Writers Round Table
What is one
of your favorite resources for research?
Cate
Masters: I’d love to be able to visit every setting in
my stories! Unfortunately I can’t, so I mainly rely on either the library or the
Internet, but I love to come across books specific to my needs that I’ll keep
on my shelf for reference. For instance, I’ve relied on The Dictionary of
Angels to supply not only names but background information for the angels in my
Christmas fantasy, Ground Rules, and my dark paranormal, Dancing With the
Devil. When I was lucky enough to visit Key West, Florida, I bought about six
books about the local area because the history intrigued me so much, and I
spent a few days in the library there while my family went parasailing and
snorkeling. They had a fun time, but I felt like I found a lost treasure chest!
For more
about Cate visit her blog: Cate Masters: http://catemasters.blogspot.com
Regina Duke: I
love Google and Wikipedia.
This sounds
simplistic, but as a career academic (retired), it is such a joy to be able to
type in a question and see a variety of answers. Some of the informants may not
know exactly what they are talking about, but after perusing several sites with
information, I can glean a huge amount of information without leaving my
writing space.
Unlike the
research I had to do for academic books. Every source had to be paper published
(although this is changing), either a monograph or a journal article (refereed,
of course). And the topics were very dry as well. Instead of reading foreign
language articles about the ergative marker (linguistics), I can type in “What
do bounty hunters really do?” or “What are buckyballs?” and spend half a day
reading the fun stuff! LOL!
For more
about Regina Duke visit her at http://www.reginaduke.com
Mariposa
Cruz: My favorite starting point for research is the
children’s section of the library.
Children’s books are designed to be user friendly—I’ve found them to be a
quick source for concise information. Another
wonderful resource is The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters
by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, a compendium of paranormal from folklore to pop
culture. My only complaint is that I
have a hard time putting it down!
