I'm so thankful for my circle of friends, for many reasons ... but one of them is to do with research. When I'm writing I look stuff up in books and online of course, and I draw on my own experience, but sometimes there's no substitute for asking someone else. Like this week, when I'm writing a story which references MMORPG World of Warcraft. How much research would I have to do on my own before I could answer the question "Okay, if you've got a maxed-out longterm player who's off on his own somewhere killing monsters in a repetitive manner; where might he be, what's he killing and what's the reward? Oh, and what titles might he have earned?"
In fact, as I glance over my
- the world of pro-am opera
- sugarcraft and cakemaking
- Victorian underwear
- dating in Second Life
- what it's like being an extra in a movie
- Arabic culture in medieval Baghdad
- Librarian hierarchy
- Roman armour and army organisation
They're called "Pteruges"
And that's off the top of my head - I'm sure I've missed some.
What's next? Well, I've got this character, see, and he's very old fashioned. I need someone who can translate into Old English and get the cases right...
And what's more I'm sure I know someone who can help!
6 comments:
I've got this character, see, and he's very old fashioned. I need someone who can translate into Old English and get the cases right...
Haha, the ultimate pedant—turning up his nose at any word introduced by cyberculture, the Beats, jazz musicians, Punch, Swift, Shakespeare, Chaucer, or the Normans!
Heh, if I'd been a better student, that would have been me! But... yeah, not meant to be...
:-D
Who says genre writing is simple stuff tossed off by hacks, eh?
(And I did try and think of a phrase other than "tossed off," but, well, it seems too appropriate to spurn)
:)
Oh, anytime you need a gamer guru, pick me pick me!
I write for the WoW magazine, plus, you know, am a geek... :)
Oh Shanna, you write for the WoW magazine? That makes you a geek god, I believe - I bow before you! :-)
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