That's me! I love a good bit of research to get me going with a book, whether it's set in the present or the past, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, digging around for information is a great stimulus of the creative juices; with me, it slakes a thirst. Things that I unearth can often help in the development of character and certainly can influence the course of a plot. Did this really happen? Did they really do that in those days? The answers to questions like that are meat and drink.
Because I love research so much, I'm really sensitive to the danger of piling all the knowledge that I've rootled out into my narrative. Because I know something and it interests me, I'm damned well going to include it, even if it is of no interest to anybody else and actually hinders the narrative because it slows it down or clutters it up.
Just because I've made the cake, it doesn't mean I have to eat it all; it's OK to have a slice and leave the rest in the tin for another time. It's the same with facts which you've uncovered. Use some of them, to give authority to your work, to make it credible and help to bring it to life, but for goodness sake don't cram everything in as that's more like bulimia than writing and won't do you or your story any good.
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