I’ll be teaching my SECRETS OF A RESEARCH NINJA online course next month for my local RWA Chapter in San Diego. It doesn’t matter if you’re a romance writer or even a writer at all, the class is open to everyone! So, if you’d like to improve your google-fu, this is the class for you.
Everyone’s Googled something at least once, right? But there must be ways to make your searches more efficient, effective and accurate, because no one wants or needs pages and pages of endless irrelevant results.
Would you rather spend more time writing than on a frustrating search for that proverbial needle in an ever-growing haystack?
By the end of this two week class, you will:
– write better basic Google searches,
– recognize good & bad results,
– use advanced Google searches,
– learn about specialized Google searches, and
– have resources other than Google to use.
*Please note Google does not give all countries, Canada for instance, the same access to some options or advanced search methods covered in the course.
Online Course: 2 weeks of MWF Lessons & some light homework
Date: June 16 – June 27, 2014
Cost: $20.00 (RWA-SD members) / $25.00 (non RWA-SD members)
Open to: All
In case you missed signing up last week, you still have time to register for my SECRETS OF A RESEARCH NINJA workshop! Starts Monday!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the class was being delayed one week and will begin on Oct. 7th and run through Oct. 18th.
SECRETS OF A RESEARCH NINJA
Dates: OCT 7, 2013 – OCT 18, 2013
Cost: $25 San Diego Chapter Members: $20
Instructor: Kristen Koster
Click to register on the RWASD Workshop page.
Everyone’s Googled something at least once, right? But there must be ways to make your searches more efficient, effective and accurate, because no one wants or needs pages and pages of endless irrelevant results.
Would you rather spend more time writing than on a frustrating search for that proverbial needle in an ever-growing haystack?
By the end of this two week class, you will:
– write better basic Google searches,
– recognize good & bad results,
– use advanced Google searches,
– learn about specialized Google searches, and
– have resources other than Google to use.
It’s shaping up to be a small-sized class, so you can ask lots of questions and get personal attention.
This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group was asked, “If you could do anything for writing research, what would you do?”
Honestly, this was a no-brainer for me. I’d head over to Suzi Love’s blog and pull up her category of posts for the Best Places to Visit that relate to Regency England and start mapping out an itinerary. Since the question seemed to imply that time and money weren’t obstacles, I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about leaving anywhere off the list.
Oh, and I’d definitely take my camera. So I could go back later and revisit everything. Although I might have to invest in a few more memory cards.
I’ve never been to England, but as you can imagine, would love to go. Getting me to come home might be a problem. Hopefully, I wouldn’t fall through a time portal or anything so melodramatic while I was there, but I’m sure I’d come home with a whole flock of plot bunnies.
Your Turn: So what would you do for research on your creative project?
And if you’d like to read how the rest of my accountability group would like to do in the name of research, you can find their blogs here:
The Circulating Library in Scarborough around 1818This week my accountability group is blogging about how we go about doing research for our books. Last week’s post on developing characters is also part of our How I Write series.
Market Research: I read voraciously in my chosen genre of Regency set Historical Romances. I read other genres too, but these are my favorites.
Setting Research: I’d love to be able to travel to England and visit all the places I read and write about. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen for a while. So, instead I use my honed skills of google-fu and live vicariously through other people’s first hand experiences and pictures. Besides music videos and stranger stuff, YouTube has a wide variety of obscure topics you can explore. For example, the restoration of Attingham Park can be found there. Another great resource is the Royal Society’s Archives which have been made permanently free.
Society & Culture Research: You can’t rely on other people’s fiction as a research source. You can however begin building your vocabulary and feel for the society from it. ALWAYS double or triple check anything you want to use with a reliable non-fiction source or you may find yourself embarrassed by a visit from some frustrated readers who know and care infinitely more than you do. That being said, there’s a wide selection of resources available on the web and through GoogleBooks available. I do have a few reference books on my shelf, but even then not all are created equal, be sure to read some reviews before you buy and rely on them.
Character Research: I LOVE to people watch. I’m more likely to be the one sitting back at a gathering watching other people instead of being anywhere near the center of attention. Human nature hasn’t changed that much in 200 years just the outer trappings and modern ideas about subjects like psychology might not be spouted by my historical characters, but it can be useful to explore their character. I think this is part of what is really meant by “write what you know” — not necessarily specific skills or places, though that can sure make life easier, but feelings, reactions, situations and the like. It brings a whole other level of authenticity to your writing.
One thing I do is try to keep all my internet research bookmarks in one handy place. If you’re interested in the Regency Era, my Regency Primer Series and my Regency Resource page probably has a lot of articles you’d find interesting and may even have read before. I keep a lot
YOUR TURN: Where do you do your research for whatever interests you? Do you head to the library and check out the books, fire up your browser and go surfing, or do you go directly to the source?
And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my group approaches their research, you can find their blogs here:
