Inconceivable!
"You use this word so much, I do not think it means what you think it means" ~ Inigo Montoya
Yeah, so it isn't really inconceivable that I'd underestimate how long it would take m to do some of my research for Geohexaes ... I just didn't realize how much I'd underestimate. I based my guestimated times on: 1) a fully functioning computer and internet, 2) having a fairly specific idea of what information I was looking for.
My male lead character wants to be an architect ... and I think at the start of the story he's just been sent packing in the middle of his apprenticeship. For this piece of research, I was woefully unprepared for the fact that I know almost nothing about architecture. I mean, I know what a basilica looks like, and how the old Roman basilica transformed into the Constantinian church. And I understand the basic concepts of a capstone-arch, an aqueduct, and a flying buttress (because with a word like 'buttress' ... stuff just sticks in your mind, ya' know?). But ... that nearly exhausts my knowledge of the topic. So, having allotted two hours to search out 'architecture' before writing my lead character was, well, naive at best. I feel like I'm only scratching the surface and I've spent about 5 hours just putting books on my amazon wishlist and copying and pasting stuff from wikipedia to get a running start.
I have managed to hunt down five or six children's books by a highly recommended author and around 70 pages of wikipedia stuff so ... now I've got a bit of reading to do anyway. I still have to do more of the 'what was a medieval architect like' part, which I suspect will be more tricky to find than the stuff about the buildings themselves. It also occurred to me that I have a family friend in construction who's done some stone-masonry, and that I can probably track him down for an interview of sorts. I'll have to slot a few more hours for that project.
And now, to bed ... because I must discuss Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Thomas Carlyle tomorrow morning bright and early.
Yeah, so it isn't really inconceivable that I'd underestimate how long it would take m to do some of my research for Geohexaes ... I just didn't realize how much I'd underestimate. I based my guestimated times on: 1) a fully functioning computer and internet, 2) having a fairly specific idea of what information I was looking for.
My male lead character wants to be an architect ... and I think at the start of the story he's just been sent packing in the middle of his apprenticeship. For this piece of research, I was woefully unprepared for the fact that I know almost nothing about architecture. I mean, I know what a basilica looks like, and how the old Roman basilica transformed into the Constantinian church. And I understand the basic concepts of a capstone-arch, an aqueduct, and a flying buttress (because with a word like 'buttress' ... stuff just sticks in your mind, ya' know?). But ... that nearly exhausts my knowledge of the topic. So, having allotted two hours to search out 'architecture' before writing my lead character was, well, naive at best. I feel like I'm only scratching the surface and I've spent about 5 hours just putting books on my amazon wishlist and copying and pasting stuff from wikipedia to get a running start.
I have managed to hunt down five or six children's books by a highly recommended author and around 70 pages of wikipedia stuff so ... now I've got a bit of reading to do anyway. I still have to do more of the 'what was a medieval architect like' part, which I suspect will be more tricky to find than the stuff about the buildings themselves. It also occurred to me that I have a family friend in construction who's done some stone-masonry, and that I can probably track him down for an interview of sorts. I'll have to slot a few more hours for that project.
And now, to bed ... because I must discuss Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Thomas Carlyle tomorrow morning bright and early.