8 Research Tools Every Writer Should Be Using

For anyone who doesn’t know me personally, I am the newsletter editor at LARA – the Los Angeles Romance Authors, and the L.A. Chapter of RWA.  Being newsletter editor gives me license to be obnoxious, speak up at meetings, and badger people for articles and word count numbers every month.  It also means I get to send the group administrative messages and publish crazy articles, which soon makes people realize how sick and twisted my sense of humor really is.  Some people even know that I own several rental properties, run my own office administration / bookkeeping company, blog business articles under the name E.T. Barton at www.OneHourBookkeeper.com and other various websites, and yet still have tons of time to write.  But what a lot of people don’t know about me is that my biggest client—the one I’ve worked with for the past 6 years—is actually a research company.  While I am an independent contractor at that company, my official title is “Research Associate”—although I much prefer my own exalted title of “Office Goddess.”

Annnnyway…

What exactly do I research, you may wonder.  (Glad you asked.)  I research a little thing called “Market Financial Feasibility.”  That means, I find and analyze everything that would go into making a business profitable before they ever actually even pave a parking lot.  I’ve worked with a wide variety of companies like Paramount, Starbucks, Gardenwalk, Kellogg’s, and even the Staples Center—just to “name drop” a few.  I’ve researched over 350 museums in the U.S. alone, as well as every Harvey House from here to Chicago, and hundreds of sports arenas.  I access information most people would never even dream existed, and I find it all for FREE.  (In fact, when I first accepted this client, I was told that I would become one of the foremost financial feasibility experts  in the country, and after the huge amount of information I’ve had access to, I think it might be true.)  So to say that I know a thing or two about research would basically mean I’m being humble.  Truth is—I know a crapload.

Now I know what you’re thinking:  “That’s all good and well, but how does all that knowledge make you an expert at researching a novel?”  And my evasive answer would be, “I at least know where to begin.”  Because out of all the research sites I’ve been too, I’ve found inspiration.  I find information that is just plain fascinating, and it creates story ideas in my head that I never would have considered before.  And several of the research tools I use to research Financial Feasibility can also work when researching your average novel.  Here are a few of my favorites must-use sites:

1. Wikipedia:  A lot of people give this site flack because they say it isn’t accurate.  Entries can be added by any random person, and then modified by others.  It hardly makes it the most accurate place to go for information.  HOWEVER, it is a great jumping off place because all that collaborative information often actually comes from experts.  To top it off, at the bottom of nearly every article, there are links to actual websites where you can find more information.  In the past when I’ve researched romance, I’ve used it for everything from finding recipes that come out of a specific regional area, to garb from a certain time period.  I’ve even used it to find out every single show my favorite actors have been in since they were BORN.  It will give you details and links to other articles that expand your knowledge base on a particular topic very quickly.
2. Google Earth (and NO, I don’t mean just Google):  Google Earth is actually a free program Google created and is awesome for researching a location.  You can actually pull up satellite images of whatever area your setting takes place in.  On top of that, Google has had the ingenious idea of driving around and taking pictures of areas, which means you can now see “Street Level” images of the places you want to know more about, or you can even see a 3D map of the area and get an idea of how tall certain buildings are.  To top it off, they have links to websites about various businesses and historical landmarks that make it easy to see what your characters would see in that town, even if you’ve never been.  And lastly, they also have “historical” maps where you can see how a town would have been laid out in specific time periods—like London in Shakespeare’s time.  It’s a very worthwhile site to download and access whenever you begin researching any information.
3. Google:  This is a “Duh” site.  If you’re not using Google to find information, then you’re out of date.  Google is the best search engine out there right now, and it’s easy to use.  Simply enter in an expression you are looking for, and see what pops up.  Narrow your choices down by putting quotes around the expression.
4. Industry Magazine Websites:  Just about every magazine that exists today has a website now.  For many of those magazines, they use their magazine articles as website filler to help inspire people to subscribe to the paper copy.  That means you can often find the same industry information on the magazine’s website as you can find in the magazine itself, but you can find it for FREE.  So Google the magazine’s name, and “Search” their archives for subjects you want to know more about.  It’s that easy.
5. Newspaper Websites:  Just like for magazines, newspapers also use their articles to lure their readers to subscribe… And that information is always available.  Search the archives of a local region’s newspaper and see what local breaking news could make your stories richer.
6. Amazon:  That’s right—I said Amazon.  Did you know that Amazon offers hundreds and even thousands of eBooks for free?  Especially classics like Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and so on.  In fact, if you want to start reading these books for free but don’t have an eBook reader, all you have to do is download their free “Kindle for PC” program, and you can be reading any of those books for free instantly.  What better way to find out the lingo of a specific time period than to read a book actually written in that time period.  So check out the thousands of free Amazon eBooks when researching and see if something inspires you.  (I can also tell you how to totally plagiarise from those eBooks without ever typing a word… but I won’t.)
7. Twitter: I know, I know—Twitter is a Social Networking site where people talk crap in 140 characters or less.  But the truth is, it’s also a great “Survey” site.  You can actually post a question on the site and get dozens of answers instantly.  In fact, this past week, I was watching the show “Castle” and the cops in that show used Twitter to help figure a movie star’s last route before dying.  By simply “Searching” for that movie star’s name, they were able to find Tweets about where that star had been spotted, as well as specific times.  Although this may seem far-fetched, I’ve also heard of travelers using it to find out what restaurants are good in a specific town.  There are limitless possibilities here—all you have to do is ask a question or search for an answer and you will find it in a very short, fast sentence.
8. Yahoo Answers:  Speaking of Questions and Answers—Yahoo Answers is another great place to get your questions answered for free.  All kinds of people will answer any question you ask and many will even go so far as to provide a link to a website  that goes into more detail.  If you’re too shy to ask a question, you can also browse through previously answered questions and find what other people have said.  It’s a great way to find information on everything from fixing your computer to finding semi-legal or medical advice.

So there are just a few quick research resources to help you get started. What are some of your favorite Research Sites?  Comment below to let me know.

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