Research: How much is too much?

[BloodAngel]

(Brought over from Samurai Fanservice)

Right now, I'm doing research for my AU YST story, trying to make it look as good as I possibly can.

However, I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing too much research.

Currently, I have:
A folder with 17 subjects tabed and color-coded for war, history, pictures, and mythology. (Blue for pictures, green for mythology, yellow for war, and orange for history)

The seventeen subjects are:

One wideshot of the boys in old-school yoroi
One closeup of the boys in old-school yoroi
One picture off of the Mirror&Image article on Mysticism
The actual Mysticism article
M&I's article "Soul of the Samurai"
An overview of Yin-Yang magick
The Wiki article for Onmyodo
The Wiki article for the Sengoku Jidai
The Wiki article for the Tokugawa Shouganate
The Wiki article for Samurai
The Wiki article for O-yoroi
The Wiki article for Hisa-me (Kinda like a Japanese sucubbus)
The Wiki article for Kyudo (Check out the huge bow at the start of the article!)
The Wiki article for Kendo
M&I's character bios and psych analyses
Japan's climate paterns (From Wiki)
My condensed file on the Trooper and Mashou's ancestors' birth and death years, cause of death, and three historicle people that I can use as tributes to other anime.

Oh, and seventeen sticky notes with my own comments in the margins.

To be printed off and added to the folder:

A third old-school yoroi picture
M&I's article on the Troopers' ancestors
M&I's article on the Troopers' weapons

And I've used up three yellow highlighters and one green highlighter while selecting pertnent data. Now look at everything I still have left to highlight!

And I've switched over to a bigger, sturdier folder... Which will probably get upgraded into an 1 1/2 inch folder, instead of 1 inch.

So, folks, here are my questions:

Am I doing too much research? Is there such a thing as doing way the heck too much research? Where is the stopping point? How much research do you normally put into a fic?

[Enigma!]

I'd say you've got enough. Stop now, work off your immagination from this point forward.

[J. T./Jessica]

I've researched many things, the durability of the hymen for my first lemon, the requirements for marriage in the state of Georgia for a round robin chapter, rank equivilents for five or six different countries armed forces, what characters died how in several different series, at what point in a series certain events happen, even whether or not draftees are eligible for their military branch and rank on their tombstone (they are) - many, many things...

But I have NEVER collected it in a binder and color-coded it. I think you need a break...

[BloodAngel]

Again, I only color-coded it because you gave me the idea. I had to move it to a binder because I was runing out of room in the other folder.

(Currently researching cloathing in Japan)