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Post by wetdirt on Jul 21, 2013 0:48:47 GMT -5
Here is what I've had to research so far in my story:
chemical formulas and physical properties: silicon carbide, tungsten carbide, calcium carbide. melting points of nylon, spandex, polyester. formulation of polyester, recycling of polyester.
calcium carbide=>acetylene=>vinyl chloride=>polyvinyl chloride
Ion engine rocket propellants: krypton, steam, mixed gas
velocity of slingshot pellets is greater than paintball guns
solar illumination at asteroid belt in watts per square meter
designed knitting pattern for cardigan hoodie made of stainless steel wire for chainmail armor
surgical support hose go to 50 mm Hg, need 220 mm Hg for astronaut's EVA suit.
drawing a breath needs 50 mm Hg. don't compress chest more than that without pressurizing air.
Asteroids/Venus/Mars are unlikely to produce gemstones such as rubies, emeralds, or aquamarines. Sorry. You could get peridots.
You can have a zero-gravity coffee cup. It's already been patented. Really? Patent a coffee cup?
Silicone grease and graphite/silicone grease work in vacuum. But you can't hear squeaky hinges in space anyway.
In 1990s, satellites weighed 900 lbs. now they weigh close to 9000 lbs.
Economics of whaling in 1800s
Maritime salvage law, maritime laws on piracy between 1750 and present.
Less than a third will wind up in the story.
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Post by mllersil on Jul 21, 2013 6:23:56 GMT -5
 Wow. One can already get a fleeting glimpse at the story behind. Impressive. At least your browser history looks fairly intelligent, mine depicts me as a mental instable mass murderer with medical knowledge. The BKA is probably watching me by now ... A question: Do you write first, then research or the other way 'round? (Or maybe both together?)
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Post by boomboom on Jul 21, 2013 15:05:21 GMT -5
I'm impressed, WetDirt! If this writing thing doesn't work out, sounds like you could make a living knitting space suits.
I look forward to reading your story. It sounds like fun. Are you going to let us see it?
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Post by wetdirt on Jul 21, 2013 20:48:00 GMT -5
If there is interest, I could post the first two chapters, they are in the best shape. Not that they are final, or edited much, because things at the far end keep changing things at the front end. I was thinking of maybe leaving it on the other side of the bookcase on a table. I'm nervous about leaving it in the front room on the couch.
And the mailshirt is to go *over* the spacesuit, 'cause of the psycho crazy wild-eyed guy with the knife, you know. They don't dare fire guns in a spacecraft, same as in airliners-- it tends to cause embarrassing gas problems if you miss--as in, the air leaks out of the airplane and it turns into an ordinary rock.
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Post by wetdirt on Jul 21, 2013 20:59:20 GMT -5
Oh, and mllersil,
I did a bunch of research in June, world-building stuff. Once July hit, the story went off on its own and I've been diligently chasing it all over near earth orbit. The whaling thing came up in chapter 2, and I decided I had to design the mailshirt last week. I mean really design it, knit a swatch to determine what is the biggest gauge I can knit wire and it still be flexible but not let the knife through. The wire gauge determines whether the wire for it will come out of the ship's stores, or if MC has to scrounge it from recycled satellite parts. It turns out to be a pretty fine gauge, and at a fine gauge it was taking so long to knit that she couldn't make more than one in the time she had. But I didn't know which way to write it till I knit a swatch. Sigh. And today I restrung my slingshot using office rubber bands because the Station didn't have any surgical tubing that the nurse would let MC have, because she was saving supplies for the pirate attack. So MC had to scrounge rubber bands. I needed to know whether it would still shoot straight with the lumpy rubber bands, but it's fine. It's been that kind of a story, you think you are going to do one thing, you try it, it won't work that way, so you chase off after the story in another direction. This thing is a wee bit too autobiographical. If I had known all this, I would have just written down what I did for background research the last two weeks, nobody would believe it was real life. And yes, I do own a welder.
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Post by boomboom on Jul 21, 2013 22:59:16 GMT -5
Love to see it, WetDirt, and, yes, definitely post it here behind the bookcase. I have asked jackie if she could make a section section for posting and feedback but she is probably busy and hasn't done that yet. People are going to start to want to post their stories. Or you can put it on Dropbox as Gitchel did. However, feedback should still be in a private forums, but you can upload attachments here. At least it appears that way from the help section.
I am still a fan of Scribophile for it's critiquing tools. I just did two critiques there today.
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Post by gitchel on Jul 23, 2013 14:17:16 GMT -5
My research is mostly on story construction so far, but I have spent a lot of time researching things like what happens to civilisation after cataclysm. Especially in the 500 years after area. I've wathed a lot of the Life after People TV series, researched the New Madrid earthquake fault line, ghost towns, domestic animal evolution, alternative economies, despotism, moon bases, mars bases, yada yada....
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Post by Bird on Jul 23, 2013 23:19:23 GMT -5
My story had a fair amount of travel to places I wasn't that familiar with (and those I needed to re-familiarize myself with), so most of my research came in the form of spying via satellite. I was on Google Maps so much I'm surprised they didn't start charging me admission.  |
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Post by aquarose on Jul 24, 2013 1:37:55 GMT -5
Today, I researched dragon anatomy, Lizards, sea turtles, pterosaurs... I need to build my dragons to fill in all those blank spots. I just can't find a picture of what's in my head.
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Post by boomboom on Jul 24, 2013 2:20:22 GMT -5
I had to research what gangrene looked and smelled like. That was really pleasant.
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Post by mllersil on Jul 24, 2013 7:38:33 GMT -5
I had to research what gangrene looked and smelled like. That was really pleasant. By the way, I'd be happy to help you with questions like these.  If you ever need help concerning medical research, please feel free to ask. I got more than a decade of experience in various medical fields. (Excluding psychiatry.)  |
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Post by gitchel on Jul 24, 2013 14:49:37 GMT -5
My story had a fair amount of travel to places I wasn't that familiar with (and those I needed to re-familiarize myself with), so most of my research came in the form of spying via satellite. I was on Google Maps so much I'm surprised they didn't start charging me admission. :D I am Streetview's biggest fan! I have absolutely no idea why Google did that. It must have cost a fortune. And I have no idea how they get qa return on that money. But they have my undying gratitude. I actually wept a bit when Apple made their own map app on the ipad - WITHOUT STREETVIEW. As for writing, it's a never ending supply of scenery and details and inspiration. If I ever get another cat, I'm naming him Google. |
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Post by wetdirt on Jul 24, 2013 21:20:30 GMT -5
I don't use Streetview that much, but I sure do use Google Earth, Google Moon, and Google Mars. The new maps under the sea can keep me from doing anything useful for hours. Sigh.
At the same time, I am also deeply sceptical of doing research entirely on the internet. I grew up looking up things in books, and books are always the same pretty much when you look at them again, unless you have a parrot, in which case some of them may be a little smaller around the corners. It's like that movie The Truman Show, where it was all a production. Every once in awhile, I get suspicious that even the internet could be manipulated, or not show the whole story. My natural paranoia.
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Post by Bird on Jul 24, 2013 23:13:00 GMT -5
Internet research is definitely not the be all and end all, but it sure is cheaper than plane fare. |
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Post by jennifer on Apr 1, 2014 11:51:39 GMT -5
I'm writing a totally fantasy story where I'm making everything up and I STILL had to do research - on rainforests and the animals and plants that live there. I'm still making stuff up to suit my needs but I thought I should at least start with a basic idea of what is realistic. Then I'll ignore it whenever I want. But I won't put a pine tree in there or something really obviously wrong like that. Wolves, though...
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Post by r.elena.t on Apr 1, 2014 12:46:26 GMT -5
I'm writing a totally fantasy story where I'm making everything up and I STILL had to do research - on rainforests and the animals and plants that live there. I'm still making stuff up to suit my needs but I thought I should at least start with a basic idea of what is realistic. Then I'll ignore it whenever I want. But I won't put a pine tree in there or something really obviously wrong like that. Wolves, though... I feel the same way. I'm writing a fantasy set in another universe, but it is vaguely an alternate middle Europe. So constellations are different & have different names, but are somewhat reminiscent of real ones. There is an edge-galaxy-view, band of stars aka the Milky Way, for example. So spent time today figuring out which constellations might be the ones in my story and their position relative to each other. Perhaps because I have a science background, I always take time to make sure biology, soils, rocks, etc. make sense - no matter how different of a world my story is set in. In bugs me when people write impossible biology (like wheel feet) without explanation. |
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Post by jennifer on Apr 1, 2014 14:19:22 GMT -5
haha wheel feet. really?
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Post by r.elena.t on Apr 1, 2014 15:42:37 GMT -5
In the (very disappointing IMO) third volume of the His Dark Materials trilogy. |
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Post by jennifer on Apr 1, 2014 18:18:15 GMT -5
Oh, I read that trilogy. There was a lot disappointing about it.
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Wow. 
If you ever need help concerning medical research, please feel free to ask. I got more than a decade of experience in various medical fields. (Excluding psychiatry.) 
Now, where did I leave off at?
My latest edition of Straight From Thecliff Chamber