Wednesday, May 3, 2017

IWSG Post – The weirdest/coolest thing I have researched for my story

It’s time for another IWSG post. The months seem to be hurtling past with my deadlines waving sarcastic goodbyes to me, my writing goals are just not getting accomplished and let’s not even talk of my reading goals and I won’t even mention my fitness goals. See how well I started my Insecure Writer’s Support Group Post (IWSG) by grumbling, grumbling and grumbling some more.

The purpose of IWSG is to allow the members to talk of their writing worries, anxieties, doubts, fears and grouses. On the first Wednesday of the month we post about whatever is bugging us where our writing is concerned. The IWSG has a fabulous website.

This wonderful group was started by Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh (author of the Amazon Bestsellers: CassaStar, CassaStorm, CassaFire and Dragon of the Stars). This online group works as a major stress buster for us writers, helping us let go of all our writing angst.

The May IWSG question: What is the weirdest/coolest thing you had to research for your story?

For my last book, I researched about dogs, and anyone who knows me well, knows about my fear of dogs (I can run faster than any Olympic athlete when I see a canine.) I spent one whole day on Youtube watching videos on dogs: how they walk, bark, run, chase and fight, wag their tails and believe it or not how they kiss. My mom who happened to enter my room at that time was shocked. I’m sure she thought I was going mad.

Two days back I completed a commissioned story for The Young World supplement of The Hindu Newspaper where I wrote a story on the Olive Ridley Turtle. I spent some time watching videos on how turtles come to the shore to lay eggs.

As writers we research a lot and trust me if someone were to see our search history on our laptops they would be shocked and spooked (perhaps they will stop keeping in touch with us).

I’m eager to read what is the coolest/weirdest thing you all ever had to research for your story?

11 comments:

  1. I bet you would beat the rabbit in a greyhound race then.
    Watching the turtle videos was probably fun.

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  2. I had a pet turtle as a kid so I have a soft spot for them. The turtle research must have been interesting. Sounds like it was a challenge to research dogs given your fear of them.

    Good luck with meeting your goals and having more time to do it. We all go through those challenging times.

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  3. Hang in there, Rachna! Some months are just like that. Try to look forward, look ahead and cheer yourself on!

    I wonder what would happen if I let the tortoises watch those sea turtle videos.... :)

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  4. I used to have a morbid fear of spiders. When I needed to do research on them, I had goose pimples and shivers the whole time. Then I moved and built a home in a jungle here in Mexico and have to deal with tarantulas. Now I actually find them cute.

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  5. Curiosity keeps us young . . . I'm hoping for a lot more years in the bank. I often wonder what the FBI would think of my Internet cache . . .

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  6. I have a healthy fear of dogs too. The internet is perfect for people like us. Don't get too close to the things we're researching!

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  7. I think research makes our world wide and wonderful. :-)

    Just a note: If a dog sees somebody running they will be sure to chase after them. Not to hurt or kill, but because it's fun.

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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  8. I would get so lost watching puppy and turtle videos. Pinterest alone can suck me in with animal pictures.

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  9. I had to research cadaver dogs for my WIP - I learned a lot!

    DB McNicol, author & traveler

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  10. I researched gray wolves to make my werewolf story more authentic. I enjoyed the research, though wolves scare me. I take it you did not come away from all the research with a new puppy?

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  11. The coolest thing I researched was the New Madrid fault earthquakes of 1811-1812...when parts of the Mississippi River ran backgrounds for a short time.

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