What is the weirdest thing you've researched for a novel, and did it spark any sketchy Google searches?

"It isn't weird, except I'm a forty-year-old dude... I was going to have one of my female characters be a cheerleader, so I researched cheerleader outfits and... uh, apparently there's some kind of serious naked cheering cheerleader fetish out there. Yeah, very, very uncomfortable (my kids were hanging out in the living room). I decided not to make Abby a cheerleader after that." - Geoff Herbach, author of Stupid Fast.

My new book, Drink, Slay, Love, is about vampires and were-unicorns. So my Google searches tended to turn up a fair amount of blood and gore, as well as lots of unicorn/virgin jokes of dubious taste. But I did discover a set of unicorn-head-shaped corn-on-the-cob holders that I totally want..." - Sarah Beth Durst, author of Drink, Slay, Love.
"Oh, I haven’t researched anything very strange…yet. I did spend a lot of time examining Victorian ladies’ undergarments." - Jessica Spotswood, author of Born Wicked.
"Hmm -- the weirdest search results probably came when I researched pregnant virgins. Not the information about Mary and other virgin mothers in history, but contemporary stories. (One infertile, celibate woman who became pregnant by not eating food for years. Uh...?)" - Marianna Baer, author of Frost.
"Heh. Not weird so much as incendiary. Given all I knew about nuclear waste storage facilities and how much more I know now? Or that search into how to construct the perfect e-bomb?
Well, you hear that plane buzzing overhead?
Camera’s trained right on my house." - Ilsa Bick, author of Ashes.
Well, you hear that plane buzzing overhead?
Camera’s trained right on my house." - Ilsa Bick, author of Ashes.
"The only two I can think of off the top of my head is the research I did for strangulation and also how to break out of a locked floor safe!" - Angie Frazier, author of The Eternal Sea.
"I did a lot of voodoo research for the Megan Berry, Zombie Settler books. Also, I've written a lot of fight scenes, so I've done my share of searches to find out what it feels like to get punched in different places. That's the kind of info I prefer to get second hand." - Stacey Jay, author of Juliet Immortal.
"Oh, man. That's difficult to remember. I research weird things every day! That's my favorite part of the job. The sketchier, the better." - Stephanie Perkins, author of Lola & the Boy Next Door.
"For a ghostwriting project years ago I had to research slaughterhouses. It was pre-Wiki, and I didn’t even get much on Google, which was still pretty new. Turns out not many people want to talk to you about how cattle is slaughtered for your Big Mac. Shocker." - Amy Garvey, author of Cold Kiss.



Find out Tuesday what mark the authors hope to leave on the world!
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