Fic-related search histories

[arcanetrivia]

Does anyone else amuse themselves by keeping lists of unusual things they Googled during the writing of a fic? (Like, aside from fact-checking the canon, lists of names to use for OCs, and things like that.) For example, there's this at the top of my current WIP (... I have a WIP now? heavens) and I'm probably only about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through, so I'm sure it's only going to grow:

Burma-Shave signs
Speaking tubes a.k.a. voicepipes (on ships)
Flintlock pistols
TGI Fridays "flair"
Cage fighting
Creoles of color
History of the doubloon and the real (a.k.a. piece of eight or Spanish dollar), and approximate values in modern currency
Bay rum (the cologne)
Stiletto (the weapon)
Whether it is actually possible to pick a lock with a knife
MacGyver (the TV show)
Portable parquet floors (including an assembly/disassembly video)

I don't ever bother to use incognito tabs or to turn off/delete search tracking so I can't imagine what The Algorithm thinks I am doing, not to mention that it's probably pretty opaque to anyone else what the fic is even about (at least if you don't know anything about my personal recent history).

Comments

[china_shop]

Hee! That's a great list.

I don't keep track, but I'm pretty sure my lists wouldn't be that interestingly eclectic. :-)

[arcanetrivia]

I will say this would not be typical for my past fic-writing habits, but this particular fandom is pretty crazy. Like the AO3 tag "Crack Treated Seriously" could probably apply to the whole canon, never mind fanfic.

[rionaleonhart]

I don't actually keep lists, but I found myself Googling burner phones for fic research just an hour ago, internally going 'I really hope this doesn't get me put under surveillance.'

I've also picked up some interesting facts about the history of French incest law through fic research! But, if you tell your friends that Napoleon abolished incest law in 1810 and France had no law against incest until 2010, and that the present-day legal definition doesn't apply to consenting adults, they don't go 'oh, that's interesting'; they go 'why do you know this off the top of your head?'

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Oh, that's interesting :)

[sabotabby]

I don't keep track but I often feel like I should.

[writerkit]

I don't keep track, but as a librarian I occasionally help other people with searches of this nature that leave me going "Hmm, I wonder what their book is about." (People especially feel the need to justify it to me when it's, like, "slow-acting poisons" or similar, and I'm always just like "I promise we've seen it all already!")

[arcanetrivia]

LOL. I'm a cataloger, so I hear you about people sometimes feeling weird about what they search for or check out. We also tend to a clinical, detached (or merely amused) tone about offensive or even non-offfensive but simply unusual content on cataloging forums. I do not do reference service (thankfully; I am not only not MLIS but incredibly unsuited for the front desk) but I assume when you get someone with weird queries like that it's not so much concerning as it is "yay! this is interesting and engaging! this is why I signed up for this!"

Fandom-related stuff sometimes pops up on my cataloging lists. Like there have been people doing things like using the authority record for Aragorn II, King of Gondor, as an example for some other thing. I once sincerely asked why "Darth" was treated as a name and not a title in Darth Vader's authority record and threw in on a discussion of why "The Doctor" and not "Doctor Who" was the correct form of that name, which landed me quoted in a zine on the topic, if you can believe it. (If this kind of thing amuses you, you might like my library blithering no one cares about tag on my personal journal.)

[killclaudio]

I've never tried it, but wow, seems like I should turn on my search history. That's a really cool list of research. :) Is your fic set during the Age of Sail?

Whether it is actually possible to pick a lock with a knife

Ooh, is this possible? I have several characters who want to give it a try if it is, lol. I think I read somewhere that you need at least two tools, one to maintain tension in the lock and one to mess with the pins?

[arcanetrivia]

Is your fic set during the Age of Sail?

Loosely, yes. Monkey Island is full of anachronisms and does not make its own internal timeline clearly understood, but there's pirate fantasy (think Pirates of the Caribbean) and a rough sense that it's all taking place in the late 17th century. I figured that element would come through the most from the list.

Ooh, is this possible?

Apparently, yes, if the knife is the right shape, but you're better off using actual lockpicks. https://www.art-of-lockpicking.com/how-to-pick-a-lock-with-a-knife/

[killclaudio]

That's great, thank you! I'm bookmarking that to read later. <3

[lizvogel]

I once googled sniper rifles and where the security cameras are in the Zurich airport (for two different stories, but on the same day). I take the fact that I did *not* then have an awkward conversation with the FBI or some such organization as proof that they have an "oh never mind, it's just a writer" filter. ;-)

[thenewbuzwuzz]

What a combination :D