[ SECRET POST #2532 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2532 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 065 secrets from Secret Submission Post #362.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[dreemyweird]

This is something I'm trying to work on with my own writing because sometimes I find the characters "floating in space."

Yes, same here. I try to emphasize the setting, but I fear it doesn't always work out. If a particular work is not set in modern times, to write the atmosphere is actually harder than to write the characters (because, even if one's in love with the Holmes stories like nobody's business, it still requires an ungodly amount of historical research. Just how often do people find themselves googling something like "how likely was a gaslamp to leak 19th century"?)

[fleshisyummy]

Oh, yeah, exactly. I find myself having the troubles. If it's a setting or time period I'm pretty unfamiliar with, I tend to be less specific.

[tweedisgood]

Just how often do people find themselves googling something like "how likely was a gaslamp to leak 19th century"?

All the time. Although come to think of it, not that actual question. The cost of building a police cell in the 1880s, however: right there.

But then, I'm an historian first and a Sherlock Holmes ficcer only incidentally. Cracked levels of historical research a speciality :-)

[dreemyweird]

You're a professional historian? Because that's awesome.

[tweedisgood]

Not professionally, but that's my academic background and abiding interest, all ficcing aside.

[(Anonymous)]

Do you google a lot of attitude/social norm stuff too? Like say, "how would a Victorian gentleman react if he heard that some stranger had been ogling his wife?"

*winks*

*still remembers that thread*

[(Anonymous)]

The answer is "very, but almost no one died."

[dreemyweird]

Thank you. I didn't need this exact information, but random small historical facts make me so, so happy.

[(Anonymous)]

Just how often do people find themselves googling something like "how likely was a gaslamp to leak 19th century"?

Um. Fairly regularly, actually? Well, lots of random things. "How common was fresh orange juice in 16th century Italy?" (Fantasy AU) "What was the telephone network like in 1920s New York?" (Prohibition AU) "What were museum alarm systems like in the early 60s?" (Highlander fanfic) "What areas of London are famous for jewellers, and are they different from the areas that were famous in, say, the 1940s?" (Original spy story) "How reliable were flintlock pistols at close range?" (Highwayman AU) "What kind of sword did British naval officers carry circa 1812-ish?" (PotC fanfic) "What the hell is a sextant actually for?" (PotC fanfic) "What colour dyes were the most expensive in the 12th century?" (Crusader AU) "What were the earliest dentures like?" (Originally research for an Elizabethan AU, got away from me a bit). "What's the Russian word for werewolf?" (Shapeshifter AU) "How did the modern police model develope?" (Originally research for the Highwayman AU, also got away from me a bit). "Famous safecrackers of the 1880s?" (Alias Smith & Jones fanfic that never happened) "How did the stagecoach network actually work?" (M7 fanfic) "Are there any modern equivalents to the derringer pistol?" (M7 modern AU) "How likely was a Moroccan bar to have ice in the 1940s?" (Casablanca AU) "A brief history of refridgeration techniques." (Follow-on from the previous) "Eastern seaboard street slang from the 1940s?" (Noir AU) "Female officers in American police forces?" (Noir AU) "What was the reputations of spirit mediums in different sections of society in 1880s/1890s America?" (Gaslight horror AU) "Is information-transfer possible via laser?" (Actually a steampunk AU that got anachronistic really quickly)

And, ah, quite a lot more. But then, I'm incredibly curious and just like researching things and collecting random facts. A lot of the time, getting an actual story out of it at the end is kind of a happy bonus. I think I only ever use about ... 30% of the stuff? Really only 10% if we're talking more than a throw-away mention. I just collect random information and ask strange questions mid-writing process that then results in my spending three days reading up on 19th century occultism and the manufacture of firearms and the history of electricity and what the hell aether was supposed to be in a Victorian scientific context. And then, a lot of the time, I forget what the hell story I was meant to be writing.

Or, conversely, I'll go back to the story, realise that there's no way in hell it will work if I try to be historically accurate about things, and decide hell with it, we'll just go with the original idea and pretend that the canon universe was slightly AU from reality in the first place. Like I said, about 2/3 of the stuff I end up using is mostly just for flavour, rather than plot. The aim is to entertain more than anything.

[lady_songsmith]

Those sound a lot like the sort of things I end up googling. Some days I wish there was a 'worldbuilder's wiki', because actually getting at those details can be a right pain in the ass sometimes. :P

[(Anonymous)]

LOL I have to google stuff like that for my main fandom ALL THE TIME. I love the setting/period but sometimes I just get lazy and make an AU just so I can stop worrying about historical minutiae.
Which makes me feel bad because I have a degree in history, but still!