According to Wikipedia,
"the devil is in the details" derives from an earlier phrase, "God is in the detail." I think that, when it comes to writing, though we may play God and an attention to detail is fundamental to our success in conveying the story, it's the devils in the details that can trip us up.
We're fortunate. These days, the entire human history of accumulated knowledge is at our fingertips. We don't have to be experts on everything we want to write before we set pen to paper--we can become experts. Why some writers choose to ignore this is beyond me.
Search engines.
Unless you know exactly what you're looking for, this is where you'll start.
Google is great. But don't forget about
Yahoo,
Ask,
HotBot,
Excite, and
MSN. Using difference search engines for each search is a good idea, since each will probably offer different results for the same phrase or keywords. This is research. You want as much information confirmed as independently as possible. (A personal rule is three sources that do not reference each other saying the same thing or similar things.)
Library websites.
Lots of libraries offer
reference books online. You probably have to be a real-life patron in order to access the references (as with the
University of Texas library), but there are some free sites (like
Bibliomania).
IPL.org seems to be an excellent resources site. Your local library probably has an online selection. I know that US Army Europe does.
Topic-specific websites.
When you search keywords, use as many of them in topic-specific language as possible in order to locate sites dedicated to what you want to know. Like
how to make an obsidian projectile point (honestly not something I recommend even attempting for the first-time
flintknapper). Maybe you're curious about
vampire mythology. Maybe you need to know everything you can about
how to clean an 1894 Winchester rifle. My point is that if you want to know something, all you have to do is find the website an expert already created. The site gets bonus points if it lists reference material that you can use, too.
Detail-oriented communities and picking the brains of loved ones.
I've pimped it before and I'll pimp it again: the
Little Details community on LiveJournal is amazing. The benefit of communities like this one--full of people from all walks of life with all areas of expertise--is that someone probably has firsthand knowledge
and knows how to point you in the direction of other resources. This can work in real life, too. Everyone you know is an expert on something. Maybe your dad knows everything there is to know about the
1959 Edsel. Maybe your niece knows everything about tea. My husband seems to know everything about high school wrestling (he was a wrestler in high school, is a current combatives champ, and refs for local high school wrestling matches on the weekends). Asking someone about something they love is a good way to spend some quality time with them, too.
Actual books and newspapers.
I know this is old technology, but stay with me. Newspapers offer a glimpse into community that websites just can't. Actual books--especially reference books--provide a snapshot of knowledge at the time of publication. Online, things change almost as fast as our knowledge does. What we know as true today may not be true tomorrow and it can be easy to lose the trail on the Internet. A reference book from the timeframe you're writing about will show you what people knew. A newspaper will show you what they cared about. Older, underfunded libraries may have those old books, or maybe your grandparents or older aunts and uncles have some in their homes. As for newspapers--that's what microfiche is for. (Or
this website.)
