Tag Game... about acquired knowledge while writing fanfiction.
Tagged by @lulas-moon here I go again... as a very obsessive and detail-oriented person who likes to write cohesiveness and accuracy, I do lots of research for almost all my works, so here we have some pearls of wisdom.
Share three things you've learned in doing research for things you've created for fandom (whether that is for a fic, art, gifs, any other media you've created). The facts can be your favourite things you've learned, surprising facts, cute facts, weird facts, long bits of information, anything you like!
Before I started writing Wicked Heart, I spent about two weeks researching legends, myths, and ghost stories across the UK. As context, I'm a Mexican fanfiction writer who basically first fall in love with plotlines instead of pairings, so as a result, I've researched about three or four specific legends to create Kyran as a character for this story. Originally, I wanted to replace the witches from the Pendle Hills Trials with my characters. Still, it felt kind of disrespectful, so I've created an alternative original coven, which basically ended up destroyed even before the Pendle Hill trials happened. Still, according to my timeline, they were the reason for the downfall of the magic in the region, and the witches of the modern coven -their descendants- were responsible for fixing the chaos their predecessors created.
Whispers of a Broken Runway started originally with a very different upbringing. It was supposed to tell the stories of employees to a fashion brand and their way to deal with life and balance it with their professional career. It ended up being a story about models because it felt more accurate, and the idea of Raja leaving her legacy through new generations of models and faces to be recognized around the globe with her name behind felt more enticing. Building the process of a casting call from the beginning to the end was challenging, especially since there's a lot of language and how to create models as a prodigy, more than a product, requires a lot of research, from the way they were taught to how their careers moved and shaped over the years.
I think the most ambitious project I've ever created is the It Started in Cambridge Series, which came from a request in my inbox for a Scarlett Harlet story, and ended up being a whole universe that I deeply fell in love with. It required extensive research about summer art programs across the UK, some research about the pre-professional educational system in that country, researching slang, and how to write accents from each region to make the characters believable. To the ways of transport, the different times, and routes, either by train or driving from one point to another, Iconic landmarks and their programs during Summer, coffee shops, book stores, even the house in Pimlico, and tiny details from the different places the characters were, to that final week in London with all its magic. I've gotten to a point where I had an average of 18 open tabs with information and specifics I've used to write that story, and each one of them was in active use.
As a Bonus, I'd like to include A Pride Connection, which challenged me to actually interview a friend who lived a couple of years in Australia, and take notes about Pride there with a notebook in hand. I really enjoyed writing this one, for once, a story where love is enough.
Di left me with no options to tag, so, hope to read whoever who wants to do this one.
