Lesson 3: Beyond Dusty Books: Delightfully Geeky Detail-Oriented Groups

Here is another way to research your historical book plots and details without touching a research book or even the internet, if you prefer to get fully involved!
1. SCA 
When I lived in a larger city, one of my favourite clubs was an SCA (as previously noted, SCA means Society for Creative Anachronism) historical cooking group. Each month we would choose a time period or theme, and all of the members would contribute something to a potluck. Before we dug in, we would discuss the ingredients, where they would have come from, where and when they would be available and maybe the trade routes that they travelled, substitutions that we made in ingredients for what might be no longer available or hard to source, and so on.
SCA people tend to be VERY geeky, smart, incredibly thorough researchers, and simply wonderful people for writers to know. They’re willing to read your Renaissance or Medieval scene really thoroughly to make sure you got the dress right, talk at length with you about what your characters might be eating, and talk battles and weaponry until the cows come home, if that’s your thing! As I mentioned before, I have sometimes found it tricky to track down SCA groups online as they don’t usually call themselves by their real-city modern day name. The clubs are usually named by kingdoms and baronies, etc. The good thing is, if you can track down just one SCA person, you can often ask them questions to help find the SCA club in your area. They tend to often be very friendly and very talkative.

2. Steam punk
The general idea behind “steam punk” is taking the Victorian era’s view of the future and adding lots of gadgets, steam-powered machines, and maybe a little time travel. Again, steam punk clubs are a wonderful way to meet smart geeky people who just love historical detail, costumes, and imagination. They’re often friendly and social and glad to chat with you over intricate details of costumes, period technologies, historical facts, engineering, medicine, and science. Just look for local facebook or meet up groups in your area. 

3. Meet Up groups.
 If you go to meetup.com and enter in your interests and your local area, it’s a great place to get together with like-minded people. You might find steam punks, historians, chess players, hikers, re-enactors, knitters, readers, and all kinds of groups! Anything that you want to research and chat about, give it a search. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always start a group with very minimal effort, and perhaps attract those people you’re looking for. 

4. Facebook groups*
If you’re living in a smaller centre or you can’t find anyone locally who shares your interests, Facebook might be your answer to lots of fun historical discussions. A few good groups for research that I enjoy include
British Medieval History https://www.facebook.com/groups/200811006678312/
European Medieval History https://www.facebook.com/groups/315780238566948/
Food of Ancient Rome https://www.facebook.com/groups/718576074896906/

*I feel like I need to put a disclaimer: I know some people worry a lot about Facebook, and if that's you, no need to follow these avenues. For me, Facebook has expanded the quality and volume of my social circle enormously, and the good outweighs the danger. (But on the other hand, I don't have my real birthday on there, and feel completely comfortable unfriending and blocking people who bring negativity, so my Facebook is a nice place.) 
If you struggle with making your facebook or real life crew positive and uplifting, maybe this article will help: https://christabedwinwellness.blogspot.com/2017/05/how-to-make-space-for-better-things.html. 

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