#ScribesAndMakers September 12: If you write about craftspeople, scientists, or artists, do you ask specialists, rely on a websearch, rely on your own knowledge, or something else?

Little bit of all of the above.

I am least likely to reach out to specialists bc anxiety and shit, but I have done it a time or two.

Often it's a mix of personal knowledge and research. My research, when I do it, often starts with websearch and branches out from there. I like to use academic papers and first person descriptions. And since I tend to constantly researching this-or-that for my own personal interest, the line between 'own knowledge' and 'research' can be blurry.

A good example of that is Bound by His Oath, where the concept was partly inspired by my pre-existing knowledge of Norman England shortly after the conquest and learning a bit about the prior Kingdom of England under Alfred the Great, which led to me doing intentional research specifically for this project.