The Surprising Fun of Research Rabbit Trails

Don’t you love research rabbit trails?

You start off searching for something, and before you know it, you’re wandering off into a completely different subject!

But sometimes, okay, almost always, I stumble on other interesting facts or stories. They catch me by surprise, and I want to share them too, even though there’s no room in my story.

What’s a writer to do?

Share them with friends!

The novella I was writing at the time took me to several surprising places!

The Yuletide Bride took place in Nebraska circa 1873. While remembering Laura Ingalls Wilder’s On the Banks of Plum Creek, I wanted to learn whether grasshoppers plagued Nebraska.

They did.

In 1874.

I found photos and drawings:

Drawn during the time of the invasion, Worrall’s work expresses well the revulsion farmers felt when grasshoppers first ate all their crops (including the wool off the sheep!).

The grasshoppers added to the problem when they dug their eggs into the soil. That left the land vulnerable to another cycle of devastation.

The actual creature was the Rocky Mountain Locust, and they returned in the 1930s, as well.

Locust invasions still happen. YouTube featured a video of one in the Congo. Watch if you dare, here.

What did that have to do with The Yuletide Bride?

Absolutely nothing. It’s just something I read and thought was interesting.

Just another research rabbit trail

Eventually, I discovered what I really wanted to know — land policies in 1873 Nebraska. With that information in hand, I returned to writing my novella.

But first, I stopped by Pinterest to look at photos of the Nebraska landscape. I needed to see rivers and streams pertinent to my story.

I got distracted by photos of the Russian Romanov family there.

I’ve read about the Romanov family since I wrote a story based on their murder while in high school.

I hadn’t seen many of those photos before and wasted far too much time examining them. (Fans can admire them here.)

One Pinterest board turned up a delightful smiling photo of Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, copyright prevents me from showing it to you. Look at this Pinterest link.

Here’s another photo, however, that Wikipedia allows:

What struck me in the Pinterest photo was how much Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, looked like her.

I’m not sure you can see it in this next photo of the current queen:

Anyway, I had fun examining photos.

What did this have to do with my current project?

Almost nothing. The British royal family had no role in my story at all–except in regard to the bagpipes.

Maybe.

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