A Conversation With My Muse - 2. Chapter 2: Research

“Another day, another headache caused by sinus pressure,” the man moaned softly as he kicked the recliner back, remote in one hand and painkillers in another. “Why am I the one to suffer?”

“Because it is allergy season and you have a bush next to your window, a flowering tree next to your bathroom window, and palm trees along your route to job hunting,” replied a male with dark-purple hair pulled into a neat bun at the base of his neck. His violet-red eyes swept over the sprawled male, getting a glare from green eyes in return.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me write Dream Catcher, Lin?” Sunny asked, eyeing the male lounging on his futon; the chocolate color of his furniture a stark contrast to the purple of Lins’ hair and the shades of gold that created his outfit.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed instead of writing smut?” Lin retorted, his dark eyes dancing.

“Why was I blessed with annoying muses?” the other groaned, letting his head relax against the recliner. Putting the remote down onto one arm, he reached for his bottle of iced tea, taking his medication under Lins’ watchful eyes.

“Because we love you,” Lin replied finally, raising an eyebrow at the other as he sat back against the futon, legs crossed.

“So, why are you here?” Sunny asked as he flipped the TV onto a favored channel.

“Why do you think I’m here for anything?” the purple haired man asked sweetly, receiving a snort and a glare in return. “You seem to like doing that. Anyways, I’m here to ask you about researching.”

“Researching for what?” Sunny asked, jotting a name down with a pencil, making a note to check it out later.

“Can you clarify that for me? I meant, what do you mean, ‘researching for what?’” Lin requested, uncrossing and than recrossing his legs, raising an eyebrow at the show that his creator was watching.

“Shoot me. I like ‘Paranormal State’. Anyways,” Sunny said, waving a hand. “what type of research? Every kind falls into three main categories. There is story research, research just for fun, or essay researching. All of them have a different style of note taking and information hunting.”

“Ah, I see. Well, how about we do all three in order?” Lin replied shifting as Sunny turned the volume down on the TV.

“Let’s start with the various avenues of ways you can research first, yeah?” Sunny hummed, getting a nod and a smile. “Okay, there is, as you know, the net with various search engines such as Yahoo, Google, Ask and a few others. Next are books, which you do not really have to buy if you do not want to, or do not plan to keep them after you are done with them. I like the library or second-hand bookstores for them actually. If your public library does not have what you need, check out the local college library and see if you can look through their books.

“You can also talk to experts, other people who are interested in the subject and museums. They usually have some good book and magazine recommendations to check out. Yes, I said magazine. Things like National Geographic, informational magazines. Not things like Vogue,” he said, holding up a finger to stop the question.

“Alright. So those are…” Lin trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

“They are some of the ways to get your information, beyond jotting down what you know or remember about the subject. Now, let us talk about the easiest research all kind. Researching for the fun of it,” the brunette said after a few moments of thinking. “Pretty much, all you do with this is figure out a subject that you find enjoyable or interesting and then use the various ways to find out the information for that subject. I would suggest writing out a list of key words you can use during your search.”

“Key words?” Lin asked, interrupting the other male smoothly only to get an empty bottle tossed at him.

“What I mean is using words that connect to the subject. Take, um, something like the ‘Hobbit’ skeleton that was found on that one Indonesian Island; Flores, if I remember correctly,” Sunny started, pulling his legs up into the Indian style sitting position. “Now, the key words I’d use, and have used, would be hobbit, skeleton, human ancestors and, of course the so called scientific nick name of the creature, which, no, I don’t remember.” Pausing, Sunny grabbed his blanket and pulled it over his legs as he shifted, gathering his thoughts once more.

“Now, while researching for fun, you don’t have to take notes if you don’t want to. Since I have this utterly horrid habit of writing about what I research, even for fun, I do. I use a basic layout for my notes and it’s usually a word document,” he continued, looking at Lin with a raised eyebrow. “Any questions?”

“Yeah. The basic layout, what is it?” the other male asked, pulling his own legs up to sit his feet near his hip, hands finding a fluffy white throw pillow to pull close and hug.

“Well, if I’m hand writing them, I would write out the title, the site that I found it on and then just write short notes on the article, pretty much summarizing each paragraph in as few words as possible,” Sunny stated, tapping his bottom lip. “I’d also add the date it was written and the author’s name. Same with a word document, but I would add the link, before neatly adding the title, author and date written before using the bulleting system. Which is the little button on the top of most Word programs,’ he said, stopping the question before it started.

“So, you’d make it all nice and neat, just so you could read it?” Lin asked smirking as Sunny once more tossed something at him.

“Back to the research, I’d do it for as long as the subject holds my attention. Researching for a story is a bit more in-depth, but not much. It’s pretty much the same thing, just with more time spent on it,” the brunette said, sipping his tea and wrinkling his nose in distaste at the warmth. Getting up, he continued with his lecture, “With story research, you have to know exactly what you want to look up. Again, write out a list of key words, adding to it as you go along and use the resources available around you.

“I prefer using books for story research since I can do it while sitting in bed before I crash for the night. But it’s all a personal prerogative on how someone will do it,” he said, opening his refrigerator and putting the bottle onto a self before grabbing one of his sodas. Moving back, he plopped down and crossed his legs before popping the leg rest of the recliner up once more.

“So, what about the notes for the story research? I know that you and Chynyll, when you guys wrote together, used to look up information as you wrote,” Lin said, tilting his head to the side, squeezing the pillow in his arms lightly.

“I do that for my co-author projects because we never really know what will happen. But with my original stories, or even my fan fiction, I will go out and do some research. Again, I will take down notes, usually using a semi formal note format. Usually 1-a-b-c, 2-a-b-c,” Sunny said, popping the top of his soda.

“What is that format? 1-a-b-c, 2-a-b-c...it sounds confusing,” Lin hummed, tapping his bottom lip.

“Not really. All it does is to put things into a more orderly fashion for later reference. The number is the sub topic to a main topic, or the plot in the case of a story. Then the letters are your details, possibly with bullets under those for extra detail or questions. It’s to make it easier to find your information later on,” Sunny explained, waving a hand. “It works really well for essay research, which I will get into after I finish with story research.”

“Fine, oh great and wondrous one. Story research,” Lin prompted, flopping out onto the futon with a huff, his eyes sparkling brightly in the low light causing Sunny to sigh and rub his head.

“For story research, the notes don’t really need to be that detailed as to use the 1-a-b-c method, but it is suggested by veteran authors that you try it a few times for a few chapters. I’ve done it before and found that it works when I need to cover a few things in a chapter,” Sunny said, shifting to let one leg lay out in front of him. “When I research for a story, I do it in Word for the simple fact it’s easier to go back and add details as they come up. I usually have a very specific point of what I need to research and stick to it.

“With some of my plots, I have several points I need to research and end up having to shift through a lot of information to find what I need for the story. But I know what I want and I know the plot, so that works really well for me,” he continued, shifting and looking at Lin with dark green eyes. “As for essay research, I get a bit more detailed and use every source available to me. I’ve been known to take enough notes to fill a rather large binder for my essays and only use a part of it, for the simple fact that I might end up using something later on in the process.”

“Okay, so you’re saying that with essay research it’s more in-depth?” Lin asked, getting a nod. “Huh, no joking…”

“Nope. What I usually do is have the main points that I want to make. Take the Salem Witch Craft Trials for example. With an essay like that, I would have a topic sentence like The Salem Witch Trials: the who’s, how’s and causes. That would cover everything that would be needed, from the history and people to the various possible causes such as mass hysteria and drugged up illusions,” Sunny said, waving a pencil in the air.

“So, you’d take your topic sentence and then, what? Break it down?” Lin asked, looking at the other male.

“Yep. The number would be the basics such as history, people, places, things, et cetera. Then, as I worked through an article, I would add notes and details, slowly reading so I did not miss anything. Once more, I’d use a word program to do this in since it comes out much neater,” Sunny said, nodding his head. “While using books, I’d take down the copyright date, the people and the place, everything you need to create a bibliography at the end; which is needed half the time anyways. After that, it’s just a matter of fleshing out the story and making it understandable.”

“That’s all there is to research?” Lin asked, incredulous as Sunny burst out laughing.

“Research is still long and complicated considering that you actually have to shift through the information. It takes time to find the jewels, especially when you are using a search engine. You have to sit there to read, click and curse your way to what you need,” Sunny said, shifting so that the recliner was lying backwards. “Now, once you have what you need it’s just a matter of fleshing out your notes after figuring out what you’re going to use.”

“And here I thought you just winged it,” Lin teased, getting a soft laugh and a shaken head.

“I do that with some of my stories since I have no set plot half the time but more of an idea and a general direction. Otherwise, I research. Now, leave me to sleep in peace,” the male huffed, turning onto his side, curling up under his blanket, and ignoring the snickering Lin who slowly faded away. Smiling, he curled up a bit and made a note to write down this conversation for later reference.

He had some good blackmail material.