Reining in the Research Monster

I love research. Before I even begin plotting a mystery I've visited the site of the story, taken photos, made notes in my journal and just sat for a good while soaking up the smells and sounds of the place. Later I lock horns with my tax accountant over whether I: 1) learned anything of use in my mystery or 2) had fun. Huh? I can't have both? I'm starting my fifth Dotsy Lamb Travel Mystery. This one is set in Oxford and although I've been there maybe 8 to 10 times, I did go last summer and stayed in the oldest (spookiest) college on a B & B basis. My room at Jesus College was in the oldest wing of the oldest quad. While lying in my little bed on the top floor overlooking Turl Street (locals say "The Turl") I imagined mine was the room T.E. Lawrence had when he was a student there. It could have been. They don't know which room was his.

Other writers do it differently. Some do no research. Some write the first draft, then research all the questions that have come up while writing. One writer I know, asked what to do about a chemical element with specific properties not found in any natural element, said, "Forget it. Make one up."

I hit the ceiling.

"You can't make up an element! It needs an atomic number and they're all taken!" That is, all the natural elements have been assigned a neat square on the periodic table and the man-made ones are all quite heavy, radioactive, and any new ones they may find probably won't last long enough in the lab to even take a photo of it.

That's the chemistry teacher in me talking.

Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

But back to research. Today I'm using the Internet to find out all I can about, Glastonbury, King Arthur's (alleged) burial place and bones, and King Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. These all figure into the story that's still in the ether of my head, but the research is so engrossing, I'm in danger of doing what I've done before. That is, going off on a tangent and forgetting why I'm doing this.

I actually went to Glastonbury two years ago and I'm kicking myself now for taking our guide's advice. She said, "Don't bother going to the Abbey. There's nothing there." I now know that her definition of nothing and mine are greatly different. I should have gone. But at the time, I didn't know it would every figure into a story.

Meanwhile, If you know some good websites for information on any of the above mentioned, let me know.