Blogs to Help Enhance your Work by Katy Lee

Writing fiction is more than getting your character from point A to point B. Your character needs to experience the world and everything in it just as we do in our everyday lives. Our days are filled with intrusions like weather and sickness, but there are also things in the world that have the ability to cultivate us like the arts and architecture around us…most times when we’re not even looking for it.

Now I could spend a lifetime reading and studying the things in our world just so I can write them into my stories, but if I did I’d never get anything written. As much as I would love to spend my days at the library, or better yet, traveling the world to experience everything in it, it’s just not possible. But I also can’t neglect the fact that these things exist in my life and in the lives of my characters. So what do I do?

Well, while I wait for my cruise tickets to come in the mail, I have found a group of blogs that offer little tidbits of information a little at a time. Ideas and information that I can file away to use in moments where my stories are flat and are in need of some excitement or detail.

So today I wanted to share some of these go-to blogs that help enhance my work. I hope there is something in here for you, too!

1)      http://www.redwoodsmedicaledge.com/

The Redwood’s Medical Edge Blog is medical facts for your fiction. Jordyn Redwood, a nurse by day, author by night, designed her site to help both historical and contemporary authors learn methods to write medically accurate fiction. She fields medical questions from followers, analyzes medical scenes, and posts on topics that can increase the tension and conflict in any story. No one person can be an expert in all things so she also hosts medical experts in other areas: EMS and obstetrics to name a few. Historical authors who have done research in a particular medical area such as civil war medicine are also featured. You want to know the protocol of an accident with injuries, or an illness a baby could have but go undetected? Jordyn is your woman.

2)      http://gailingis.com/wordpress/

Gail Ingis is known as a “Renaissance Woman” for her varied accomplishments. She is a professor of history of architecture & interior design, photographer, artist juror, writer, design critic, and founder of the nationally accredited Interior Design Institute. On any given day, her blog can be about how lighting affects a room, drinking coffee in a café in Portugal, or a description of a Victorian era chair. You never know when your character might need to sit in one. Whatever the topic may be, Gail’s information can bring a flare for the exotic into your stories.

3)      http://www.dailywritingtips.com/

Not just for writers. Whether you are an attorney, manager or student, writing skills are essential to your success. The rise of the information age – with the proliferation of e-mails, blogs and social networks – makes the ability to write clear, correct English more important than ever. (See my blog from last week about good writing here.) Daily Writing Tips is about that. Every day they send out a grammar, spelling, punctuation or vocabulary tip. And we can all use extra tips.

4)      http://www.romancingthepalate.com/

Finding a passion for food in every love story is R.L. Syme’s motto for her blog. I took a food class with Rebecca Lynn last year and she helped me learn how to use food like another character in my stories. She brought life to cooking and eating and encouraged us to incorporate the feelings we experienced into our books, so our readers could feel them, too.  *This blog is in the process of being changed, so not much is going on there these days. I’m looking forward to her updated site soon.

Until then, I recently found this one and it has the same premise:

5)      http://platedromance.wordpress.com/

Romance on the Plate: Taste the Emotions…Feel the Food. Here is a quote from the site to show how food helps to bring your character to life:

“He could not control his curiosity; he could smell the delicious aroma of caramelizing onions wafting from the copper vessel that was fired up on the stove. He stood upon a chair in the kitchen and watched as his mother evoked the magic of food……”

I feel like I am standing on that chair and inhaling right along with the child. Which is what we want to do for our readers, so they can get a taste, too.

The Unlocked Secret: Experience is key, but if you can’t experience it yourself, find a source that has. It will make your writing authentic. Check these sites out for ways to enhance your writing. If not these, I’m sure you can search for sites that meet your genre and style.

Question: Do you have a go-to blog or website for expertise or vicarious experience? Please share in the comments below.

And as always, thank you for your Tweets and Shares.

Where Do You Get Your Story Ideas? Alison Stone Wants to Know

As writers, that has to be one of the biggest questions we get. Ah, I hate to sound cliché, but ideas are everywhere.

 
For my book Random Acts, I read an article about a young girl who had been pulled over for speeding. The police took her into the station and bullied her into signing an agreement to be a drug informant. A drug informant! This college student had never been involved with drugs. But in exchange for leniency for her speeding ticket, she was pressured to be an informant. Fortunately for her, her father was a lawyer. He not only went to the police, but to the media.

 
I then searched the Internet and learned this wasn’t an isolated incident. In 2008, a woman in Florida was killed when she was forced to purchase drugs undercover after being caught with a small amount of cannabis.

By now, my wheels were turning.

For my second book, Too Close to Home, I used an idea that had been bouncing around in my head for years—longer than I had been writing. I used to be a manufacturing engineer for an automotive parts supplier. As a twenty-some-year-old female engineer, I was well aware the guys on the floor liked to yank my chain. One guy told me that once someone drowned in one of the large tanks used in the manufacturing process. He claimed he was murdered in retaliation for a drug deal gone bad. I have no idea if “his” story was true or not, but in my story,Too Close to Home, drugs are smuggled through a manufacturing facility and into Canada.

 
Ideas can also be generated by thinking, “What if.” When I learned Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense was looking for more Amish stories, I started brainstorming. The Amish generally shun technology. How could technology wreak havoc in their Plain world? Then it hit me: What if a plane crashed in an Amish field? What if the heroine’s brother was killed in a single-engine plane crash in an Amish field and she has to go there to claim his body? What if while she’s there, the FBI hero starts asking a lot of questions?

This idea became Plain Pursuit which will be released by Harlequin in June 2013.

Here’s the blurb: When her brother is killed in a small Amish town, Anna Quinn discovers she’s an unwelcome outsider. But the FBI agent investigating the case is right at home–because Eli Miller was born and raised in Apple Creek’s Plain community. Eli left his Amish faith behind long ago, but his heart is rooted in a local cold case he can’t forget–a mystery with strange connections to Anna’s loss. Desperate to uncover the truth, Anna and Eli are faced with stony silences and secrets…secrets that someone wants to keep buried in the past.

 
It’s fun to see an idea grow into a book, then be summarized in a few-sentence blurb.
Once I was outside chatting with neighbors and one of them stopped, looked at me and said (in all sincerity), “This isn’t going to appear in a book, is it?”
I smiled and said nothing. I don’t make promises I can’t keep.

 
So tell me, If you’re a writer, where do you get your ideas?

Also, Random Acts, originally released in eBook format, is now available in print.

Blurb:Bitter experience left Danielle hesitant to open her heart. When a family crisis brings her home, the hard-nosed attorney is forced to face the man that let her get away. And that her sister’s accident was staged to mask a beating.
Though Patrick guards his heart, seeing Danielle again reignites their old flame. But no way will he bring her into his daughter’s life, not when her values on faith and family are so different from his own. Yet they must work together to bring a criminal to justice before everything is destroyed—including their second chance at forever.

Links for Random Acts:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Random-Acts-ebook/dp/B00795G1X4/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1362254466&sr=8-2
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/random-acts-alison-stone/1108890294?ean=9781609289386

ALISON STONE writes romantic suspense for Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense and Samhain Publishing. Her debut novel, Random Acts, was a finalist for the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award in the unpublished inspirational category. Alison lives in Western New York with her husband of over twenty years and their four children where the summers are absolutely gorgeous and the winters are perfect for curling up with a good book—or writing one. Besides writing, Alison keeps busy volunteering at her children’s schools, driving her girls to dance, and watching her boys race motocross.
Website:www.AlisonStone.com.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alison_Stone or @Alison_Stone
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonStoneAuthor
Blog: http://alisonstone.wordpress.com/

Let Your Geek Flag Fly

Hi, all. Suze here, wishing you a lovely day.

This past weekend, Mr. Suze and I attended a two-day event in New Hampshire. Our son, the Crown Prince of Hardydom, is a member of his school’s FIRST Robotics team and this was his first competition. FIRST is an organization founded by Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway as well as numerous medical devices–and he’s also king of his own island nation, the Kingdom of North Dumpling). Teams from across the country work with local mentors on a predetermined challenge: build a robot to accomplish specific tasks. This year the robot needs to be able to shoot disks (frisbees) into a goal as well as climb a pyramid in order to score points. Click here to see the robots in action.

As I watched the competition from the stands, I couldn’t help noticing that there were a lot of, well, geeks in that arena. Proud geeks. Intelligent geeks. Geeks wearing capes and tights and labcoats and team tee shirts–working hard and having a heck of a lot of fun. And it got me thinking. We each have our own particular brand of geekness, don’t we?

Me, I’m a history nerd. If it happened a couple thousand years ago and we’re digging it up now, I’m hooked. Add an element of DNA or skeletal analysis and associated artifacts, and you can forget about dinner and clean clothes, because I’ll be parked in front of the computer or television screen sucking up factoids. I’m also fascinated by stuff like ancient languages and their relationship to modern tongues, and what they tell us about our ancestors’ migration/settlement patterns. I’m that girl who rubbernecks, nearly causing accidents, every time she drives past a house with one of those signs nailed to the front telling who built the place and in what year. If I miss it, sometimes I’ll turn around and go back and look. Later, I may Google the name and date to see if there’s any more information available. If I possibly can, I stop to read historical markers on the side of the road. I was captain of my school’s history bowl (trivia) team–2-time New York State champions!

So I totally get what these robot-building kids are about. And I applaud them!

Say it loud. I’m a nerd and I’m proud.

What about you? Are you ready to let your geek flag fly here at the Scribes? I’d love to hear what geeky interest keeps you away from your chores–Cryptozoology? Comics/graphic novels? Computers and technology? Experimental horticulture? Eighteenth century poetry written by nuns? Free yourself and admit it here! Inquiring Scribes want to know.

Docendo Discimus: We Learn by Teaching by Katy Lee

Salve, it’s me, Katy Lee, and today I’m practicing my Latin on you. My kids think it’s only fair if they have to learn it, then so should I. But I have to say even if they didn’t, I wouldn’t be a good teacher for them if I didn’t learn right along beside them. How would I inspire them when they struggled? How could I help them if I, myself didn’t understand? The truth is I couldn’t.

Home educating my children was not something I entered into lightly. I knew it would be a commitment that would stake claim to the nume unus place in my life. Their education isn’t something to let slide like the laundry. They are depending on me for their preparation into the world. They are counting on me for the knowledge needed to make good decisions in regards to their lives.

So…Quo vadis? Where am I going with this? What would happen if I provided them with untruths? Facts made up because I was too lazy to do the research.

I might be able to get away with it for a little while, but honestly, my daughter would take so much delight in proving me wrong that in the end I would be the one with ovum on my face. (That’s an egg, BTW) And I know she’s not the only one. This world is full of people itching to catch someone in an untruth.

As writers we cannot be caught flubbing it. (Sorry, I couldn’t find the Latin word for flubbing) The fact is we need to do the research. We need to take our commitment in teaching the reader seriously. Because isn’t that what a writer is? A magister, or magistra in my feminine case?

Writers are teachers. Whether your main character in your story is a medical examiner or a horse trainer, whether your story carries a moral or aims only to entertain you still have research to do for your reader to get a full understanding. For your reader to learn something. And I can guarantee there will be at least one reader out there itching to catch you in a flub.

Now, I’m not saying you have to be an expert on something before you can write about it. But you have to be willing to invest the time needed to become the go-to person on a particular subject. That means shadowing a professional or interviewing experienced people in your field of interest. Get it from the horse’s mouth. (equus for all you Latin lovers.) The internet is great, and you can get a wealth of knowledge from it, but firsthand experience will be best if you can find it. No one can catch you in a flub if it’s the truth.

The Unlocked Secret: Vincit omnia veritas. Truth conquers all. When your work is backed by truth, you are golden. And not only that, but you, yourself, will be smarter for it because if you can teach it, you know you’ve learned it.

Question: What are your favorite ways to get your facts straight? Who have you had the pleasure of interviewing, and what did you learn?

Voila tout! That’s all!

The Bucket List

Hey, peeps. Suze here. There’s been an delay with my interview with Ghost Photographer Julie Griffin, but we’ll get her here soon.So, today I thought I’d talk a bit about the Bucket List. Even if you never saw the movie that came out a few years ago, I’ll bet you know what a Bucket List is: it’s those accomplishments and experiences you want–need–to have before you die, the things you can’t let go of and have always wanted to do.

Here are a few things on my Bucket List:

1. Ride in a limousine. True story: I’ve never ridden in a limo! I have three sisters and a brother, but they all had small-town weddings (back then, I don’t think there even was limo service within 40 miles or so). Mr. Suze and I had a lock-and-load-type wedding at a hotel. We got married on the waterfront gazebo, and had the reception right there.

When I told my mom and sisters about this wish at Thanksgiving, we came up with the idea of renting a limo (now available even in that little boondocks town up north!) and riding around to look at Christmas lights. So I’ll be able to cross this one off in about a month. Go Suze!

2. See the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Nope, I’ve never seen the show and I’ve always wanted to. This one is very doable, since it’s only a day trip away. And yet I’ve never managed to get there. Anyone up for a visit to the Big Apple with me?

3. Solve the last of the family mysteries that have plagued me since I was a kid. I’ve already cracked a couple of these to my satisfaction: Was my great great grandfather a Native American? I’m now almost certain he was not. My great grandfather either believed, or was told, or made up, that his mother had an affair with a Native American and that they both ran off, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother. That’s a nice, romantic way to explain one’s illegitimacy! But it’s also a big fat lie. My research leads quite strongly to the conclusion that great great grandma was a servant in the household of a prosperous shopkeeper and that great granddad was the product of a little intra-household, upstairs-downstairs nookie. GGGram did run off and leave the baby with her mother; that much of the story is true anyway.

Another family mystery I’ve solved is that I was finally, after literally years of research, able to obtain a copy of an archaeological dig report on some family land, confirming (and also disproving) some things my grandfather told me.

But the one that eludes me: Locating a family heirloom (an 18th century ceremonial walking stick with a whale-tooth handle inscribed to Joseph Bartlett), which was allegedly stolen by my great-uncle to spite my grandfather. It may have been given to a museum. I don’t expect to get the thing back; I just want to see it and photograph it. I think I’m just going to have to contact every museum in New York State. Will get right on that!

4. Run a 5K. Notice I said “run.” I could easily walk a 5K, do it quite frequently, as a matter of fact. But I’ve never enjoyed running. And yet, this one nags at me. Therefore, 2013 is the year of the 5K for Suze. Or maybe 2014. Definitely soon, though!

How about you? What’s on your Bucket List? How many things could you do in the next year? I’d love to hear all about it!

Dudley Do-Right and Miss Goody Two-Shoes

Katy Lee here. Last week I spoke about the annoyingly flawed Drama Queen—the character a reader wants nothing more than to reach their hands into the book and shake the tiara right off their perfectly coiffed head.

But what about the other character extreme? The protagonist who does everything right, makes perfect choices, and has no faults or weaknesses.

YUCK! Talk about a downer.

Instead of escaping into a fun and uplifting experience from our everyday lives, we get a character that makes us feel guilty for not measuring up. They can even make us feel unhappy with our lives and choices. The reader needs to see at least a bit of themselves in the character if they are going to relate to them or their plight.

Heroes who are sweet and gentle, with loads of money, and who put the men in GQ to shame sound great, but without a wounded soul, or a vendetta to rectify, or a shady past that comes to light—and trips them up, they are unrealistic. Their inability to make mistakes makes them a flat and boring cliché.

And he may be your hero, but he’s playing the role as villain and destroying your story.

I understand readers want to escape and want to read about good, strong characters that are witty and beautiful, but there also needs to be an element of realism—a depth and dimension that shows the characters hopes, dreams, and desires, as well as their doubts, faults, and weaknesses.

Characters that never do wrong and never say the wrong thing, offer no progression to your story. If they don’t fail, then they don’t grow, and the story really isn’t a story.

But more than that, if we don’t see them fail, then we don’t really know the kind of person they are, and can’t relate to them or learn from them.

The Unlocked Secret: We are defined not by our failures, but by how we handle our failures. That goes the same for our characters. When a reader witnesses the character failing, but then getting up, dusting off, and trying again, then the uplifting experience they picked the book up for in the first place is successfully delivered—and you’ve got yourself a realistic and relatable story.

WIND OVER MARSHDALE is blowing your way! Welcome Tracy Krauss

Katy Lee here with my fellow John 3:16 Author Network member and fellow Romantic-Suspense author, Tracy Krauss. Tracy has a new book out that just screams, “Read me!” Whenever I find a book or author that I enjoy, I like to share the find with you. So today, I have invited Tracy Krauss to tell us a little bit about herself. Sit back and relax and grab a mini buffalo burger to celebrate her latest release, WIND OVER MARSHDALE

Tell us, Tracy, how do you battle the doubt monster?  We define the Doubt Monster as: the nagging feeling while writing, that your prose is terrible, you plot is silly, your characters are insipid and no-one in their right mind would read this drivel, let alone buy it.

I ignore this beast. I’ve found that editors are a wonderful substitute.

Ha-Ha! They are a beast all their own, for sure. But we need them. And talk about a beast …these burgers are great! And apparently good for you.

So, have you thought about writing something that is completely different for you?  Perhaps writing in a new genre or just taking a story someplace that you haven’t done before.

Sure. I am a huge Science fiction fan and I’ve often thought about writing something more speculative since it is my favourite genre to read. I’m not sure if I’m imaginative enough or have enough technological savvy to pull it off, though. Maybe because I love reading it so much, I feel as if I couldn’t do the genre justice… Besides romantic suspense novels, I do write comedy stage plays, so I suppose I’m already stretching myself in two very different directions as it is.

Comedy stage plays? Wow! Talk about pressure to be funny! That’s great that you have the gift to make people laugh.

But what would you do if you couldn’t be a writer any longer?

I’ve already had a taste of what this is like. A few years ago I underwent eye surgery for a congenital eye disorder and I was blind for about two months with another three months recovering where I couldn’t read anything or use a computer. Once I was able, I installed a disability app which allowed me to view things in a huge format – about three words per screen, but I found this too difficult, so I just didn’t write for five months. If this ever happened again, I would get ‘dragonspeak’ or some kind of voice activated software. It was just too hard.

I’ve heard great things about the voice software. Glad you are healed, though.

They say that every author has a partially completed, quite-possibly-terrible half a story shoved in a drawer somewhere.  What is yours?  What is it about?  What makes it terrible?  Would you ever consider picking it up and finishing it?

I don’t know if it’s terrible, but I just lost interest in it. It’s called ‘Spirit’s Call’ and it’s about a modern native woman who is grappling with her identity, including her interest in native spirituality. I actually used some of the same themes in my latest release WIND OVER MARSHDALE, so I’m not sure I want to write another story about this. If I ever feel fresh inspiration to finish it, I might, but right now I’ve got too many other things on the go that actually interest me.

It’s hard to keep that interest up to keep going. You definitely have to care about the story or your lack of caring will come through on the page. I think that would be worse than forcing the book just to get it done. So good for you for recognizing that.

How do you come up with your shtick?   By shtick I mean your voice. That thing that identifies the story as belonging to only you …something that says these are the type of stories that are your brand.

I think it’s what some people call ‘edgy Christian’ or ‘edgy inspirational’. My work definitely has a redemptive slant, and I write from a Christian worldview, but I don’t shy away from topics that some might consider taboo. I write what I think is relevant in today’s post-modern society.  As well, I certainly do not want my characters to come across as wishy-washy. You know the kind – Mr. or Miss Perfect.  I prefer what I call ‘authentic’ characters that make mistakes; that sometimes think lustful thoughts; that don’t always pray or do the right thing. This to me is much more believable. It’s honest. This isn’t always easy to pitch to typical Christian markets. I have found that there is a market for this type of writing, though, and it is growing.

And I love that the market for this kind of inspirational is growing. I think more people will give a Christian book a try if they can relate to it.

Now, what’s the most dangerous or risky thing that you’ve done?

You must be kidding. I have actually done way too many dangerous and risky things, but not by choice. I am naturally rather passive. I prefer sitting on the couch. Really. However, God in His sense of humour put me with a man who loves adventure – and unfortunately for me I often get dragged along. Let’s see … stranded on the tundra in a polar bear denning area for the night; chased by a stampeding herd of wild buffalo – on foot; caught in ten foot waves out of sight of land in sub-zero water in a tiny aluminum boat with no life jacket; canoe nearly tipped over by whales – again no life jacket… I always tease him that someday I’m going to write a book called ‘Life With Gerald’, and believe me, it might not be pretty! We’ve moved umpteen times in our married life, many of the places north of the 60^th parallel in the far north. (Not some namby-pamby idea of ‘north’ – I’m talking the real deal, as in ARCTIC!) It has given me lots of fodder for writing and it has made me very resilient.

Yowza! You COULD write a book, even if it is a book filled with little research tidbits for us writers who are too afraid to “go there” for their books.

And speaking of writing a book … Tell us about your latest book!  

WIND OVER MARSHDALE is my fourth novel and the first that I’ve published with Astraea Press. My other three novels, AND THE BEAT GOES ON, MY MOTHER THE MAN-EATER, and PLAY IT AGAIN, were all published by Strategic Book Publishing. I enjoyed working with SBP, but my agent found a contract for this latest book with Astraea and I have had a very good experience with them so far. WIND OVER MARSHDALE is about a small prairie town that looks peaceful and quaint on the outside, but underneath there are all kind of issues, especially with racism, sexual promiscuity, and the occult. Thomas Lone Wolf is a Cree man on a mission to build a heritage site near the town based on some ancient archaeological evidence. He and his children aren’t prepared for the level of prejudice they begin to face. Rachel Bosworth is the new Kindergarten teacher, fresh from the big city and running away from a hurtful past. Con McKinley is a local farmer, who also happens to be single and good looking. A love triangle of sorts develops, with the two men unwitting participants. As well, eccentric twin sisters bombard the town; one with her legalistic religious views and the other as a practicing witch. The local pastor has little effect trying to keep his parishioners in line since he is involved in some unsavoury business of his own. The lives of these and many other unusual characters weave together into a surprising climax.  Beneath it all is a thread linking everyone’s problems to the spirit realm; an ancient curse from the past that must be dealt with once and for all.

Like I said, it just screams, “Read me!”

Tracy, tell our readers how they can find you after today?

Website: http://www.tracykrauss.com

Blog: http://www.tracykraussexpressionexpress.com

FB: http://tinyurl.com/Tracy-Krauss-Author-Fanpage

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TracyKrausswrtr

Amazon: http://www.kraussamazon.com

Purchase links:

Publisher : Astraea press http://astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=12328252

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Wind-Over-Marshdale-ebook/dp/B008ARYQPA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339803471&sr=8-1&keywords=wind+over+marshdale

Barnes and Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wind-over-marshdale-tracy-krauss/1111512160?ean=2940014767682

Marshdale. Just a small farming community where nothing special happens.  A perfect place to start over… or get lost. There is definitely more to this prairie town than meets the eye. Once the meeting place of aboriginal tribes for miles around, some say the land itself was cursed because of the people’s sin. But its history goes farther back than even indigenous oral history can trace and there is still a direct descendant who has been handed the truth, like it or not. Exactly what ties does the land have to the medicine of the ancients? Is it cursed, or is it all superstition?

Wind Over Marshdale is the story of the struggles within a small prairie town when hidden evil and ancient medicine resurface. Caught in the crossfire, new teacher Rachel Bosworth finds herself in love with two men at once. First, there is Thomas Lone Wolf, a Cree man whose blood lines run back to the days of ancient medicine but who has chosen to live as a Christian and faces prejudice from every side as he tries to expose the truth. Then there is Con McKinley, local farmer who has to face some demons of his own. Add to the mix a wayward minister seeking anonymity in the obscurity of the town; eccentric twin sisters – one heavily involved in the occult and the other a fundamentalist zealot; and a host of other ‘characters’ whose lives weave together unexpectedly for the final climax. This suspenseful story is one of human frailty – prejudice, cowardice, jealousy, and greed – magnified by powerful spiritual forces that have remained hidden for centuries, only to be broken in triumph by grace.

Link to an excerpt: http://tracykrauss.yolasite.com/wind-over-marshdale-first-chapters.php

QUESTION: Readers, Tracy is here today to answer any of your questions and comments. So give her some love! And how were your burgers????

Sex and Zero-G

Happy Friday everyone! Casey here!

One of fun parts of writing is research. Normally, I don’t do very much research other than getting a feel for a geographic location (thank you, Google Earth) or learning more about a specific process (tattooing) or a particular bit of history (like naming conventions for Chinese males).

I love history and learning about new cultures, places or people. But when it comes to writing, I tend to steer clear, otherwise I would never finish anything. And I don’t want to be overwhelmed with too many facts or details.

However, when the subject was vampires in space or more specifically, the undead on Mars, I couldn’t wait to dig in. In a few short weeks, my next book, The Undead Space Initiative is coming out. Before I wrote the book, I did some research on space travel and conditions on Mars. I visited NASA‘s website and Google Mars (yes, can you believe it? There is a such a thing!)

Aside from a lifetime’s worth of experience reading Sci-Fi novels, I also turned to a book byMary Roach – Packing for Mars. I had a blast reading this book.

I learned many fun and fascinating facts such as:

• NASA hired veterinarians to create the first meals for astronauts (and how they couldn’t understand why people didn’t want to eat food shaped like kibble).
• There are studies out there, where you can be paid to not leave bed for a year at a time (literally – you can’t get off the bed – you must sleep, eat and do everything else in the bed). The purpose of this is to understand the long-term effects of zero-G.
• A great deal of scientific know how and design went into making an actual toilet in space. The book goes into ridiculous detail so I will spare you.
• Japanese astronauts are locked into small rooms with each and made to fold paper cranes for hours on end (to study personality and other behavioral dynamics).

There is so much more, but you’ll have to read it yourself to find out the rest.

Now, in case you’re wondering, and because I did bring it up in the title of this blog – can you have sex in space?

The books touches on the subject with a bit of thinly veiled frustration. While there have been no officially documented studies sanctioned by any space faring government, there are plenty of rumors in the space community, that it is possible. I came up with my own conclusions for purposes of storytelling.

So, what does any of this research have to do with my book?

Everything and nothing.

I’m a big believer in verisimilitude or the appearance of reality. Ms. Roach’s book helped solidify my belief that the undead, like vampires, zombies and revenants would do very well in space and on Mars.Here’s why:

They are dead.

They don’t need to breathe, eat or use the toilet.

Their bodies can stand extreme temperatures and they won’t get cancer from gamma ray bursts.

Quite simply, they are perfect recruits for settling Mars.

And while it was fun to learn about space toilets, and kibble, none of those things appear in my book. None of my characters break out into spontaneous bouts of paper crane folding either.

I did use facts as best I could. Yes, there are clouds in the Martian sky, dust storms that last for days, and scientists believe there is water in the Martian permafrost. But there are plenty of other things in the book that are my own invention.

And no, I won’t say what they are! You’ll have to read the story to find out how vampires travel in space and learn to live on Mars.

While we’re on the subject of research and sex – if you have a moment – please stop by and visit my blog today - 60 Inches of Glory where I talk about one of my favorite tools for research (and get your mind out of the gutter!).

How much research do you like to do before writing? And how do you use those facts? Or does the thought of research cause you to break out in hives?

Nothing Like the Real Thing

Tuesday’s Scribe, PJ Sharon here. One of the things I love about my writing life is all of the fun new experiences I get to have while researching for my books. Last month, I took a day and drove the back roads to Albany so I could get a feel for the landscape, the drive time, and the city. I’d never been to Albany, but it made sense for my dystopian story to have the main trading hub in the Northeast be located there with the Hudson River and the Erie Canal being so accessible. I had used tools like Google Earth, Google Maps, the Chamber of Commerce for Albany, and Wikipedia, but nothing gave me as much of a visceral experience as really being there. I wanted to feel what my characters might feel, see what they would see, and go where they would go. I wanted to know what the Hudson smelled like and how depressed the economy was. Overall, It was a great experience. I even got to meet the lovely ladies in the Tourist Information Bureau who asked me to make sure to contact them when the book is finished so they can schedule a book signing on site.

Along the same lines, I’ve thought about taking a gun safety course for quite some time. I’d taken one many years ago and done my share of shooting when I was younger, but at the time, with children in my house, I decided I wasn’t willing to take the risk of owning any firearms, so I never got licensed. Now that my kids are long past the age of living at home, and I’m writing about hill folk who own guns, I thought it was a good time to revisit firearms training.  

When I first began writing fiction and I needed to know some details about guns and how to use them, I turned once again to the internet. I began studying types of handguns to determine what size and firepower would best suit my characters, what type of holster they might wear to conceal their weapon, and most importantly, what it would feel like to fire a pistol. Hundreds of YouTube videos later, I had the information I needed, but I was missing the most important parts of the experience. The tactile, visceral experience I vaguely remembered from my youth. The anticipation as you focus the front sight of your pistol on the target down range, the adrenaline rush as you begin to squeeze the trigger, and the sensation of power that kicks back as the gun discharges. Or even the pride you feel when you reel in your target and see how well you did. You can’t experience that sense of satisfaction from a YouTube video. Gun enthusiast or not, every writer who crafts stories about gun-toting heroes and heroines should try firing a handgun at least once…with supervision of course.

 In my effort to get some real hands on experience, my husband and I sat through a torturously steamy gun safety course this past weekend. That’s right, twenty-five people in a tiny room with no air conditioning for eight hours on a 96 degree day. Ick! It’s a miracle that the only shots fired were down range at the targets. Despite the less than comfortable conditions, I learned a lot about the law, (Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun laws in the country), and did quite a good job on both the written and practical exam, scoring 100% and making some nice tight groupings in the black on my target. Like any new skill though, I have a lot to learn, and since I plan to continue writing stories about kick butt heroes and heroines, I plan to continue my training. I’ll be taking the next level course in a few weeks and will be looking into getting certified as an NRA “Refuse to be a Victim” instructor where I’ll actually be able to teach courses in personal safety and crime prevention.  

Even though I started this new adventure as an adjunct to my research, I realized that I’m going to these lengths in part because I’m passionate about personal protection, but also because I believe that everyone should be informed and prepared. In case you missed my series on Self-Defense for Teens, Marian Lanouette has asked me to re-post it to her blog next week. Whether you are a fifteen-year-old girl or a fifty-year-old woman, it’s never too late to learn to defend yourself.

Aside from adding to my arsenal of personal experiences from which I can draw for my books, gun safety and personal protection have practical application that I hope never to have to use. But the reality is that there are dangers we all face every day. If I can be a part of making the world a safer place for women by training them to be prepared to protect themselves, I’m all in.

And in response to Jamie Pope’s post yesterday about the steamy hunks of the big and small screen, I went home after seeing Magic Mike and gave my hubby a big smooch and told him how much I appreciate him. Because when it comes down to loving our heroes, don’t you agree? There’s nothing like the real thing.

What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done in the name of research?

Falling Skies

Welcome to Tuesday’s Secrets of 7 Scribes. PJ, here. Have any of you seen the television series, FALLING SKIES?  Great cast, neat effects, and well written. It’s also research for my current WIP. This TNT sleeper series is a post-apocalyptic story of what happens after the world is invaded by aliens. Survivors band together in small militia groups and fight the invaders and their creepy multi-legged “Skitters” and hope to regain control of the world or will die trying.

The story follows one such group, made up of your average cross-section of Americans, including a former Army Captain (played by Will Patton), who the group has dubbed their leader, a woman doctor (played by the lovely and talented Moon Bloodgood—love that name), who can basically do field surgery under very unsterile conditions and not seem to worry about infection, and an ordinary history teacher, played by a handsome in a scruffy kind of “anti-Carter” way, Noah Wiley, who is the humble moral-compass of a hero for the show. Folks walk around armed, grubby, scavenging for food and supplies, and trying to protect their children from being taken over by the aliens who control them with a harness that is attached to their spinal columns, that if removed, will cause death…in most cases. One teen survives and is left with some extraordinary abilities, but we’re all waiting to see if the aliens will find a way to control him once again. If alien monsters aren’t enough, our survivors need to worry about enemies in their own camp. Have I piqued your interest?

I’m not usually a big fan of “aliens take over the Earth” type movies, but this one grabbed me last season and I anxiously awaited its return this summer. You see, I was already percolating the idea of writing a dystopian story. THE CHRONICLES OF LILY CARMICHAEL came to me all mapped out in trilogy form. I knew where book one began and ended, what would happen in book two, and how the saga would come together in book three. Writing a trilogy, let alone a dystopian, was a first for me, so I decided to do some research before diving in. After reading the Hunger Games, The Giver, How I Live Now, and a few other dystopian tales, I had an idea of what types of details I wanted to include. But I had trouble seeing the logistics of what a post-apocalyptic world might actually look like. FALLING SKIES has filled in some of those blanks for me. How people live with no electricity, how they work together to find and prepare food, and what the landscape might look like once no one is maintaining roads or neighborhoods. It’s amazing to think about how fast everything would be reclaimed by nature. My back yard is evidence of this if we don’t weed-whack for a while.

In addition to FALLING SKIES, I’ve taken to watching episodes of DOOMSDAY PREPPERS. I’m fascinated by all of the theories that people have regarding the fall of our society and what they plan to do about it. Whether financial collapse, natural disasters, or zombie apocalypse, some folks seem to be remarkably equipped. They have enough food and water stored up to last years. Most have weapons amassed. One woman was so touched by her husband’s gift of a massive shipping container that they planned to bury in their yard to store supplies, that she was brought to tears. These people are serious about surviving whatever future awaits them.

Perhaps it’s too much research, but the whole apocalypse thing is making me a bit squirrelly. Lily’s story will have elements of the doom and gloom that would likely be a part of a post-apocalyptic world, but there is an underlying hopefulness that our planet and our species can survive. Lily is a healer after all, and she is determined to share that gift with the world that she feels is worth saving. Me–I’m pretty much a “live in the moment” kind of girl, but I do like to be prepared. I used to tell my scout troop, “Expect the best, but prepare for the worst.” I’m not sure how that applies to an apocalyptic catastrophe, but I’m leaning toward “expecting the best.” On the “prepare for the worst” side, my research has me taking a gun safety course next weekend with my husband and making sure I have enough emergency supplies in my house, but if a plague hits, as is the case in my “dystopian world,” I hope Noah Wiley remembers his ER days and comes to my rescue.

How about you? Do you use television and movies to do your research? More importantly, are you prepared for the worst, or expecting the best?