Researching for Webcomics addendum (Patreon)

Just an addendum to the research tutorial from several months ago... I mentioned then that I was going to try reaching out to individuals to consult with them on topics I wasn't able to learn on my own. Well, I did!

You probably know by now that I like really like researching for my comics to lend them authenticity. Most of that info I can get from books, scientific publications, museums etc, but this time I was specifically looking for insight into modern, informal Nigerian culture. Obviously, book learning will not help me on that, and I didn't feel confident in the sources I had been using (mostly trawling Naija forums and blogs). Bex is a complex character that I know needs to be reigned in by authentic voices, which I could only access through the internet (and by overcoming my social awkwardness). 

So, some notes on what I've been up to for the past month with MI and finding sources of info:

• Finding folks: This part of the process has been going on since 2013. I serached for people based on criteria I thought made sense for my specific needs of finding Nigerian (preferably Yoruba) women currently living in Nigeria. First, they are online and creating material in English (so I know we can communicate effectively). Second, they make content that is educational, informative, and public-facing... NOT private posts. This gives me an idea of if they are the sort of person who would like to be contacted at all. I don't want to bother people who only post online for private reasons. And, last I only contacted people I've been following a while (over a year) so I could make sure that contacting them wouldn't be considered invasive, and so they know I'm not just some uninvested random person in case they wanted to check me out. I also made sure to contact them on accounts with a strong history/ using my real name. For me, I had the most success reaching out to people on Tumblr, though I tried several avenues. There is no great way to search for exactly the demographic you need, just a lot of looking through tags and notes and reblogging accounts until I found options that I thought were worth further lurkage.
• Preparation: First thing I did was write a list of questions I had.  I narrowed my questions down to a manageable amount (for me, 10).  The questions I kept very generic as well. For example, instead of asking something too weirdly focused like "are women in Nigeria interested in insect science" I kept it a few questions with a broader scope like "are women encouraged into STEM fields in Nigeria? How so or how not?" Adding modifiers like "and why?" to the questions are a good way to get explanations with examples. To prevent bias or overspecifics in the responses, I intentionally did not expect (or want) people I contacted to read my work first, and I gave them only a very brief background of the plot and why I need that info. This is also why I avoided asking readers (I do have some Nigerian readers, but I think it is lazy to reach out to your audience for help instead of finding pure sources). 
• First contact: Here's where I made some mistakes... when I reached out to a few people, I didn't give enough info/ gave weird info. I mentioned that I was a writer doing research for a comic with a [specific trait] character. This turned out to be a red flag for a few people, who were initially a little annoyed about my phrasing. I completely see my fault here: it would be like going up to someone and saying "hey I'm doing a comic with a character who is an Asian, can I ask you about xyz because you're also Asian?" Which sort of opens the conversation in a way that assumes the other person defines themselves by that identity, or that it's potentially the only trait I'm defining my character by. I hope I'm explaining this clearly... if I were to do this part over, I would emphasize that [trait] is ONE characteristic of this fictional person, and that my goal is to portray their character with their [trait] ALSO accurately represented. One of my responses was literally "you told me nothing about them except that they were [race]" which is super embarassing, and not my intention, and a lesson well learned! 
• Bridging the gap: I also gave options for how each person wants to transmit the info to me. Obviously email is fine, but you'll want to have alternate options like Skype (or if it applies to your situation, coffee/ in-person meetups, or some kind of chat, or whatever). Again, try to make it easy for them. 
• Fair compensation: I am paying my contractors based on a fee which I just stole from the hourly rate I pay my lawyer/ accountant XD I don't know how you'd do it yourself, but I feel like they are providing a professional service to me so I wanted to pay them accordingly. Make sure you do your due dilligence and research how to pay people... in my case, Nigeria doesn't accept Paypal, which I made sure I knew before contacting folks, so that I could give them with viable alternate options like wire transfer or gift card. The point being that you should make it easy for them to help you, and to be compensated for their time. 
• Extra credit: I also offered everyone formal credit on the site and in the future print version of the book. This is optional of course but I literally can't get this info any other way, and I'm very grateful for their time and trust in a really random person who came out of nowhere to ask them weird questions XD
• Followup: I let them know that I might have follow up questions and that if they were interested I would keep them in mind for the future. 

Anyways, sorry for the brief month hiatus on MI... it was mostly because of this! I am still actively collecting info right now in fact, but having some responses in the bag makes me feel relieved that my convoluted plan to get some international penpals actually worked, haha. 

And in case you're wondering why I didn't reach out to them earlier (like... 2 years ago), it's because, as I have mentioned before, I tend to write organically, with a lot of plot points developed on the fly. Most of Bex's storyline has been on post-its and in my head in a very general way while focused on Mike for the past 2 chapters, and I hate committing to one course of thinking before I even start drawing, but obviously I wouldn't have been able to consult with people if I didn't know what I was consulting about XD If you write in less "dynamic" way, you can probably achieve a similar goal way better than I did. 

Hope you found this interesting, and thanks for reading!