FIELD RESEARCH

Current Project: Proposals
Status: Inching along

CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTMENT

Why do I love to do what I call field research for my stories? If you’re a writer, you can guess that part of the allure is getting out of the house and interacting with people in person rather than on the phone or online. I have to get out among people a couple of times a week to maintain my sanity and my social skills. One way to do that is to do some field research.

What exactly is field research? It’s learning through personal experience, observation, interviews, experimentation, and so on. I’ve met lots of interesting people in the field. This type of research is fun, challenging and often yields surprising results that lend authenticity to a story.

Obtaining permission to spend a day in Starbucks observing and asking questions prevented the baristas in my potential audience from throwing my book against the wall because the barista-characters in my story coffee shop (the setting for multiple scenes) don’t know barista jargon or the rules about hand-washing. Doing the same in a tattoo shop revealed that freedom to choose what music to play is a major perk among tattoo artists, that memorial tats are a major revenue stream in the industry (surprise), that many shops operate on a cash-only basis, and that custom tattooing is one of the only ways to make a good living as an artist.

EXPLORING LAVA CASTS

Without spending some time crawling through lava cast forest tubes on Mount Saint Helens, I couldn’t have imagined or described what it would be like to hide in one. What’s the temperature? Is there dirt inside? Bugs? Leaves, twigs, pebbles? Is the rock smooth, grooved, bumpy, rough, full of holes? What sounds do you hear? What scents do you smell? Are there damp spots? Are the tubes level, or angled? How long are they? How big around? How much light is there inside?

My ride-along with a Clackamas County, Oregon, Deputy Sheriff taught me that an officer in a cruiser has to be able to divide his or her attention between keen observation of the surrounding area, skilled driving, looking up information on the on-board laptop computer, and police radio traffic (at a minimum). I saw how quickly officers responded en masse when someone entered the station and became belligerent. And I learned that some devil-worshippers cover their faces with grotesque black tattoos (surprise).

I heard writer Minette Meador describe her ride-along with a Portland Police Officer. When she mentioned the book she was working on was a paranormal romantic suspense, the officer recounted his own experiences with paranormal activity around the city. She didn’t ask; he volunteered this information. (Bonus!)

What have you researched in the field lately? Any surprises?

Researching The Impossible

Let's face it, researching in person isn't always possible for a myriad of reasons. I don't know about you, but the vast bulk of my research is done via the internet and books. It's amazing what you can find on the internet -- not just facts and figures, but so many amazing things that you and I might never get the chance to experience in person. For instance, take a look at this (be sure to click on the image and move it around--in particular look at the ceiling). Tell me you didn't just imagine yourself as the pilot or commander of the shuttle with an emergency and having to remember which switch to flick. (o-kay, just me then...)

This is all well and good, but what do you do when you need to research something that doesn't exist? Anyone writing paranormal, fantasy, or science fiction understands what I'm talking about. Although, if you're writing hard SF you're probably trying to extrapolate as much as you can from what's considered possible in science today (and good luck with not driving yourself crazy with that).

I'm currently writing steampunk romance and my story has an emphasis on fantasy rather than science (though that's in there, too). How do you research ray guns and aether and clockwork familiars? Well...you don't. You can't. Contrary to what I'd really like to believe, they don't exist.

What you can do is research technology that you plan to use that does exist, along with just about any other topic that might be useful. Look, In the last few months I've read more than I should probably admit about a lot of topics: airships, European royal families since the 1600s, history of ferries, steam engines, physics, electricity, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Caroline Herschel, comets, Queen Victoria, and the nature of invention, just to name a few.

Mostly I needed to know what is (or what was) in order to figure out what I wanted to change for the alternate history of my story world. Turns out I changed a lot of things. I still think it was easier to create my story world this way than to build a world out of whole cloth, but your mileage may vary.

That can only go so far, though. What about all those gadgets and widgets and clockwork devices? What about the magic? This, quite frankly is where I step off the Research Bus into terra incognita and, ahem, Make Stuff Up. There are rules to how magic and technology work in my alternate world and I try to make sure that the Stuff I Make Up doesn't violate those rules. So long as there's internal consistency, I'm good.

So there you have it -- I research the impossible by Making Stuff Up! There are days, though, when I really, really wish that ray gun actually worked...

Targeted Research Equals Productivity Gold

Current Project: Requested Proposals
Status: Inching Along

I’ve learned many things the hard way about writing, including this little gem of wisdom: targeted research is worth its weight in productivity gold when done in the pre-writing stage. Don’t make assumptions about anything that is pivotal to plot or character, because laziness in this regard will come back to bite you in the metaphorical ass.

The hero of my first novel is the new police chief in a very small Iowa town. The heroine is a girl he grew up with who has been framed for murder. I originally had a scene where the hero catches the heroine breaking and entering, but he’s already fallen for her and he doesn’t arrest her. After all, he’s a small town police chief. He has more discretion than a big city police chief, right?

Wrong. Before revising my first draft, one of the things I did was to read Deb Dixon’s book, When You’re the Only Cop in Town. I also read the brilliant and detailed police procedurals Eleven Days and Known Suspects by ex-Iowa-small-town deputy sheriff Donald Harstad. I learned that small town cops, at least the ones in charge, may exercise discretion more often than their big city counterparts. However, no honest police chief will stretch the law for his own benefit, which is pretty much what my character did in Draft 1.

End result? Much revising and rewriting that could have been avoided.

What about you? Has there been a time when targeted research before your first draft would have saved you a lot of time and effort? 

Witnessing the End of an Era

I had the opportunity last week to do some research in person and I'd like to share my experience with you.

I've just returned from Florida where I was fortunate to witness an historic event--the launch of STS-135 Atlantis, the last Space Shuttle launch, on July 8th. It was also personal, because my cousin Rex is one of the mission specialists. This is his third time in space, but it's the first time my husband and I have been able to be there with the rest of the family to watch the launch.

As a guest of one of the astronauts, we watched the launch from the causeway about six to seven miles from the Shuttle (just us and around 20,000 of the four astronauts' closest family and friends). It's funny, though, it didn't feel at all crowded where we were and we really were fortunate to be so close.

The day before, all the weathermen predicted the launch would be postponed. The local news people were all doom and gloom, saying there was a 70% chance of scrubbing due to thunderstorms coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. A couple of hard downpours with scary lightning on Thursday made those predictions seem very likely. Still, we got up at 4:30 in the morning full of hope and headed for the Kennedy Space Center.

We needed to arrive by 7:00 am and though we were only about 16 miles away we only made it with 15 minutes to spare. Traffic crawled along the Nasa Parkway until we reached the security checkpoint. We had a special parking placard and were allowed to continue on; those who didn't have the placard were turned away. A lot of cars were turned away.

It was a day of lines and waiting. First the traffic, then standing in line at KSC for a security check, then standing in line for the buses, and finally, waiting (and napping) on the causeway to either see the launch or hear that we'd have to do it all over again on Sunday. Still, I doubt there was a single person there who wouldn't have gladly returned on Sunday if that's what it took to see the launch--including me.

The day was nothing like the weather people forecasted. There was some overcast, but it broke up fairly early into blue sky and clouds. The thunderstorms never materialized and the temperature stayed in the low 80s (they'd predicted 90+ degrees). Hope--and anticipation--grew with each moment that passed.

I should mention the safety warnings. We were told these after we were on the bus heading out to the causeway. I guess they didn't want to scare us away--not that it would have. LOL! In case of lightning, or something happening to the shuttle, or the unlikely event the winds shifted and blew the toxic rocket exhaust our way before it dissipated, we were to take shelter in our bus. Oh, yeah, we weren't supposed to pass the yellow ropes and walk the three or so feet to the water because of the alligators. I wanted to ask what we were supposed to do if the alligators decided to take a stroll our way, but I figured I'd just head for the bus if that happened. ;-)

Finally, all of the safety and weather checks and pre-launch procedures were completed successfully and the final countdown started. I'd seen video of other launches and I thought I was prepared for what was going to happen. I couldn't have been more wrong. The moment we saw the smoke and the NASA commentator said, "We have liftoff!", I was overwhelmed with unexpected emotion. As the Shuttle climbed into the sky on top of that incredible flame, the sound finally hit us from across the water and it really was like being buffetted by a physical force. I had tears in my eyes as I watched that amazing vehicle disappear into the clouds and when I looked at the people around me I realized I wasn't the only one.

I can't believe this is the last time the Shuttle will go into space. Yes, the technology is old, but it's been around for 30 years. No, wait, what I really can't believe is that the Shuttle is being retired before we have a viable replacement. Can you say short sighted? I knew you could.

As for the astronauts, there's still a mission and a landing to complete. So please hold them in your thoughts until they return safely to Earth. Godspeed, Atlantis!

My Favorite Topic- Research

Current Project: A little of everything
Status: Staying Sane

Research is my favorite thing about writing, and ultimately, the part that slows down the process the most. Like now. I'm waiting to get more information about logging in a particular area so I can begin the final plotting(yes, even though I'm a seat of the pants writer I need to know how the historical information will figure into the story and either use the knowledge for character development, plot, or just historical accuracy.

I have a good friend who has been with me on my journey to getting published. She isn't a writer but an avid reader. When we go out to lunch (usually once a month) she asks me about the book I'm working on and when I start discussing the research I'm doing or need, she always comments, "I love how your books convey all the information you dig up without me even knowing it."

That is the comment I like to hear. If I can condense my hours of research down into my book to where it enhances without pulling the reader out I'm a happy novelist!

And I explore all avenues I can think of. My heroine in the next book is Norwegian so I am ready a book on Norwegian folktales. You never know when something in there will jump out and say I need a spot in your book. I did that with the Nez Perce myth and legends. Including a little bit of a legend in each of the books.

Since this next book is about logging, I'm going to try and highlight little known things about loggers into the story rather than the usual knowledge or myths that most people think of about loggers.

How about you...Do you read for pure entertainment or do you like to finish a book and have been entertained and learned something new?

www.patyjager.net

World-Building, Like Toppling Dominoes

This post is a bit of a meander, I know and I apologize. It's kind of like what happens when I research. Going off on a tangent? Who, me?

Writing alternate history is a lot like starting with one of those huge arrangements where dominoes are set up to topple and knock one another down to create a design and then you take a handful of tiles and move them. And you realize that in order for the moved tiles to knock others over, you have to keep moving tiles. Sometimes you can leave tiles in their original position, but most you have to change. Eventually you end up with an entirely different design using the same tiles.

The first glimmer of my current project came about when out of the blue one day I wondered what would the world be like if Queen Victoria hadn't lived to be 82 (domino #1) and what if she hadn't married Prince Albert (domino #2)? Writing any kind of historical fiction—even alternate universe historicals—requires a certain amount of research and it's funny where that research can take you. Because you can't just change one or two things in history (Victoria and Albert) and expect everything else to happen the way it did in our world. So I kept researching and making more changes until I felt I'd done enough to allow for the end result I wanted.

By the time I was done I had a three-day headache, a completely different set of British monarchs starting with William and Mary in the mid-1600s, and a North America and Europe—heck, an entire world—that looked nothing politically like our world looked in 1920. That's a whole lot of dominoes to move!

Let's switch gears slightly and play a little game. Off the top of your head, do you know the difference between a Zeppelin, a blimp, and a dirigible? How about when the first known submersible was built, or the first military submarine? No? Well, I didn't either before all this research. Don't worry—I'll give you the answers at the end of this post.

What do Zeppelins and submersibles have to do with anything? Well, I knew I wanted fantastic devices and Zeppelins or dirigibles or blimps (and aren't they all the same?) in my world. I wanted to get the details right, or at least understand the basics so I'd know where I wanted to change things. And let me tell you, keeping track of the changes is no picnic, either. There are times when I'm so immersed in the world I'm creating that I have to stop and remind myself which history really happened and which is made up.

Do you ever get so involved in the world you're creating, or even a world of someone else's creation while reading a book, that it seems a bit more real than reality? (hmmm...maybe I shouldn't admit that...)

Oh, yeah, the answers. :-)

Well, Zeppelins, blimps and dirigibles are all forms of airships. The differences are: Zeppelins are rigid airships with full skeletons (originally pioneered by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin). Blimps are small airships without internal skeletons. Dirigible is simply another name for airship (or "lighter-than-air" aircraft). Therefore, all Zeppelins and Blimps are Dirigibles.

The first recognized submersible was built in 1620 in England. The first military submarine was the Turtle built in 1775 and used in the American Revolutionary War by the Continental Army. Imagine that!