I have a question, which I don't know if anyone can help. Where do you go for research when its not available? Their is a series of books that I wish to write, but it requires research, I even went so far as contact the British Museum in London, England, they of course referred to someone else, which the referred person as yet to respond.
That's going to depend completely on what you are researching. If I am researching the history of the Soviet Union's space program, the answer is going to be utterly different than if I were researching the cultural antecedents of the Olmec people. What are you researching?
I understand your goals; I am a perfectionist as much as the next man, but if the information you seek is so obscure that it isn't even available on the internet, how come you can't write it in such a way that there is room for error? The library is usually a good source of well-written material. Go there.
I am researching, when the British Empire colonized East Africa. Preferably in the country of Kenya. Its a fictional story, but I do not want to make anybody mad, if and when the story is published. My fictional story is set in 1880. I want know what kind of tribes were considered hostile toward villagers and such. And wanted to know if possible for the bad guy in my story to sell weapons to the tribes in exchange for war on the villagers. Its complicated. To say the least. But I can not find anybody to tell me what year and if any of these could happen. Not that it never did happen. I tried to explain this through an e-mail, but it was no good.
And this is probably of the worst ides for a book series, ever come across this forum. But it's my idea. Which tells ya, I'm not that educated nor am I that bright. So. Their you have it. Stupid talking about stupid.
Let's make something perfectly clear, I never said nothing about having someone else to do the research for me. I said I could not find it on-line. Just don't know how to search what I am looking for I guess is a better way of putting things.
Hi @Timben, welcome to the forum. Watch some of the authors speak on BookTV, (it's on CSPAN but you can watch online). I love hearing them talk about the letters they used to research their books. And Sarah Vowell went to Hawaii to research her book there. It's hilarious to hear her retell the research story. This fascinating author's talk was just on: Book Discussion on Broadcast Hysteria A treasure trove of letters people wrote to Orson Wells after the War of the Worlds radio broadcast was discovered in a garage and donated to the University of Michigan where the author went through them and found that most people loved the broadcast and weren't in a panic as the news media portrayed events. What I love about it is we get such a distorted history if we go by the news media alone. Then there were the letters from Ben Franklin's sister to Ben. Turns out she was incredibly intelligent and they had involved discussions via letters. Her story was one of the difference between the fate of an educated woman at the time vs the fate of an educated man. Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin Book discussion: Unfamiliar Fishes
I once researched my ex's band advertisements in newspapers on microfiche at the U of WA library. He lied about his income trying to get out of paying child support so I dug up the proof his band played at clubs every weekend. Turned out it wasn't accepted as evidence in court because it was considered hearsay. So I turned it over to the IRS who were not averse to using it to charge him with underreporting income on his tax returns. His amended tax returns were accepted by the court.
Nope. I see no vampires, no zombies, no engineered virus that kills 99.99% of humanity and mutates the rest except for Mila Jovovich and her smexy crew of butt-kickers... so, no, nowhere near the worst idea I've seen. Take heart! If you don't believe in your story, who will???
University libraries are treasure troves of research information. I thought of another time I used the U W's. We were going to the Yucatan and I love to research a place before going because you find cool stuff that isn't on the usual tourist itinerary. I found a master's thesis on obscure Mayan archeological sites complete with maps. When we got there we were able to find small ruins and middens no one paid much attention to in some of the yucca fields. We collected pottery shards. To other people they aren't a big deal. To me, I love little things like that.
Just have had some bad luck with people on-line about sharing my idea and you wouldn't believe the kind of comments I get from it. Much oblige for at least not putting my idea down.
Regular library or Amazon: Kenya: A Country in the Making 1880-1940 Online (maybe you just need to think in terms of different search strings): British Empire, History of Kenya
When a story is in its idea phase, it can be hard sometimes for other people to see the sense of it or how it will work. In another forum I frequent, I participated in a little brainstorming session wherein the member postulated growing a story around a core idea of a society where the punishment phase of the legal system operated on a pure "eye for an eye" system. Most of the members who participated in the conversation shot the idea down as stupid and unworkable, pointing out the many inherent flaws in such a legal system. All I could think was that they were completely missing the point. The meat of that story would be found in the flaws, in the catch 22's, in the broken parts, since the truth is that all legal systems in real life are imperfect and flawed and broken to one extent or another. I thought it was a great story idea as a piece of social science fiction. So, again, verily I say unto thee, take heart! The proof is in the pudding, my friend.
I reckon so. At least you seem to really wanna help and I appreciate that very much. The story that I wish to tell, is an Action-Adventure/Western story. I wanted my own "Indiana Jones"-type character. I say that, because I can not really explain my character all that well. I'm not referring to the actual "Dr. Henry Jones aka Indiana Jones", Professor of Archaeology", no sir, just the fact that I wanted an Pulp Action Hero. If that makes sense to you. Anyway, my character is a professional gunfighter that skills are so well-known that the British Empire hires my guy to travel to Kenya. While their he learns that the villagers are being attacked by a certain tribe (which I haven't figured out yet), but the tribe is being used. The bad guy (who I haven't figured it out yet) start gun running to this particular tribe in order to start a war in Kenya. At least that's what I had in mind, anyways.
You were showing this idea to the wrong people. That's the only mistake you made. This sounds like a fun idea. Old-school adventure. No dystopia with plucky kids trying to get out from under the "evil grownups" I'm all for it. Because, seriously, the world does not need another "Divergent Hunger Maze".
Obviously not seeing the full conversation, but that ain't how you do brainstorming :-( First rule of (first phase of) brainstorming: there are no bad ideas. @Timben: have you seen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058777/ ? It may not be the exact same era, but could provide some inspiration for scenes, costumes and British attitudes of the time?
Looks like a bunch of good info here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonisation_of_Africa - did you try googling?
I am having some trouble with the main character's surname. I have his first name. First it was Duel, then Trinity now its Donvan. I am not quite sure what the perfect name is for him. The character's first name is Jesse. The character's full name is Jesse Andrew but as for his surname, well, that is where I'm stuck as well. Oh and by the way, I am doing everything possible to stay clear of Allan Quartermain. I just want a good old-fashion hero that people would enjoy reading about. My character Jesse UNK at the moment, he had fought in the American Civil War, served as a Texas Ranger, even been a Deputy Sheriff for a while. I hope that isn't too much for one character to have. Fast with a gun (he is a normal human being; none of these super human stuff). Any suggestions to help bring this guy to life would be most helpful? He has a sidekick or companion if you will, that travels with him to Kenya. Also I am trying not to sound too far fetched, you know that even a person can tell its just too far out there. He does not carry any fancy "gimmick guns".
Perhaps he does, but I am trying my darnest to stay away from him or any other famous literary pulp heroes. Other words, I am trying my best to be an original as much as I can.
