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Topic : How to google the ungoogleable? This may be a silly question but I'm always a little nervous of doing my research. I'm toying with the idea of writing a crime story, several members of my - selfpublishingguru.com

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This may be a silly question but I'm always a little nervous of doing my research. I'm toying with the idea of writing a crime story, several members of my family love detective stories and the idea appeals.

This raises a concern, obviously in order to write decent fiction the author must do a reasonable amount of research. But what are the best methods to research into some less than savory topics?

I can't imagine that simply opening my search engine of choice and looking for ways to murder people without leaving DNA evidence is an ideal life decision...

How can amateur writers get the information they need to create a well rounded story without going into academic papers (which are often very complex) or veering off into darker parts of the internet?


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i might not answer your question, but i think i understand you. I had a similar problem. How to do it? How to write it?

I done these things to support my research:
1) My good friend is police officer and love good foot and drink. I told him what i want to do and asked him tell me what things i need to have in my pocket when i am going to search a body as an detective.
I even played Role Play game in real time as a detective character to try it.
I asked him what things police do first when they are catching someone.

Information from source to inderstand the problem.

And there is the other side:

2) Think like master villan. I literraly commited crime, but only on paper. Watched films about catching murderers, dark movies, not horors, like Zodiac, Silence of Lambs, i read Millenimu triology to understand how to think on a paper. Sherlock Holmes was my personal favorite material to read and look at. It is commercional, but those plots i good. Movies and books where author need you to think it.

3) Make alter ego. This is not simple. But in book, i am working on now i need to use some alter egos. So i created them. In my mind, real one. And trying situations where they will be functional.

Hope, it will help a bit.

Sorry for my english.


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About twenty years ago I was looking for a poison for a play. In the university library was a book listing dangerous chemicals and their properties. I searched through the list until I found a common (found in just about any university laboratory and any plastics factory) chemical that disolves invisibly in hot water (mixed with instant coffee) and attacks the central nervous system. The one thing I 'fudged' was whether it was tasteless or not -- it appears nobody had tried.

However, I share some of your concerns about telling the reader things they may not have thought of. Firstly, I know how to make a number of explosives from common chemicals. For example, making the mixture the IRA used for so many years in car bombs is cheap and easy. Should I share this knowledge in a book? I'm not sure.

Secondly, one day I had an idea for a simple, inexpensive way for a terrorist organisation to disable the entire railway system in the UK. The result would not only be economic chaos, but the death toll would be high because of all the people scrambling to use cars. Should I publish that in a story? I think not.


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While I agree with @what sometimes I'm not sure it is so clear cut.

There are deeper, darker areas of research than the good old fashioned murder, I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't have any issue googling around for that sort of thing. However I have had occasion when I've thought 'I really don't want this showing up on my browser / google history!' At that point it largely becomes a technical exercise that relies heavily on your level of paranoia!

If you're concerned about something showing up in your browser history, there's always private browsing.

If your concern is about your ISP / government agencies / google et al know what you're searching for, then you should spend a little time researching tor. Which will give you the ability to search for the things you need anonymously (the basic is that you download a special browser, and use that)


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