Can I just say that I love Wikipedia? Yes, yes, I’ve had plenty of other writers tell me what an amazing site it is, and how it’s one of their favorite resources. Did that make me run right out and learn for myself? No, of course not. I have to learn everything on my own. It’s no fun if I learn from others–it would make things too easy. That doesn’t mean I’ve never used it before, when it came up and my other research sources bottomed out. From now on, I’m thinking it’s going to be at the top of my list.
Today I was searching for information on some cities in New York, as one of my many works in progress is partially set there. When I checked the city web sites, in an attempt to try and figure out if I want to keep one character living in Albany, or move them elsewhere, I went to the city’s website. Sometimes city websites offer pertinent information for my needs. In this case, not so much. The Wikipedia page was perfect though, with more information than I had expected.
Now I have a dozen other things I want to look up.
It is a cool site. You may want to double check what you find there, as it is comprised of articles any old person can stick on there, but I do head there first for many a thing.
Isn’t that the thing with research, you find something so interesting you start reading that which leads to another and then before you realize it, you’re way far from your original research.
Happens to me with blogs, too.