I look for material that both interest me and challenges me. If I am drawn to the material and I have to work hard at it, the characters and the plots reflect the hours and hours of research.
The problem is, when you come back in you're sweating, so I wait until the very last minute before putting on my shirt so that it's not covered in sweat.
Follow me around. I don't care. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They'd be very bored.