One thing about writing that drives me bonkers is doing research.

It's not even that I'm too lazy or can't be bothered to, on the contrary, I love reading and learning about cultural and historical things. It's just that in both fiction and non-fiction writing, I never quite know where to start.

The internet is a very broad and wonderful place. You usually find information about the stuff you're looking for, only you tend to end up on Wikipedia which is a great source for a general overview but as soon as you need details, you're screwed. At least that's what it's like for me. Perhaps I'm just not very good at googleling things, perhaps the internet's filled with mostly superficial stuff, perhaps it's a combination of the two--I don't know. Fact is, I never find the information I need. Never to the depth that I would like.

Same goes for books by the way--I've accepted a while ago I never seem to be able to find what I need for my papers and I usually write around it, but when I want to write fiction where I want to get every bit right, it gets a bit annoying. The books at our local library usually aren't theoretical enough while the books at my university are too theoretical. When I want to find out about lore, or historical details or medical facts (What were clothes made of in the 19th century? What was a typical meal in the 1920's? How long does it take someone to recover from pneumonia and what are typical steps? What's a typical police arrest like? These are just random questions, no worry ;-) ), I'm at a loss because I don't know where to look. Sometimes I go on amazon to look for books on a particular subject, but I can never find the right stuff. Especially when I'm trying to find out about every-day life in the 19th or early 20th century, about manners and morals and all the little things that make a story come to life.

Which brings me to a different matter: how many of historical details in books are actually facts, and how many are just author's guesses?

So just...I was wondering whether I'm the only one who feels that way. How much research do you do? Where? Any advice for me how to improve my research-fu? What do you do when you want to set your story in a time and place you only have a vague idea about? Where do you start? Do you also talk to people/experts? Are there any good websites for historic facts and such? (Like http://www.victorianlondon.org/, for example? Or little_details)

I'd love to hear your thoughts :-)