Of Toads and Encylopedias

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I remember back in the dark ages . . . when I was a kid. For my school research paper I had to, gasp!, actually go to the library and check out books to include as my references. Now don't get me wrong. I loved going to the library. But I got to thinking yesterday about what an amazing world we live in today, in 2008.

If our parents had a question about something they had to go look it up in an encyclopedia, and even then there was no guarantee of an answer. What do we do? Hop on over to Google or Wikipedia.

Case in point. Yesterday I had to remove two toads from my yard. My dogs have this fascination with the creatures, and since they can cause irritation to the mucous of a dog's mouth and throwing up if eaten, for everyone's sake (especially the toad) I have to keep my eyes peeled for the little buggers. If I can't see my dogs for more than two minutes, it's time to find out what they've found. Yesterday morning it was a toad. I faithfully picked the toad up and took him/her to the far edge of my yard, depositing it in the field adjoining. All is well.

Or so I thought. Late that night I find my doggies congregating around the same tree roots I'd found the toad nestled inside before. Yep. Another toad. Or was it? Had the same one come back already? Not knowing much about toads, what did I do? Pull out my Encylopaedia Britannica? Page through my World Book?

What, are you kidding? I pulled up a chair at my computer that's what. I typed into Google, "Do toads return to the same place?" Within seconds I was reading an article from a 1934 journal called "The Aquatic Migration of the Toad". Apparently they do indeed return to the same spots, sometimes even the same pond in which they were born to raise their young. Okay . . .

This isn't about toads. I am often amazed at how much information is available at our fingertips. If I have a question, in seconds I can have an answer. (I've recently discovered Yahoo Answers, too. Don't visit if you don't want to waste, er . . . "enjoy" an hour or two fooling around.)

Certainly not everything you find online is going to be accurate. But for a writer like me, tracking down one little piece of research has become so much easier.

I better go check my yard again for that toad . . .

Research ups and downs

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One of the ways I research for my fiction writing is to read biographies/autobiographies of people in the same profession as my characters. For example, half of my first novel takes place on a modern-day working cattle ranch. My shelves are full of books detailing this way of life. I also subscribed to (and still read) various magazines related to ranching. But there's nothing like hearing about a profession in the first person. It's learning by immersion, mostly. I came to a point where I could imagine my settings based solely on photographs and descriptions, and my character's voices came naturally because I truly understood what they would be thinking.

For settings, there's nothing like visiting in person. However, I believe it IS possible to learn about a setting from your armchair.

One potential danger with research is to never start the writing because you're so consumed with researching. You must start writing, sometimes even when you don't feel you have enough research. During the process of writing questions will arise, and that's when you go searching for a specific answer. Often the best way to find an answer is to pool your friends. One of them will probably know somebody who will know the answer.