| The terribly fun bonus of this writing gig is the research. No one talks about it as one of their favorite things about writing but it totally can be. Take this little scenario: Incubus novel set in a sinister sexual disorders clinic? Lots of research into weird sexual problems. I've got to have other patients, right? Mind you, I've had tons of education on sexual dysfunction and sex therapy as one of my emphases in Graduate school. So I knew enough to figure out where to get the answers to my questions. Mostly people will go to a medical doctor nowadays for impotence, premature ejaculation or vaginismus (a tightening of the vaginal walls that prohibits penetration), so therapists get referrals that way. Most of the work was along the vein (so to speak) of arousal issues. But frankly reading about those is no fun at all. At. All. So what am I looking for? The weirdest shit possible. The rare disorders that'll keep you up at night worrying about the state of your junk. But particularly the paraphilias. Did you know that there are people out there--probably on the street you live (maybe)--that can't get off unless they're cinching off a douche during intercourse? Seriously. Take a look at your neighbors tonight when you get home. Anyone look like a freak? And I mean no disrespect in that term--some of my closest friends are freaks--I just mean bow-chicka-bow-bow! Maybe your boss is a frotteurist. We had one at the University of Washington back when I was an undergrad. He'd wait for classes to get out and then walk into particularly tight packs of people, rubbing against them. We also had the Library masturbators, but that's another story. So yeah. Incubus character = tons of dirty research. And, of course, dirty = fun. Now I know what you're thinking and I've thought it to, just now as I'm writing this: Jackie writes about sex demons, too. In fact, she's written at least three books and a novella on the very subject, so she must be a complete pervo. What kind of research has she done? Hell, most of you are writers... What's the weirdest thing you've researched (I'm keeping mine to myself, but guys prepare to squirm when I get this book sold)? |
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Hrm, probably trying to look up the fatal limits of caffeine on the human body for my zombie book. In terms of mg of caffeine per kg of human. I've also once had to look up the maximum (safe) elasticity of the vaginal cavity in human beings for a discussion with a friend (and a story of fantasy romance, go figure).
One of the more interesting ones is the guy who couldn't really get it on unless he was mounting a car. :) But, its even more interesting to find that some little aspect of life may have a HUGE forum or community behind it, but you don't know it exists until you find the right keywords to search for. A real-life "hidden world" for UF fans. :)
As for freak in the neighborhood, I assume that everyone is as raunchy as me and they just don't admit it. Poor, deluded people. :P
Now you gotta spill. What's vaginal capicity? Is it limited to baby shoulders?
I'm not a writer so I don't have any weird research to share. But I totally understand the masturbation in the library. Books? Hot librarians? haaa ;)
If only it were wholesome secretive jerking off. No. Exhibitionist stuff with the added element of surprise!
In short, how much can be inserted in safely, as seen as a statistical average across multiple women. :D
Well, that is actually where I got some of my research notes, but childbirth has a few extra hormones helping with the entire process that don't happen with the "making children" process. :P It's all individual per person, but I found a couple studies that was trying to measure elasticity (how far it stretches, i.e. how big can something fit in there) and a couple others on limitations of skeletal structure (the pelvis and hips prevent a lot).
(As a side note, watch exactly how much a child has to twist and move to get born and you get a real appreciation for C-sections.)
When you write romance between fantasy creatures (say an ogre and a pixie), things like that come up. Not unlike looking at Great Dane/Toy Poodle mix. :)
A comedian I watched once had a good way of saying it: "You remember when you were first having sex with the woman who was going to be your wife? And you thought you were hurting her? After watching her give birth... no, you weren't. You didn't even get close."
The problem is, it is very individual to a person and it is trainable (you can work at stretching out just about any part of your body). Just like the guy who decided he really didn't want to be circumsized, so he stretched out the remains of his foreskin to give him a new one. Took him a few years too.
I went and watched a semen handler (yes that is really the title on his business card) extract bull semen. That was an intereiset four hours.
Hmm. What is the weirdest thing I've ever researched?
Cannibalism
Medieval self-flagellation
ancient burial rituals
all manner of drugs, their use, and addictions
what happens when motor oil is injected intravenously
all manner of sex toys and their uses
felching (I don't have the stomach to explain it)
Who volunteers for a "how much stuff can be stuffed in your orifice" study? o_O
My sex-related writing is pretty pedestrian by these standards. My most interesting research pertains to bondage and torture mechanisms. For some reason, I often have difficulty finding volunteers to test prototypes for efficacy, so I have to resort to scale models, and Barbie has to die...
December/Stacia: In one of the random musings on the Internet, I ran into the erotic cannibalism crowds. There is a forum with fifty thousand members dedicated to that topic. That kind of floored me. Fifty thousand people. Talk about wondering what the people next door is interested in.
Kerry Allen: You'd be surprised. Earlier this year (or last, I forgot), there was actually a big news that they finally got a couple to have sex in an MRI, just so they can see how everything moves and shifts during climax. And then they compared it to da Vinci's drawings to show the differences.
If you can't guess, I put in random words into Google and then see where they go. I call it my "large repository of useless knowledge". :D
For my sex therapy coursework, I did my paper on BDSM devices. We had to do a presentation as well. Mine was Bondage on a Budget.
I made a variety of things from everyday household items. Including a strand of clothespins on kitchen twine used to pinch the skin of the penis from just below the head, down the center seam of the scrotum and ending at the gooch.
Lots of other stuff, too. That was just the most disturbing to the group. Heh!
Started college as an art therapy major. Got to take human sexuality classes with guys who thought it'd be cool, not boring and/or creepy. It was more fun to watch them squirm than the class itself. Eventually I changed to art history (real useful, that degree)but not before we spent some weeks discussing Oculophilia, Lactaphilia, Harpaxophilia, Eproctophilia, Piquerism, oh, and Gay Clown Porn just to name a few.
Hi Shan - All very sexy philias. And you remember them so...
Mark - it's funny what sticks with you long after you wish you could forget. lol.
At one point we were discussing Japanese bondage and I said it was "very artistically stimulating". Let's just say I was the weirdo in class for the rest of the year.
LOL...as a women's health professional and as a woman who's just given birth...my guess for maximum elasticity would be 15 or 16 inches around, but OUCH! Average baby head/chest measures 12 to 14 inches and that hurts...so stretching would be necessary. ::shudders::
Weirdest thing ever researched?
How to mess up the embalming of a corpse. :)
Embalmings are tricky, I'll give you that.
Geez what a bunch of pervos..heh.
The weirdest thing I have ever researched, cannibalism in the Tibetan Bon religion..wish I had something better..
I think my answer would depend on if "did last Thursday" counts as "research."
What a bunch of pervs. *sniff-sniff as wiping teasr from his eyes* I'm home!
Okay, haven't reserached nearly as weird of stuff to the likes of others (cough-cough, nudge-nudge) but I got a ration of shit here recently when my wife saw me researching Rohypnol. I pormised her that I'd never use that stuff - outiside of the home. I clocked my pillow hitting the couch at 99mph.
pikestephenson: That is funny. I joke about that type of thing with my wife all the time, but she just promises to break my kneecaps if I actually do it.
The only time I sleep on the couch is when I'm snoring.
(I suspect this is a topic I like, given my number of comments.)
Hey Pike - when I was in college a group of us went to the movies and in the lobby was a "pepsi challenge" booth. You see it on TV, all the kids are drinking it, so we gave it a shot. The coke was completely flat, of course we'd choose the Pepsi. Later, during the movie, Kevin started getting woozy like he was drunk. We're pretty sure someone dropped a ruffie in his pepsi challenge.
We still say that today. Did someone put a ruffie in your pepsi challenge? We're tards.
I researched BDSM clubs for a short story. But after reading the rest of the comments, I'm feeling rather vanilla in my research.
Is that what they call that shit on the street, "ruffies"? I'm a bit of a bumpkin so I miss out on all of funky stuff.