is filling out tax forms for fanfic characters, to make sure you didn’t accidentally write them living beyond their means, too obsessive?

amuseoffyre:

rocket-pool:

damehawkeye:

childofgondorsworld:

damehawkeye:

batwynn:

chigrima:

ebonykain:

fuzipenguin:

jenn-oddballpunk:

harutemu:

lizardlicks:

universe-c:

edenfalling:

thatgirlnevershutsup:

liesmyth:

liesmyth:

I mean last week I browsed google scholar trying to find details about the composition of ancient Byzantine shampoo and ended up google translating an article written in Hungarian, so. You’re probably fine, nonnie. We’re all quirky here.

Friends, please reblog and tell me what is the most obsessive detail you’ve researched at length for fic writing purposes!

It’s a tossup between research on transatlantic travel in the latter part of the 19th century, and research on orcas in Sea World.

Probably sluice gate construction and installation methods, for field drainage in Tudor England… and/or the life stages of various bloodborne parasites and their attendant bacteria plus the comparative structures of avian and mamalian lungs, so I could design a superficially plausible xenobiological plague vector.

I once spent 3+ hours researching bird species of the Himalayas to come up with the phrase “the little brown bird.”

I know so god damned much about sailing.

I spent more then a decent amount of time looking up how jets, tanks, and cars coolant systems work.

*cough* The interior working of different engine types and how they would function in a robotic frame. Different liquids necessary for optimal functionality vs what they could barely need to survive. What rust does to different types of metal. Melting points of metal. How fluctuations of electrical current effect electronic components and systems in conjunction with how electricity is used in a human body to.ellicate pleasure and horrendous pain, like where the cut off point would be. Psycological traumas and how much varying individuals can take before they kinda have a breakdown. There’s actually more, but I think I may just have freaked out a few people so yeah. Needless to say I don’t keep my browsing history around too long. XD

Genital mutilation. Not fun, let me tell you.

Tolkien languages. All the Elven languages specifically. And linguistics in general. Trying to account for the linguistic drift of the Avari who kinda just stayed put in the East when they refused Oromë’s call… All based on six friggin’ cognates the Quenya term “quendi”.

I studied the floor plan to the Titanic so I could place the characters in the correct room and researched the type of vegetables they served in the second class restaurant on board.

I did a batch of reasurch on some specific archeological digs around churches/burial sites in Transylvania. Everything from why they were there to the names of the volunteers, where they stayed, and what they ate.

Researching the Pashtun Tribes claims of being descendants of one of the 12 lost tribes of Israel, including historical dates of biblical migration; all because I’ve changed the age and ethnicity of an original character whose known by a certain name that isn’t from that region and I had to find a historical and regional name that is possible to mishear as the name he’s known by.

Looking up what the sentence is for 5 counts of murder is in the state of Washington.

Crap, that just reminded me of another time I looked up most of the prominent serial killers in the history of the US so a character could recreate the kills as sign of adoration to impress the sociopath he was in love with even though they’d never met or had any contact.

Finding a route from particular types of mountains somewhere near the Canadian border to New Orleans that would fit a very specific time frame, along with key shopping complexes to avoid a route that had too many stores and restaurants. @darlinglisa I still blame you.

The names of the city gates of Tashkent in the 15th century. From a Russian manuscript. Taken from an ancient etching.