Good morning wordicorns and scribblers,
There are a million ways to research, to learn, to make your book better by actually knowing what you’re talking about.
Sometimes it’s hard to get out of the house—be that energy or physical capabilities or your job or mental health. No matter what, you need to know the best way to get good information online.
Today, I’m sharing a few research ideas and resources I’ve collected with you.
Hopefully, at least one can help you on your journey.
*As many of these are links, I’ve opted not to record audio for this newsletter.
Online libraries/ resources
Broad archives have tons of information that start as early as yesterday and go as far back as history can be recorded. They have things about history, art, science, medicine, have photos or written documents, and some things you can download as pdfs for future use.
Specialized archives can help when you know what you’re looking for specifically. Here are some examples:
History of Medicine and Medical Humanities Digital Collection
Murderpedia (obviously check the sited bits)
Online classes
Schools/course programs (some are free unless you want certification)
Some of our favorite traditional education places are on this list. They have courses on everything from writing to money management to psychology to crafting to history to chemistry.
Here’s another list for you (a few extra options).
Creative Writing School run by Lit Agency Curtis Brown
Did you know a lot of large ivy league colleges have free courses?
Harvard, for instance, has courses on everything from Project Management to Chinese history to Entrepreneurship.
Here’s Stanford’s link.
Go check out the others (and local ones too).
Specialized courses
Local community centers have courses on a range of topics.
Websites like Craftsy focus on one thing, and they do it well. Find one that fits what you’re looking for.
Shopping
May seem weird, but product descriptions can help you get a feel for an object if you’re having trouble describing it.
This can also be helpful if you don’t know the exact name of something but your character would. *Keep that last bit in mind. Your character doesn’t know everything. What they do know, you put on the page; what they don’t, you use their voice to describe/explain it.
Online ways to explore a place
Youtube walks
For example: a walk through the suburbs of Japan
Online museums
Massive resource and list to virtual museums (i.e. visiting a museum you can’t otherwise online)
Museum Studies is a cool degree you can get; this is a resource list for those who are doing that, which means it’s great for writers too!
Online communities
Organizations often have Facebook groups (we know) or Discords where you can chat about a specific topic.
Speaking of, Discord just has those filled with enthusiasts about… all the things. Think of the channels like groups.
Reddit can offer a space to get involved or just read from people in a specific community’s perspective, so go see what subreddits are available.
TikTok is filled with opinions, but maybe that could be of use for your character’s voice.
Instagram is also a great place to find communities to chat with or just watch content they find relevant (which can help inform your story or character).
Final thoughts
There are so many other kinds of online resources! Don’t stop with what I’ve shared. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Have any suggestions of things I’ve missed or something you tried and loved? Please share! :)
Thanks for this! Very useful, definitely bookmarking.