Wednesday, May 29, 2013

You're Researching What? TCWT Blog Chain May 2013

So, this month the prompt for the Teens Can Write, Too! blog chain came from yours truly. My prompt is thus:

“What are some of the coolest/weirdest/funniest/most disturbing things you’ve researched for a story?”

This is going to be fun.

I have looked up:
  • What color violet eyes actually are (they're either pale greyish or dark, dark blue)
  • Names that mean "Stupid" (there aren't any)
  • "Weird antiques" so I could put some in a fictional antique shop
  • The history of bottled water
  • Crimes punishable by death
  • Ossuaries (really, really want to put one in a story. Maybe as part of a prison)
  • A bit about the Barbary Pirates, specifically the capture and sinking of the USS Philadelphia.
  • Medieval herbal medical practices (From a book my family owns. That book scares me. They used highly toxic convallaria [lily of the valley] as medicine.)
  • Making candles
  • Growing and using various kinds of natural dyes (indigo, sumac, madder, etc)
  • The branding of slaves (This was an image search. Didn't find what I was looking for.) 
  • Different kinds of weird silverware
  • Thatching for roofs
  • Old fashioned names
I like The Given Names Frequency Project for that last one. I found it when I was trying to find a name for a character who lived in the 1800s, and it was very helpful and extremely interesting. The resource from them  I used (the link called "popular given names, US 1801 - 1999") was a collection of names with the number of times they appeared in censuses during the 1840s. I just looked at their website again, and there are other resources there I haven't investigated yet that look promising.

I've had the urge to write historical fiction (not the story referred to above) since my Anatomy and Physiology class went to the Indiana Medical History Museum, which is housed in what used to be the pathology building for the no-longer-existent Central State Hospital for the Insane. Oh yeah.  Now I really want to set a story there in the 1900s, a few years after the pathology building opened. Other than visiting the museum, I haven't done any research, but I really want to. They had books there from 1850. 1850! Books the original doctors had brought with them when the building opened. And this pair of old, real human skeletons that they had ordered in the day from a medical supply catalog (Just a little creepy...). Oh, and all the old equipment. They had an autopsy table from the 1920s. And this really cool pH color comparer thing...

Okay, I'll stop now. I need to actually come up with a story to set there. 

Another cool historical thing I stumbled upon once was a set of local coroner's records from 1896 to 1935.  I didn't go out looking for them (I accidentally found them on my library's website), but I think I did use them as a historical reference for a story idea that ended up dying. (Dying, coroner's reports, ha.) Depressing, really depressing, but fascinating. Several people got hit by trains. Swallowing acid was a popular form of suicide. Lots of babies died. Teenage boys were stupid. Oh, and there was this murder... which I don't remember all the details to at the moment, and actually there were several murders, but If you want to read more about what I found, I posted a bit about them a while back in this post

So, there's my post, with a bonus ramble about historical loony bins. Big thanks to John from TCWT for letting me host this month, and to all the bloggers who participated in the chain. Here's a list of all the participants (you should totally check them out):
30th – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain)

And a wondrous day/night/morning/midnight/mid-afternoon/whatever to you. 

16 comments:

  1. O_O

    Those last two definetly fall under the disturbing category. :)
    But now I've thought of a story for that former insane asylum. Set modern day. A bitty bit of plot lacking plot. So... you have a potential roommate if they ever come after you for this insanity. :)

    ~Robyn Hoode


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    1. There are many things in my head that fall under the disturbing category. :P

      We shall brave the woes of insanity together!

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    2. Do they let you have roommates in mental hospitals? Ah, but we will never find out (unless we research it)! They'll never take us alive!

      ~Robyn

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    3. Aye, never! We shall fight tooth and nail, fist and claw for our rights to insanity!

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    4. Tempest, bring me my sword! What do you mean you can't carry it? You're a talking cat, for insanity's sake! OKAY, FINE! I'll get my sword and you go saddle my dragon, Tempest.

      ~Robyn

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    5. Aye, and fetch my magic chameleon too, Tempest. He should be with the dragons. I've got to go find a missing long bow. I should never have that assassin borrow it.

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    6. Oh, gracious! You lent your bow to an assassin? Harry, be a dear and go fetch Lily's bow. Now.

      ~Robyn

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    7. She said she wasn't going to use it to kill anyone, she just needed it to hunt. Last time I trust a criminal. And thanks, Harry!

      .... Who, and what is Harry?

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    8. Harry is a brownie (like Thimbletack from The Spiderwick Chronicles). He and Tempest don't get along.

      Is my dragon saddled, yet, Tempest?

      ~Robyn

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    9. I haven't read the Spiderwick Chronicles in a long time, and I only ever read the first book and the first chapter of the second. But I think I know what a brownie is.

      Tempest says the dragon is ready, as is my flying unicorn. My pegacorn. My unisus. Whatever. Sadly, my dragon is... Unavailable.

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    10. Oh, dear. Whatever happened to your dragon?

      ~Robyn

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    11. I'd tell you, but then he'd have to kill us both.

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  2. The weirdest thing I ever researched was medicinal properties for skunkweed. I needed to know why Tiger just happened to have a jar of it handy in her apothecary!

    Turns out, the roots are good for respiratory illnesses!

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    1. I also looked up medicinal properties for magnolia while I was at it (a character whose name was Magnol Ia wanted to know). Turns out, the petals, if boiled, are also good for respiratory, and there's a dye in them that's good for digestion.

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    2. Really. I had no idea. Most of my herbal knowledge comes from what my mom has taught me, and magnolias never came up. They smell good, and they have good uses.

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