Going down the rabbit hole
The figurative term of going down a rabbit hole has its origins in the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alice was transported to a strange world when she follows the white rabbit into his burrow. Today, when one goes down a rabbit hole, it usually means that one gets distracted from the task at hand and ends up chasing after other topics.
Writers know this dilemma well and with internet research it is so easy to get sucked into a winding tunnel that branches, twists, and turns until you completely lose track of your original purpose. It can be enlightening, puzzling, frustrating, and fruitful. It can result in sleepless nights pondering and hand cramps from hours at the keyboard. One may not find the particular iota of information they were seeking but may find tons of other interesting stuff that may or may not be related. I came across an article by Kat Morris describing the common phenomenon of writers going down the rabbit hole. https://tinyurl.com/yxm64dmt
This is exactly why I am late with this post. I am researching for my next novel. I wrote a bit about it in my November post – it involves ancestors in my maternal line. Needless to say, I have gone down dozens of rabbit holes. While looking for historical references I have come across all kinds of tidbits of information. Some pertinent, some not so much.
- I discovered the family’s livelihood, a mill on the Oconee River, was burned down on November 20, 1864 by Sherman’s troops.
- I discovered a husband of my great grandmother in Texas that we didn’t previously know about.
- I found a set of twins in the family. We never knew there was a family history of twins.
These few finds were at least partly related to my research. I can’t even begin to list all the non-related information I found!
- Did you know Civil War military companies were named with letters, A-K. The letter J was not used because it looked too much like an I.
- Did you know hogs can get cholera? Whole droves were wiped out in a matter of days.
- Did you know Mexican silver coins date back to the 1500s? My ggg grandfather had in his possession a silver Mexican coin made in 1555.
My most thrilling find was discovering that although the mill was burned, a family home built in the early 1800s was spared the torch. It still exists today, privately owned, and I was able to find pictures online. I hope to visit there this spring. Ah well, before you know it, hours can pass as one clicks from link to link. A tip from a query can send one off into completely opposite directions. Still it is thrilling to find a few bits that are relevant.
And who is to say that serendipity is a bad thing? I am relieved I feel motivated to write again. For a while I just couldn’t get into it. Finding these nuggets of information has piqued my own interest and I want to tell these stories. After all, Alice found a wonderland when she followed that white rabbit. Who knows what else I might discover? What have you discovered by going down a rabbit hole? Tell us about it in a comment below.