I think writers use the Internet in ways other people don’t. For example, I might have a character who wonders if someone they see regularly is interested in them romantically. I have been married for over 50 years, so this type of information isn’t something I haven’t thought about for a long time. I would go to a search engine like Google and type in something like, “how can you tell someone has an interest in you?” I just did that. Google reported back that it had “About 1,980,000,000 results (0.63 seconds).” How about if the character I’m writing about is female. As a male, I never had to decipher interest from a female perspective. I tried, “how can I tell the man is interested in me?” Google reports back “About 6,330,000,000 results (0.70 seconds).” There certainly is plenty of sources on this topic.
Search engines such as Google are useful for discovering everyday things a person of the opposite sex does, such as putting on a bra? A quick search on that topic reveals both step-by-step word instructions and also videos.
A writer might also search for background information on the topic. For example, you might be writing about elephant hunting in the early 20th century and want to be sure about what rifle the hunter would use. A quick search will lead you to a Wikipedia article about the “Nitro Express rifles.” You will also find the John Rigby & Co. was the first manufacturer to make these hunting rifles. You might also be able to slip in the fact that they were banned in 1907 in certain British colonies. That might even give you a story idea beyond the one you are currently working on.
From these few examples, you can tell how writers use search engines to expand their knowledge about almost any topic. One note of caution – you can soon get lost in searching because what you’re finding is so interesting.
