THINGS I'VE RESEARCHED LATELY.
#5 - This gross stuff. Ewe! And not for anything but a small flaw for one of my characters.
#4 - Tear gas. Also not good.
#3 - Names. <- My favorite website. I'm constantly looking for awesome names. (The name of the day today is Meztli. Huh?) Sadly, naming characters is a struggle at this point in my writing career. With 21 novels, 1.8 millions words and hundreds of characters notched on my writing stick, it was only a matter of time before naming a secondary character, let alone a hero or his leading lady, would become a serious struggle.
#2 - Fight strap. Yes, this one was a personal inquiry. I heard a sport's commentator talk about this and I had no idea it even existed.
#1 - Hacker. What initially comes to mind is computer hacking, right? Been there, done that. This is actually a pretty complex noun. It can refer to a hobbyist, an anti-authoritarian, a cracker, a person without skill, exploitation, or a name-brand beer, just to name a few. Can you guess which reference I'm playing with right now?
Sending a huge, resounding shout-out to the internet. Like the trials of the pioneers and what they went without, I think of writers who didn't have a keyboard or more importantly, the web. Ewe again! I don't think I could write realistic fantasy without being able to perform research. After all, research is one of my many emotional compensations for writing.
Kristin
