I'm always surprised at the facts or ideas I learn about while researching for stories, and I am curious what other people have gleaned from their time trying to write. So please, share the strangest, most interesting, or most profound fact or idea or fact you have learned while trying to create. I'll start. The sound of a Tiger's roar or growl is only a small part of the total acoustics they can produce. They use infrasound as a form of long range communication with other Tigers, or can use infrasound to paralyze prey.
Inspiration/motivation comes in strange times and places. For me I get ideas when I watch movies and I tend to write for hours at night.
Not so obscure but I learned how to write and how to recognize good writing and bad in the fiction books I read.
Cool, now I've learned something from you. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/12/001201152406.htm
I learned a lot about cloning, its possibilities, and the legal ramifications while researching for a recent short story.
I learned (and can't unlearn) exactly how the krema (crematoria) at Auschwitz worked. It's a lot simpler than I thought, which is all the more horrifying.
I learned a surprisingly large amount about herbal medicine, I now even use it myself. Saves quite a fair bit too. Very useful.
I learned about basic quarterstaff techniques and how to portray them believably in a staged fight. One powerful move, an over-the-shoulder attack called the "cutlass blow," is recommended not to stage because it's too likely to hurt someone if it connects.
I have learned many things in my researching for my novel and sequel. Did you know that some of Saturn's moons have moons? Or that Melas Chasma on Mars is 11 kilometers deep? I didn't until after doing some extensive research on the matter. But cheese always melts in the oven.
I read and learned about different versions of Hjaðningavíg / the legend of Heðinn and Hǫgni for a short that is now probably too niche to ever be published, hahah. I learned that there was this transhumanist who changed his name to FM-2030. "Firstly, to reflect the hope and belief that he would live to celebrate his 100th birthday in 2030; secondly, and more importantly, to break free of the widespread practice of naming conventions that he saw as rooted in a collectivist mentality, and existing only as a relic of humankind's tribalistic past." My favorite, though, was researching how eyeballs taste. Salty, apparently. Oh, and I memorized the Hail Mary one night like seven years ago and can still recite it to this day for no good damn reason. Calculus? No, my brain says. You gotta remember this prayer that you used in one story one time.
I found this when looking for shit the American intelligence community has done, a few years ago. I knew these guys were shady, hence the looking, but jeez. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
Spoiler the CIA helped bring in cocaine into the country as well. But they are the 'good guys' remember that.
I've learned more about guns than I ever wanted to know. I still don't know very much, but--it's more than I wanted!
I did say it was something I looked up in a categorical sense. There is a reason for that. It's a related research example for a general idea within the work..*See the possible future where Pyro exists.
Just now I learned that desktop-clocks were invented somewhen about 1320 and that at one point a 'clock' existed which calculated the tides in London and sun+lunar eclipses in addition to telling time. Richard Wallingford, you have my profound respects! Oh and @izzybot : I knew that about the eyeballs. Did YOU know that when stranded in the middle of an ocean without water to drink you should eat eyeballs (and brains, and the brainstem, such as they have) and drink the blood of fishes? This is all drinkable fluid and full of nutrients! Curtesy of my education as a sailor
