Writing Research

Writers often need to do research to support their writing. This research varies in intensity and I often thank the writing gods that I am not drawn to write historical fiction because 1) I barely remember anything from History class and 2) I don't have the attention span for that type of research. I do research for my online writing because sometimes I have random thoughts I want to include in posts and need to confirm that they have a connection to real things in the real world or fake things in the real world and aren't something from Vikki world. <whispered aside>Have you ever been absolutely convinced that something really happened and then you talk to your partner about it and she's like, "No. That didn't really happen." and then she launches into a long explanation with dates and exhibit A's and corroborating testimony that shows that it didn't happen and it was just something you planned/thought/talked about but it never actually came to fruition? I've heard of that happening.</whispered aside>

The point is that I research things, mostly pop culture references that I want to confirm. Sometimes, you need to know what color eyes a Monchichi has. Sometimes, you need to know when Sonny Bono wore the faux fur vest. And sometimes, you need to know about Godzilla.

I was working on a recap for The Fosters for Autostraddle and I wanted to make a reference to a character shooting laser's from her eyes like Godzilla but needed to make sure that Godzilla did, in fact, shoot lasers from his eyes.

Spoiler Alert: He didn't.

So, I turned to the Encyclopedia Britannica and by that I mean Google. I am not the only person with questions about Godzilla.

The great thing about such searches is that you get to peek into the consciousness of the general population. You also come away with questions you didn't even know you needed the answers to like, "Why did Godzilla have a meltdown?"

Maybe Godzilla was upset that his baby had laser eyes so he broke up with his girlfriend and that's why he had a meltdown. That is my hypothesis.

This is how I research my posts and I do this approximately a million times a day. Other things I searched while writing the recap? "Toilet paper icebreaker game", "Magic 8 Ball responses", "Ghosts of Harry Potter" and, yes, "Missionary position". You can see what references made it in here.

Or, just sit back and enjoy some Godzilla...