Last week we were discussing what we should choose as our topic for this week’s blog. I was obviously having a moment and I suggested the History of Carrots which I discovered years ago on a slow day at work – truly it is very interesting, feel free to check it out.
Although that was a flippant response, it got us thinking about all the things we have had to either learn or fact check while writing. Evidently, our characters know a lot of stuff about things we didn’t. The following is not an exhaustive list but gives you some idea of what we have had to be able to write about knowledgeably on topics we had never been particularly familiar with, and some of the links we found useful:
- Ghosts
- Seances
- EVP
- Candles and crystals
- Building
- Demonic possession
- Cults
- Landscape gardening
- Dreams
- Geography
- Past life regression
- Assisted immigration (10 shilling scheme)
- Rationing
- SAS and other special forces
- DUI police process
- AA meetings
- Spanish Civil War
- Red Cross Agencies
- London Blitz
- WWII Jazz clubs and the music of 30s and 40s
We save everything in our ‘Bible’ so (hopefully) we get our facts right and weave them in seamlessly to our narrative as and when required. It also means we can revisit information when needed. This is also where we have our list of bit characters and a short precis about them, where they fit in and potential story arcs/ideas.
It’s research but it’s so much fun that often it feels like skiving off and sometimes we just end up in the oddest places, like all the things you never knew about carrots, including Giant Carrots, Ghost Bath Houses of Paris, weasel trivia and the most adorable cats in the world.
Emily Morgan 