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The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. He, his clones, minions, friends, and fellow authors make it an amazing event every month.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.
May 3 Question: What is the weirdest/coolest thing you ever had to research for your story?
That's a great question! I think CSIS, the FBI and Interpol probably have all of us on a special list. We do look up some weird and wacky things!
- wolf reintegration
- winter survival tips
- pay scales for freelance journalists
- Afghanistan (terrain, climate, and culture)
- skinning an animal
- deaths and injuries caused by wolves, moose, hypothermia, gun shots, machetes, and snow machines
My least favourite research was for the name of the town I'd created. I'd named it Blue Moose and there are a lot of quirks to the town that go along with the name.
Turns out Blue Moose is a name for a coffee shop, a promotional company, a paint company, a pub, ... well, you get the idea.
I don't want to infringe on any copyrights, so I've changed the spelling to Bloo Moose. Now to get the stories done so I've got my own copyright going on!
Some of my other stories have had much weirder searches, but that's for another day!
How about you? What's one of your weird look-ups?
42 comments:
I think the Canadian Mounties will be watching you and their wolves.
Smart to change the name. It's all yours now.
No worries about missing last month. A lot of people did because of the Challenge anyway.
(Sorry about your flu bit. Glad you're feeling better!) Ooh, skinning an animal ... I bet you found a few interesting (yuck, gross, eew...) photos during your search. Weird search for me - Hmm... well, I write lots of mythology so I've found some strange creatures from folklores and such. I also had to research what the most powerful and potent mint is. I had to up the 'hotness' so I added a little ghost pepper to it. ;)
The flu is no fun.
I wonder why there are so many Blue Moose? I don't think I've ever seen a blue moose.
Love Bloo Moose! Not sure what the weirdest thing I've researched is. Maybe it was when the sheriff of a neighboring county hung up on me because of my question. Or maybe a response I received from someone in the Israeli government to an online question I asked about recovering fingerprints from a dead body.
I used to have nightmares as a kid about dying by being attacked by an animal. I'll let you be the one to research that. Glad you're feeling better this month.
Afghanistan probably set off a flag somewhere. Just be on the lookout for any suspicious people following you around.
Animals, eh? Whew! Fun research. I think my weirdest was probably how to melt a body. The things we learn for writing, eh?
I hadn't thought about the Challenge too! A very busy month!
Yep - lots of yuck in some of those searches!!
That sounds like some fun research! :)
I know! I thought it was a good name - hoped it was unique. Nope!
Thanks!
ICK! I wouldn't have enjoyed that either!!!
LOL - those are some great answers!!! :)
Thanks :)
My nightmares are scary too!
I'm probably the LEAST aware person I know. They'd be in my driveway before I noticed! :)
That's a creepy one!!!
I know - we all learn so many strange things! :)
That's a good way to change the name. No one better try and steal it from you.
Skinning an animal? Ick. Glad I've never needed to research that one. I needed a name for a hot dog vendor for a story recently. I kept coming up with cool names but when I Googled them, they were already in use.
For my current project, I looked a lot into military training and the layout of overseas military bases. A few projects ago, I did some research into neo-Nazi groups--ick.
I like your weird research list. It's always fun to learn about things that I have no idea about.
I know! I'll be so sad!!! :)
Definitely icky!!! I'm a wimp
That's so frustrating - all the good ones are taken :)
That's a major big ick for sure!!! Not sure I'd have made it through
It is! It's so easy to disappear into the research and lose hours! :)
Now I really want to read your wip!
Bloo Moose -- love it!
Changing the spelling of the name to Bloo Moose was a good move.
Wolf reintegration...sounds like an interesting topic.
What a great town name! (And who would have thought Blue Moose would be so popular?)
Yay! :)
Thanks! I'm hoping it's going to be a fun story when it's finally polished up! :)
I know! The popularity totally threw me off!
I love that name. The others with the same name might love it enough to put it offices or on shelves or hand it out to customers.
I hope you're on the mend.
Wow, those are some pretty terrifying searches!
Can't help but be intrigued by your story just because of those research topics alone! And LOL, I can relate to how frustrating name research can be. I always worry about copyright infringement, too. Best of luck with your latest WIP!
Thanks! That's a great plan! :)
Much better thanks :)
They can be - I kind of squint at some of the results!
That's awesome! :)
It never hurts to be careful!
Must have been fun researching all these things. All the best Jemi!
Wow! Sounds awesome fun.
It was! :)
Yep! :)
Thanks for this post Jemi!
Yeah, it is, but what do you do when writing about spies? They know some really creepy stuff.
I've spent a ton of time researching being a survivalist, but the most creepy thing I guess is how to make someone ill with no toxins showing up in their system. Research honest!!!!!!
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