Generally, I love doing research for books. Since I write contemporary romance (mostly), I usually only have to research towns where my characters live, street names and store locations and such, if I’m trying to keep it real. But I have written few historical romances, too, and for those, research becomes a little harder. And more interesting in a lot of ways.
Take for example a WIP time travel book. The time/location is 1903, North Carolina Outer Banks, right when the Wright brothers were testing out their flying skills. One of the things I learned was that the Outer Banks held very independent views about the world than the rest of North Carolina, possibly because of the amount of trading ships that came by. They were exposed to broader viewpoints. During the Civil War, they were not especially all excited to fight for the South, and the North found a safe port there. Slavery—only profitable on large farms with people-intensive crops like tobacco and cotton—was not carried on much on those narrow strips of land jutting out into the ocean. I didn’t know most of that before I started researching my book.
In another book, I was able to gaze at maps of San Francisco to plan where I
wanted my heroine to live. I love maps and they are one of the things I research for most books.
The trouble with research is that it’s very easy to get sidetracked. You start looking up what the pioneers ate on the trek west, find out they ate rabbit, and suddenly find yourself reading about Beatrix Potter and her animals. Especially when researching online, it’s difficult to stay focused. In a library, with actual books, I used to be careful looking for particular 
points. I still was easily distracted but not to where three clicks on a screen can take me to different universes, not just a small digression. Still, what did we do before the Internet?? I wouldn’t go back…
Is research been fun for you? Or is it a chore?
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Mystic Desire: A collection of supernatural tales sure to keep you up at night, peering into the shadows! Or just wide awake, reading.
Only a Good Man Will Do
Naval Maneuvers