Research Via Golf Cart

I wrote my first research paper in the third grade. The topic was Chinese footbinding. In the spring, I titled my big project Cloves: The bloody history. (Opting for "bloody" over "spicy," third-grade Sam preferred to shock over amuse.) As a fourth grader, I went more mainstream and researched the fascinating lives of kangaroos.

Given my early/over exposure to research, I developed a deep aversion to notecards, highlighters, encyclopedias, and the Dewey Decimal System. Sorry Dewey. This, ahem, distaste, stuck with me for years. So much so, that my first manuscript was a MG fantasy completely void of any researched elements.

Since writing that manuscript, however, I've had to confront the "r" word. I have olives to thank for that. And a golf cart. While writing my first YA, I wondered if you could grow olives in Florida and searched the web. I found the Olive Branch Tree Farm's website, and after clicking through pictures of olive trees, I craved more. I wanted to touch the silver leaves, taste the fat olives, smell the sandy soil, all that jazz.

So J and I visited the farm. Anthony, an olive expert and very patient man, drove us down rows and rows of olive trees, answering all of my questions. I took some notes, but since I had a tape recorder, I spent most of my time listening to Anthony talk and enjoying the view. On the seat of that golf cart, I redefined research--well, research for this particular writer.

Research is experiencing your story in the flesh. It's exploring scenes with your senses so your characters can too. Granted, this example shows a very limited scope of research and writers of historical fiction do way more than visit olive groves. But it's a start. And it's a step up from numbering notecards related to Chinese footbinding.

What about you? What is your stance on researching before writing or researching in general? Have you ever done anything fun as a result of research?