Sharon M. Himsl - Shells, Tales and Sails: research

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

IWSG - Cool Research

I was happy to see a topic on what to write about at the IWSG site. Have loved this group from the beginning, but I dropped out last year when I found myself fumbling for something to say.

So onto the research topic.....first some background. I have been researching and writing nonfiction for quite a few years, most of it free on my blog, but some research was published (or simply paid for) by an educational publisher dating back to around 2005. Working with Greenhaven Press, I was given a single website to access research online. Think of it as a vast online encyclopedia.

The rest was done in the archives of two university libraries. Personally, I loved getting my hands on archival material and finding dusty primary sources on the shelves. Source pages were then copied and sent to the publisher with my edits, as I was downsizing articles for high school students. It was tedious, but I really enjoyed the process.

Fast forward to today. Resources are available all over the internet. You can even access scholarly articles using Google Scholar (for a fee of course). For the recent A-Z Challenge, I found books online that opened its pages to the topic I was googling. It was the equivalent of finding my topic in the index of a book at the library, turning to the page, and then using the copy printer. Amazing. The internet has become a worthy online library. You do have to check your facts though. Outlandish claims require outlandish proof if you get my drift.

So onto the question: what is the weirdest and coolest thing I've ever had to research? I'm not sure that this qualifies as weird, but the results were pretty cool. I was researching rare jewels online. I had no idea what a large ruby stolen one hundred years ago from Thai royalty might be worth today. But it was important to know, because it's a back story in the novel I'm about to have published.

I found some great sites estimating value, but the pictures could have been better. I kept searching. Next thing I know, I received in the mail a beautiful folder from New York containing glossy photos of jewels, along with the dealer's business card. I had not requested this, but I must have set off alarms somewhere as a potential buyer.

If the gems displayed were fake, you could have fooled me. One unnamed jewel looked like a diamond (33 carats) and there was jewelry I'm sure only the 1% wealthy could afford to buy. No prices of course. The 161 carat diamond necklace was gorgeous and one piece (231 carats) had rare white diamonds and emeralds. No rubies though. Another search online confirmed my ruby was indeed rare and costly. The research changed my story to a ruby stolen from a piece of jewelry, which made solving the mystery all the more fun for my characters.

I had saved the folder and pulled it out for this post. When you find something that good, you hang onto the paper. Sometimes the internet isn't enough. Anyway, thought this was kind of cool. Research is one of my favorite things to do, but it does chew up time and can be a detour, so I have to watch not spending too much time.

Those of you who know me (and haven't heard my news) may have wondered what the heck I've been writing, other than my blog all these years, but I'm proud to say my novel is about to be published with Evernight Teen this July!! The working title is The Shells of Mersing, which could change in the editing process.

I'm both psyched and scared. I wrote somewhere online today that I wish I could clone myself during the review process. I dread it. I guess this is normal, but I'd love to hear how true this has been (or not) for you, and if you have any sage advice.

What weird or cool thing have

you researched?

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The awesome co-hosts for the May 3 posting of the IWSG will be Nancy Gideon, Tamara Narayan, Liesbet @ Roaming About, Michelle Wallace, and Feather Stone!