In a post on Writer Unboxed, Barbara Linn Probst shares some incredibly – and possibly crazy – things writers have done in the name of research. “I think of myself as having done some pretty extravagant things for the sake of authenticity in my novels,” she says. “Most recently: trying my hand at glassblowing and traveling to Alaska in the dead of January, when temperatures can drop to twenty below zero, so I could see the northern lights.”
Some out of the ordinary tricks writers have used include:
- Traveling to the places we want to depict in our stories
- Seeking experiences that are outside our “regular” lives
- Learning a new skill that one of our characters needs to have
In her post, Probst shares some stories she gathered from members of her online writing groups, including writers who backpacked across part of Scotland; ate dirt; re-created a wagon train ride across part of the Oregon Trail; locked themselves in the trunk of a car; performed stand-up comedy; and took piano lessons.
