Sunday, February 28, 2016

The finer points of an end zone dance: In the name of research, part II

A few months ago, I wrote a post with the intention of scratching an inch I feel frequently while writing: the itch to say, "I'm finding myself researching x for the sake of my writing. Isn't that funny?" Well, I think it may have to become a regular-ish feature. When Writing Time rolls around, I expect that I'll be spending time with MG-aged characters in classrooms and homes and summer camps, all places I know pretty well. It blows my my every time the story goes somewhere that requires me to educate myself in:

-The finer points of an end zone dance
-The finer points of a grand jeté
-How to type an accented e on a PC (what has a year+ with a Mac as my work computer done to me?) 
-Whether the word hallelujah appears in a service I've attended many times
-Whether kids still play Concentration
-How counselor sleeping areas are set up at various summer camps (this one took crowdsourcing; thanks, all!)
-Fifth grade curriculum
-What might be in a gluten-free school lunch
-The release date of a movie featuring the first name of one of my major characters--before or after she was born? (I couldn't reach a conclusive answer without knowing the book's release date. She said optimistically.) 
-How old boys usually are when their voices change
-Causes of lisps
-When school budgets are announced 
-How to write a good last line (okay, this one's less surprising)

To write is to learn, and relearn, and realize how much you don't know for sure.

And what have you Googled lately?

No comments:

Post a Comment