personal use, but I used the Aphuanian Script I created as a "magical language". The phrase "I Am Protected" is written in Aphuanian in a circle around the sigil, and the sigil itself is made using the same letters. To cast the spell, I pour energy into the sigil first to "charge" it, then burn it to release the energy into the world.

Elysee
Jan '21

I like that idea. And I see I am not the only one that googles the weirdest stuff.

So here:
1. Names - I wanted them to go deeper than just sounding good.
2. How hard you have to slap someone to knock them out- didn't find an answer to that, that pleased me.
3. Legal age of marriage in the 15th century- there were none but I thought there would be :smile_01:
4. Poisonous flowers- overall a lot of flowers research :cry_01:
5. Rare English words- to spice it up

ApplesOverIndia
Jan '21

While researching for my novel, I spent a decent amount of time googling both "rules of Catholicism" and "lesbian bars in Tennessee" within 24 hours. Anyone looking at my browser history would have been highly confused. I also did some significant digging into cars from the 1970s; did they have a cigarette lighter? A radio? Did the seats fold down? Turns out they did not come with a radio which made me retcon a couple things.

It's worth noting that even though I mentioned 1970s cars and the title includes polaroids, this is actually set in modern day.

therosesword
Jan '21
blackorchid

I was a supernumerary with the local Opera company for several years and had to wear outfits like that fairly often. Granted they weren't totally constructed like the real thing (zippers and all that) but if you don't have anyone who can tell you what it was like to walk around or sit etc. Let me know. It's been awhile but when you can't reach the door knob to open a door you suddenly realize that polite chivalry was a sham and people opened the door to get you out of the way. LOL.

kmlangleyauthor
Jan '21

I was researching tourist attractions in South Korea for an AU I was working on when I discovered that there is, in fact, a Gangnam Style statue in Seoul :tada: I swear it makes me happy every time I think about it :smile:

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Also, red beans or red bean paste is quite prevalent in Korean desserts :sweat_smile:

NellieVP318
Jan '21

I did some research about cults and also on Hollywood Scandals for my work. I did a lot of gooogling for stuff like Indie Rock scenes and so on.

blackorchid
Jan '21
therosesword

There are a lot of youtubers who are great at breaking down fashion and were reproductionist(?) or whatever the word is that I can't recall---you know, historical cosplay? LOL. Anyway, they've been a great help in the daily life aspect and the mentality around the clothing.

There are also a couple that do historical dressing and makeup videos. I've taken a lot of inspiration from them.

CrowsEyeProductions <---I watch their ones a lot.
Bernadette Banner (relaxing Collegiate Level rants about clothing, while sewing them)
Karolina Zebrowska (meme queen)
Abby Cox (who also was a part of American Duchess and makes AMAZING clothing that I NEED)

Bonus points, is that they interact and promote each other, too. Which, is so much fun to see.

They've been such a HUGE help in learning everything. I watch a show, and then watch their reviews to see how much I can catch now, too.

The downside to all of this is now the new rage in clothing and corsetry being wrong in nearly everything I watch. So, add that to the list of things that make me rage. What can you do?

16 days later
lloyd119187
Feb '21

My main character, Ava, fights with a sword and shield, so I used instructional videos for inspiration. As a matter of fact, here's one:

SCA Shield Technique: Basic Manipulations

tiredpigeon
Feb '21

Dissociative Identity Disorder occurs when the integration of the personality is interrupted by frequent traumas that occur before the age of 9. The person in question will then have a fragmented psyche, with each fragment having their own name, age, memories and personality.

I read a crap ton about DiD or Dissociative Identity Disorder for a character who doesn't even show up until the 5th chapter-.. It's really fascinating! If you have some free time, I suggest looking into it.

1 year later
RoPerrow
Mar '22

Names!! xD For my people and old names for my 'kingdoms' (Eventide meaning Evening, Nocturn meaning Night, Morwen meaning Morning and Undern for Afternoon).

closed Mar 1, '22