I'd like to Phone A Friend, please


I'm so thankful for my circle of friends, for many reasons ... but one of them is to do with research. When I'm writing I look stuff up in books and online of course, and I draw on my own experience, but sometimes there's no substitute for asking someone else. Like this week, when I'm writing a story which references MMORPG World of Warcraft. How much research would I have to do on my own before I could answer the question "Okay, if you've got a maxed-out longterm player who's off on his own somewhere killing monsters in a repetitive manner; where might he be, what's he killing and what's the reward? Oh, and what titles might he have earned?"

In fact, as I glance over my ego-shelf back-catalogue I can see a slew of stories and novels where I've gone to various friends on a wierd and wonderful range of subjects. Just in erotica I've asked about

the world of pro-am operasugarcraft and cakemakingVictorian underweardating in Second Lifewhat it's like being an extra in a movieArabic culture in medieval BaghdadLibrarian hierarchyRoman armour and army organisation They're called "Pteruges"
And that's off the top of my head - I'm sure I've missed some.

What's next? Well, I've got this character, see, and he's very old fashioned. I need someone who can translate into Old English and get the cases right...

And what's more I'm sure I know someone who can help!
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Published on August 05, 2011 00:40
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