Research...

Is both a writer's lifeline, and the bane of their existence...

Research takes time away from actual productivity, but it's also necessary if you want readers to actually read your books. Nothing is worse that errors that cause a reader to wall your book(s).

We were discussing this yesterday on our livesteam and it generated a number of comments both among Cedar, Ian, and I, and in the chat.

First and foremost, AI is NOT your friend. It will not necessarily lead you astray, per se, but it may not give you the actual data you want or need. Wiki is another one... Cedar pointed out that she has, more than once, gone to the bottom to check on the references for the wiki only to find out the reference DOESN'T EXIST!!!

This example is for a Colt 1911 Government pistol.

Other times, you find rabbit holes that will eat HOURS of time, as you chase specific details, and still end up with very little, or so much info you are overwhelmed. To make it even worse, all that research may only end up as a sentence or two in the novel!

I spent 6 hours researching Remington pistols from the 1860s for what ended up as two sentences in the final draft...sigh

And now we're finding out that 'science' is no better... The link HERE, from Phys.org points out the amount of false data now being 'published' in the science world. It's not like we haven't already seen that with the whole Globull Warming crap, but this is even worse...

Getting things right for period novels is another issue, clothing, etc. can knock a knowledgeable reader right out of the story. And horse people are just as bad. Make a mistake about horses and your novel will get walled...

You can always 'handwave' a lot of stuff away, or use generic descriptions if you're not sure, but at least make a try and getting things right! Please!!!

Another thing writers can do is to take something from history (a battle for example), file off the serial numbers, put it somewhere else, change the characters, and write a great story! David Drake was known for this, as he was also a historian, and many of the Hammer's Slammers battles were actual historic battles he put in space and made into excellent novels!

Since I write westerns among other things, I've done a lot of research on periodicals, catalogs, etc. from the 1860s for pricing for various things, recipes, like this link, HERE.

And monographs written by drovers, Texas Rangers, cattlemen, and others during that period.

One last thing... Always remember the 'winners' write history, not the losers...