Everything finds its use, sooner or later.
And if one’s a writer, everything finds a writing-related use, sooner or later.
Back when I was planning my after-graduation Silk Road adventure that never happened, I got me a few maps and guidebooks.
These went to form the core of my still-growing collection of books on the subject.

As of now, I’m also sort of a Travel Guide collector – as Blondie used to sing, dreaming is free.

Now, almost fifteen years later, I dug out some of the stuff to document a story I’m writing.
Guidebooks are great for local detail – and one can even find out how things change through time by comparing guidebooks from different decades.

Paul Wilson’s The Silk Roads, a guide published by Trailblazers in 2003, is a very neat one-stop resource.
It was designed for independent travelers as a planning tool, not ust as a guide, and it does its job with very little fuss.
There’s a solid historical background, basic informations of places to be, things to see, and adds those small touches like useful phrases and other extras.

I also like the book as an object – it’s tough, compact, no-nonsense in its very nature.

Novels require a big documentation work – but a 5000/10000 yarn needs to be lean, both in terms of narrative and documentation.
Documenting a short story can’t take up more than two or three days.
The internet is an excellent tool to collect background information for stories, but sometimes the amount of data can be overwhelming.
An offline, paper guidebook brings the right amount of detail to add color to the story, and often provides surprising bits to spice a story up.

In the meantime, I’m building my story, working on structure and characters, dropping some guidebook-derived bit of local color…
… and I’m weighing the idea of pitching another tale to a publisher.
After all, as a way to pay my bills, it’s way better than heavy lifting, right?