Weirdest Google searches (for writing)?
Oct. 26th, 2014 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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write_awayI recently watched the documentary Terms and Conditions May Apply, which was about the lack of privacy online. One segment was about an apparent ability to track down what individuals have searched for on Google. The film crew tracked down one guy whose Google search results included things like "how to kill my wife", "cheating wife" and "decapitation"... seems fishy, right? Surprise, the guy was actually a writer for a crime drama, and did the searches for work.
So my question is, do you ever google really weird things for writing research? Anything that might seem suspicious to an outsider?
I can say I've googled a lot of injuries - knife and sword injuries, mainly, as well as effects of poisons. I think I even once googled home-made bombs, or historical explosives, or something like that, and even remember getting really paranoid that the FBI was going to get suspicious.
So my question is, do you ever google really weird things for writing research? Anything that might seem suspicious to an outsider?
I can say I've googled a lot of injuries - knife and sword injuries, mainly, as well as effects of poisons. I think I even once googled home-made bombs, or historical explosives, or something like that, and even remember getting really paranoid that the FBI was going to get suspicious.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-26 04:11 pm (UTC)The thing I feel least comfortable about searching for is actually international ages of consent, even though I have no intention of writing anything skeevy in that area. It's a genuinely interesting subject and my own country changed its age of consent while I was a teenager, adding to my confusion, but I still feel a little creepy doing it.
I'm guessing hundreds of thousands of bored teenagers have searched for how to make a bomb. I know my brother and all his friends did. I doubt the FBI tracks them all. And I'm in a country where they regularly still find terrorist bombs, so if anyone is worried, I should be.
The latest bomb they found near me was so badly made that the police issued a statement that it couldn't harm a kitten. The maker probably should have done more googling himself.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-27 08:35 am (UTC)I'm also sure that loads of people do google how to make bombs and other things that the FBI just doesn't have time for, but who knows. Now I am trying to imagine a bomb going off that's so weak a kitten couldn't be harmed... (and I'm resisting urge to go ahead and google 'weak bombs' ha)
no subject
Date: 2014-10-26 04:46 pm (UTC)And, while I've never done it in my own writing, I've also researched bombs, especially when a show or book makes me go, "how does that go in a bomb?" The oddest one was probably toothpaste.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-28 10:16 am (UTC)I've also looked up weird things just out of personal interest. When I get a thought in my head, I feel the need to resolve it asap, so immediately Wikipedia it. brb, off to look up how one can use toothpaste in a bomb, haha.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-26 06:11 pm (UTC)I think the closest "weird" thing I've had to search for was about safecracking or maybe bank robberies.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-28 10:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-26 08:05 pm (UTC)To answer your question, probably a mix of ultra specific injuries and DIY medical crap. I've got a friend who looks up gore and such, so normally I just ask him, but y'know.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-28 10:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-27 01:40 am (UTC)When in doubt, I'll read through the tags on
no subject
Date: 2014-10-27 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-28 10:23 am (UTC)