Big thanks to Stephanie Julian for letting us come here and play today! We'll get started with our first Q&A.
Ms. Geeky Pants
Q: How do you feel about doing research for a book? How much or how little research do you do for each book?
Michelle: I LOVE LOVE LOVE research. LOVE IT! It's one of my favorite things about being a writer. I love learning and trying new things. I love mental challenges and figuring out how my characters can fit into a historical setting or cultural rules. Actually, my personal non-fiction research library is bigger than my fiction one.
Mandy: Research is one of the main reasons that I write. I can't seem to get enough. I love learning new things. It's like every day, I get to learn something I didn't know the day before. My home library has expanded to the point I have floor to ceiling bookshelves that line by 14 x 14 office. It's all listed out according to genre and subject. Some days I come in here to just sit and grab something, anything really, off the shelf and flip through it. 99% of it is nonfiction and I love that. I save the fiction books for my ereaders and digital. I don't have enough space to house them all. *snort*
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Michelle M Pillow
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Thanks for letting us hang here, Stephanie! Everyone, remember that to be entered in the contest at the end of the tour, you need to comment on the posts. You can enter as much as you like. J
Join us tomorrow when we visit Donica Covey at http://donicacovey.wordpress.com/
15 comments:
Thanks for having us!
Michelle and Mandy,
Do you use a lot of the research you find in your book? Thank you for blogging today. :D
It depends. Sometimes I'll spend hours researching something only to use it in ONE line (I kid you not) in my book. To me, its worth the time to add the right flavor to the book. Other titles, I spend hours and hours and use quite a bit of it in the finished product.
Ditto with Mandy said on the research. I have to actually stop myself from researching and get to the book. But, I find, that I do draw on a lot on what I learn to create the mood of the story. Especially with historicals. So, even though I don't quote all the medieval laws, I do get a good sense of what it was like to live during that time and what a character would and wouldn't do.
Thanks for having us today! :)
Hey Mandy and Michelle, thanks for stopping by.
I have to say I love research! Finding an old book about werewolves or witchcraft that I had no idea existed and then devouring it for tidbits for my books is like a treasure hunt for me.
I love some of the old research books I've found in thrift stores that were published years ago. They're great!
Good morning Michelle and Mandy!
I'm a total Tudor buff, and once I had all the various Richards and Edwards straight, I just lose myself in the fabrics and language and all the tiny details. Now I find I'm even picking up books on fairy costuming, of all things.
What (if any) little minutia have you found yourselves (or yourself) getting hooked on?
Hi Barbara! Like you I get lost in the little details. One that come to mind is the differences between pigs in the middle ages and today, and how the "best" parts were opposite of what we think of as the good meat. They were also red and bristled (and looked differently), unlike modern day livestock. Yeah, I know that. LMAO
I love finding out new things (especially trivia about what life was like before all the modern gadgets) but I never seem to use the information I find. *shrugs*
Mind you it comes in useful for the odd strange look in conversations :D
Hi Mandy and Michelle,
Is there one particular book that you tend to use most often for research?
I tend to have a lot of fiction research books on my book shelf. I just can't get into the non fiction ones. I don't really use any of the research in my stories but I get ideas from them:-) See you guys in the next blog.
Ilona - I LOVE to play trivial pursuit, it's where the useless knowledge comes in really handy, lol
Cathy - It really depends on the type of books. I have a ton of books related to every detail of the medieval period. Everything from The History of Hell, to Mistress Maids and Men: Baronial Life in the Thirteenth Century by Labarge, to this really great history of culinary arts books that I can't seem to find and might require a search party if it doesn't show back up in my office soon.
Hope - I look for nonfiction that is laid out in a way that I like, for easier searching when I need to know a particular fact.
Michelle- Thanks for the tip I may have to do that there are sometimes when I need to know about weapons or a law or something and I have to google it lol.
It really does make a difference. I have straight reads and I have books laid out by category. The second are easier to skim and I pick those up more. :)
Thank you everyone for stopping by to play with us!!
Next stop on the blog tour: http://donicacovey.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/mm-makin%E2%80%99-the-rounds/
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