Once uponn a time, in a darkened room with a nice rug, I was doing a rewrite on an old short story called "The Bloodjacker". In said short story, a guy from Jersey decided to take a Japanese longbow and shoot a vampire he had stumbled across in a Tokyo alleyway.
Did I know diddly about Japanese longbows? Nope. So what did I do? I went to Wikipedia and rooted around until I found a decent photo of one, along with a description of what they're typically made of and how effective they were. Such details helped make my story better.
My advice: use Wikipedia when you need detailed information on a place, event, historical figure, type of surface-to-air missile, etc. It's better than the encyclopedias of old, with pictures and links galore. It's like having an expert standing over your shoulder.
So, if that Google search isn't doing it for ya', hit Wikipedia with an evil smile.
The link's below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
or,
Just type in "Wikipedia" in the appropriate search engine.
I love wikipedia! Every time I'm stumped on pop culture stuff I go there and it is so great! I've gotten several Top 100 Billboard songs and album lists there and went along my way to hear the songs. I'm believer too, especially when it comes to writing those things you know nothing about. Between that and Google, what's an encyclopedia?
ReplyDeleteWikipedia is awesome! It can do what you described and a whole lot more! When you have time, you should check out the other Wiki-portals!
ReplyDelete