How do you do research for your stories?

.hack role-playing, any creative writing, fan fiction, etc.

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Kaori
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How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

Me, its mostly videogames and books, I always found sci-fi to be my calling, although I respect Tolkien a lot, its just that fantasy aside from LOTR(I liked it better than the hobbit) seems dull and uninteresting to me, I tried reading the dresden files but the anti-scince bias was annoying, the books might as well have said that shots cause autism, seriously, why doesn't anybody write good sci-fi novels anymore, as for games, I think highly of my tactical abilities, whether they be RTS or Turn based games, comes with the package that my main character in my fic is a tactical forecaster, so I tend to train myself in Tactical videogames but not chess, chess always did seem pretentious, I also play shooters and mech simulators, not very big in fighting or sports games, in fact, I think sports games defeat the whole purpose of sports in the first place.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by RushingStream »

For the most part, I only do research when I have encountered a conflict in developing a story. For example, say I am interested in writing a story about realistic warfare but I don't really know the technical aspect of warfare, I would start reading military books. Or say I want to write a story about a viral outbreak that causes individuals to become crazed killers, I would explore general pathology and look into drugs or infections that alter behavior. It really just depends on what I feel inspired to write about.

Video games and novels are great for me if I am looking for inspiration. Sometimes I will conjure up an idea and then it will develop as I am watching a certain anime or reading a certain book. The same can happen when I watch films. But when it comes to research I will get most of my information through online resources or informational books.
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Kaori
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

RushingStream wrote:For the most part, I only do research when I have encountered a conflict in developing a story. For example, say I am interested in writing a story about realistic warfare but I don't really know the technical aspect of warfare, I would start reading military books. Or say I want to write a story about a viral outbreak that causes individuals to become crazed killers, I would explore general pathology and look into drugs or infections that alter behavior. It really just depends on what I feel inspired to write about.

Video games and novels are great for me if I am looking for inspiration. Sometimes I will conjure up an idea and then it will develop as I am watching a certain anime or reading a certain book. The same can happen when I watch films. But when it comes to research I will get most of my information through online resources or informational books.
I had ROTC training so I never have to worry about knowing the ins and outs of military discipline, however, these days, I tend to use minovsky physics or super science to help with my stories, however, I keep things similar to our time to make remembering things more convenient for me, namely, a universe in the middle of a cold war, the arms race, the advent of drone technology, and ideological differences being the greatest divide mankind can ever have.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Smiling kindly »

If I ever have a hard time thinking of what I want to have happen next in my stories I will usually find a dictionary or a language book and flip to a random page, if something interests me for the matter at hand or for something I might think about later, I write it down and expand on it when I am done looking through the book. I also use cards from trading card games to give me a wide variety of topics to chose from. I usually use yugioh cards because they have all manner of topics on them. Just flipping around through them gives you a lot of options to chose from and you can just keep shuffling through them until you find one that sounds good to you. Also like you have both stated before, reading up on a specific topic helps a lot, especially for more general info on a topic.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

Okay, just out of curiosity, and this extends to the RP'ers here, how the heck do you guys come up with your stories and worlds? I usually just crib off history, for Example, the Belkan Imperium is a mismash of the Holy Roman and British Empires with a bit of Roman Republic thrown in, SICON is based on Modern day United States with the same problems but exaggerated to parody levels(Bureaucracy is everywhere, there are political parties for cliques, and whatever is on TV is Garbage, sometimes literally), but you guys are quite good, I tend to put less effort in RP's as they tend to die out anyway, so its usually copypasted with the serial numbers filed off, though, I did reuse ideas from them for my Fic at times.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Haseo{Terror of Death} »

A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
Dude, sci-fi never seems to work here except .hack.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Haseo{Terror of Death} »

Kaori wrote:
Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
Dude, sci-fi never seems to work here except .hack.
Yeah I know, but that's where I get my ideas. Besides nothing really works here, except for occasionally fantasy.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:
Kaori wrote:
Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
Dude, sci-fi never seems to work here except .hack.
Yeah I know, but that's where I get my ideas. Besides nothing really works here, except for occasionally fantasy.
It seems to be always fantasy, and my tastes in the fantasy genre aren't exactly very deep, I generally abhor magic, due to always playing as a witch hunter in warhammer mostly.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

It took me a while to realize but I've actually been doing cosmic horror stories, on a smaller scale anyway, imagine, fighting enemies you cannot see, with weapons beyond your understanding, beasts that spew fire and death, and the twist?
 they look like your own people and can simply blend into your society.......

I would like to thank's Lovecraft's racism and the general fear of the unknown for teaching me this stuff.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

Hmm, I never tend to understand Space RPG's, especially the Japanese kind, its so easy to travel around without having to deal with checkpoints and patrols set up by governments, I believe all ships ought to be inspected at the very least before entering port or planetfall, and the use of Melee weapons, on a ship I understand as nobody wants to rupture the ship, but thats what bayonets are for, my other peeve is all the exotic flora and fauna, the ecosystem would go haywire with all of those things.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by kai the pkk »

I tend to honestly get my inspiration and story ideas from books, video games, music basically anything that I'm into and think of I usually want to try to turn into a story I just tend to write down silly ideas here and there just to save for later I just draw inspiration from what really interests me honestly sci fi is a good start I find that everyone tends to go the fabtasy route since the easiest type of story to write my favorite honestly is somewhat of a mixed breed between fantasy and sci fi.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by mister »

Kaori wrote:
Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
Dude, sci-fi never seems to work here except .hack.
Are you into ghost in the shell?
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Kaori
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

mister wrote:
Kaori wrote:
Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
Dude, sci-fi never seems to work here except .hack.
Are you into ghost in the shell?
Yes, but more on the cloak and dagger aspects than the cyberspace thing.
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by mister »

Kaori wrote:
mister wrote:
Kaori wrote:
Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
Dude, sci-fi never seems to work here except .hack.
Are you into ghost in the shell?
Yes, but more on the cloak and dagger aspects than the cyberspace thing.
Laughing man and individual eleven conspiracy speculation? Maybe? Cmon I've been waiting all day!
http://www.dothackers.net/forums/viewto ... 15&t=19853
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Kaori
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

mister wrote:
Kaori wrote:
mister wrote:
Kaori wrote:
Haseo{Terror of Death} wrote:A series will usually give me an idea. I like sci-fi based worlds. I often try to flesh them out, but they die here.
Dude, sci-fi never seems to work here except .hack.
Are you into ghost in the shell?
Yes, but more on the cloak and dagger aspects than the cyberspace thing.
Laughing man and individual eleven conspiracy speculation? Maybe? Cmon I've been waiting all day!
http://www.dothackers.net/forums/viewto ... 15&t=19853
No.
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Kaori
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Re: How do you do research for your stories?

Post by Kaori »

I generally have two themes in my fic stories which tend to affect the plot:

Mortality and Insignificance of the Individual, the galaxy is a big place, trillions battle for humanity's survival, thousands of wars rage unchecked, and against this backdrop, the death of millions and destruction of entire worlds is rendered insignificant.

How do you fight what cannot be fought? in the case of the Imperials, its Chaos(Emotions made manifest), Tyrannids(a foe that adapts), in the case of Inquisitors, its the eldritch abominations they face and brave just to keep the Universe safe, in the case of lower technology worlds, its the "Angels" or the Imperial Knights who usually show up to "keep the peace" in VERY one-sided fights(For the Record, these guys are pit against sword wielding medieval infantry, while your Average Knight is a powered armored commando who's standard issue weapons are essentially 20mm assault rifle rocket launchers, the Feudies(Feudal warriors) still think shield formations would work, but the fights are ultimately between honor and reason, low-tech worlds believe in honor before reason which lead to them charging gun emplacements, minefields, mortar barrages, barbwire, and the ever occasional Punji Pit).
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