Post 90: I swear, I'm just a writer.

Well, not just a writer. But there are certainly a number of things that I am not. Like a killer, or a terrorist, or a suicidal teenager, or a criminal, or any other thing that may seem shady or criminal.

One thing that is important for writers is research. It is easy to write a day-in-the-life piece, but a lot of stories require research. If the main character goes to France, the writer is going to need to know a little bit about France. If they are writing about an international super spy who is planning to use some sort of listening device in a government building, they might need to look up information about available listening devices (or bugs) and might even be looking up blue prints of those buildings.

I've looked up how blood spatter works, how long someone can survive without oxygen, ambulance response times in particular areas, how many cemeteries are in particular places, as well as the reaction the body has to different types of drug use. Not things that seem normal coming up in search histories.

I've talked to other up-and-coming writers  who have even gotten into trouble for it. One was doing gun and bomb assembly research for a story, a teacher saw what they were looking up and they were suspended for three days and had to talk to the counselor.

I haven't had that happen, but I've certainly raised some eyebrows.

That's all for this post. Sorry it is a shorter post, but I'm pretty busy preparing for my finals.