[Writing/Art] Writers research and artistic references.

[Offbeatreboot]

FAIR WARNING:
This is just random pointless science-y babble, do not read unless you regularly find yourself interested in random science facts and do a lot of thinking and research for no other reason than to entertain your brain in a little exercise.   You have been warned.

Okay so it's no secret that I've got a science fantasy story in the making that I may or may not ever get to actually writing and comic-ing out.
In case you didn't know: I've got a science fantasy story in the making that I may or may not ever get to actually writing and comic-ing out.

That said, with how much I draw and think up stories, heck even entire universes. (I do a lot of thinking is what I'm saying. )
I find it odd how much I end up researching. (At the time of writing) Just 20 min ago I found myself trying to come up with the most logical measurement of time relative to the universe and the laws of physics. Naturally I started reading a couple of articles on how we perceive time, what is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and wound up wondering about universal constants.   Like, if even Light speed isn't a universal constant, what the heck is?

I've done some research before on quantum physics, mostly regarding wavelengths and the physics of "light" as both a particle and wave too.
Also spent some time reading up on nuclear physics and a lot of reading on mechanical physics. (Mechanical physics probably being my favorite subject )

As for drawing, the amount of time I've spent going through peoples' galleries and pictures of them as well is akin to obsessive stalking.
I mean seriously, I'm starting to get pretty good at looking for information about people online.   If I tried a little harder, the amount of info I could AND WOULD dig up on a person, just to have a good reference to draw to, would be straight up privacy infringement. (Not for malicious intent, of course. But how much can you do something morally wrong, for the right reasons, before it becomes morally wrong to do so anyways? )

And now that's gotten me thinking. I spend A LOT of time on research. Usually for writing believable and plot-hole-less stories. Heck, half of the stuff I research isn't even necessary for the plot at all. I just entertain the concepts, symbolism and thoughts behind my own stories/drawings.

And WITH how much time I spend on research, does anyone else here have any embarrassing or interesting stories to share?
My personal favorite embarrassing story is when I was searching the 'net for pictures of my current favorite artist, pretty much straight up stalking her just so I could draw up some fanart for her. Only after my cousin pointed out that I was stalking, did I notice that I actually was and should have probably stopped before it got that far... And to be honest, that wasn't the first time either

So anyways, how much research have you done?~
Did you find something REALLY COOL that you would like to share?
And if you've actually read THE WHOLE GOD DAMNED THING, contact me.
I mean seriously, anyone who's willing to read through all that is my kind of person.

[Razmoudah]

First, good luck Google stalking me.  I just did a quick Google search on my handle, got a couple of unexpected results (I wasn't expecting any image results, and yet most of those images were actually related to my handle in some manner), but the rest of the results were all me.  The advantage of using a truly unique handle.  Don't expect to find the real me by tracking it down though.


Now, as for researching things for a story......I tend to focus on keeping the internal rules of my story consistent, and avoid using a character who could explain the advanced science so I don't have to actually research it when it is a pure sci-fi setting.  Otherwise who's to say that all of the laws of physics are the same once you allow some fantasy in?

[Tapewolf]

I have a tendency to go overboard when researching things as well.  I spent a lot of time looking into synchrotrons during the early parts of Project Future.
Where things really got out of hand was when someone planning a story of their own asked me how best to execute someone in the DMFA world.  This led me to write a treatise on capital punishment, its history in Europe and the pro's and cons of each method with regard to Beings and Creatures.  Having this essay on hand has probably not helped with regard to the fact that a lot of my stories have got a bit darker lately.

If anyone is curious I might post the text of it here.

[Offbeatreboot]

and avoid using a character who could explain the advanced science so I don't have to actually research it when it is a pure sci-fi setting.  Otherwise who's to say that all of the laws of physics are the same once you allow some fantasy in?

I don't intend to have a character who explains Everything. But I still want a believable setting and for anyone who bothers actually looking it up to know that it holds some truth here and there. If it does go anywhere though, I do intend on making exposition pages. Kind of like what Mab has for her characters, I would explain various cool conceptual tech I've come up with and how the not so physics side of things works too.

As for the laws of physics being a little bit different, in this one, I want to keep it as close to the real thing as I can with a dash of spirituality and probability manipulation mixed in to SPICE THINGS UP. 

If anyone is curious I might post the text of it here.

I'll be honest, that is not a topic I thought I would ever be interested in lmfao

[Tapewolf]

I'll be honest, that is not a topic I thought I would ever be interested in lmfao

Tell me about it.  The scenes where Jakob is about to be executed alone forced me to learn more about how to design a working guillotine than I ever wanted to know.
This in particular:  http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17950586/  (SFW)
The description lists the changes I had to make to get it in a state where it could feasibly work.  Originally the blade was embedded in the sides of the frame, but worse still, his wings were poking into it, and the wings are nearly indestructible.  I had to add the metal plate and get Merlin to redraw the wings so they're pressing against that.

It should be pointed out that I don't support capital punishment, but it does make a good plot device.  As I put in the comment, "That's really what Heads You Lose is about - a graphic demonstration that life isn't fair in the DMFA universe and that you are likely to meet a horrible end if someone finds you've got wings or a glowing tattoo on your arm. And that, well, executing people is a really, really, serious thing."

Part of me wants to post this thing just to get it off my chest, but it could also make a handy cheat sheet for anyone else doing a medieval fantasy thing.  And DMFA still has a lot of medieval places in it.

[Razmoudah]

Ehhh....I know enough physics and such to easily poke holes at a whole slug of different things in sci-fi movies.  You really don't want to get me started on the Star Trek reboot movies.  There are so many things wrong in the basic physics area alone I don't need my understanding of advanced physics to shoot them down scientifically.  My thing is that although I understand a lot of stuff beyond the basic physics I don't actually know the theories and formulas behind it, which is why I try to avoid having significant characters that should know such things.