When your muse takes you places you don’t expect, you learn not to be shy asking for help from people who have walked in the path of your characters. For Natural Law, I accosted police officers with questions like “How is it cops know another cop, even if they’re in street clothes? What things will they notice?†and “What is your organizational structure?â€, because police departments in different cities have different hierarchies.
I’ve called a Harley dealership and asked whether or not a woman could safely stretch out on a Harley in a reclining position without the bike toppling over. That was for the upcoming Controlled Response (in the Unlaced anthology), because that’s how Lucas first stumbles on Cassandra (the excerpt’s on my site, if you haven’t read it – :>).
My doctor friends have had to field questions such as “What happens when a bullet enters the body after passing through a bench cushion?†and “How does a collarbone break impact upper body movement?â€
I’ve plumbed fellow authors’ minds about the Tampa area and hospital admitting procedure (Ann Jacobs) and Australian dialect (Denise Rossetti). I’ve visited personal web logs of BASE jumpers to find out how it feels, in layman’s terms, to jump off a building for fun (eye rolling – to each his own!).
A Mermaid’s Kiss was kind of challenging, however, because I needed to think like a being who lives underwater. While I am very much a water person – boating, swimming, living near the ocean are all vital parts of my life – I knew I needed someone to look over the manuscript. So I was lucky enough to have a friend who is a big diver. When she looked over the sections where Anna and Jonah were underwater, she made that world more vibrant with suggestions for sea life, terrain, temperature and current pressure. Did you know that on moonlit nights, you can look up from underwater and see the stars and moon as clearly as you can on land? And that color disappears in the order of the color spectrum rainbow as you descend (past 30 feet, you don’t see red, for example).
However, she also caught body movement issues that are very land-dependent. “Stepped forwardâ€, “regain balanceâ€, “rose from the rock†etc are all things related to dry land that I had used without thinking. Without her help, my underwater scenes would have been far less realistic. Of course, next time, I think I’ll go with her on a diving trip in the Caribbean or something and try to spend as much time underwater to get the right feel – purely for research purposes, of course!
Now I’m seeking a fencing expert (or even an amateur) to look over some pages from A Vampire’s Claim, to make sure the fencing match I depict in there isn’t rife with embarrassing gaffes. What I REALLY wish is I had time to experience some of these things directly. I’d love to learn how to fence, but I definitely NEVER want to BASE jump (lol). However, that’s the excellent thing about our current technology age: YouTube, Googling, etc and 300 cable channels rife with documentary channels – you can do everything BUT experience the unfamiliar directly. But you do avoid some of the unpleasant side effects (like paralyzing fear – the BASE jumping; getting shot through a spanking bench – poor Mac of Natural Law)!
The interesting thing about incorporating this type of information is you don’t have to be heavy handed – in fact, it feels more natural if it’s just a detail here or there, because the ultimate goal is to transport the reader into that place or experience, and if you’re too heavy-handed, they’re going to feel like they’re in a classroom and you’re the professor up front, impressing everyone with the eight million pieces of trivia you’ve learned.
Do you have examples of books that put you in unusual places and professions in an effective way? Or ones that failed to do that and, if so, why do you think it wasn’t successful? Inaccuracy, too many factoids, etc?
It’s great to be blogging again. I’ll be more chatty in the future ones, but I had this subject on my mind today because of the fencing issue and thought I’d ramble… :>
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go anywhere/everywhere and be able to write it off as a business expense? lol
I know creditability is important, and if bungled, would/could kill an author’s chances, but have you ever read a book that got so deep into “side” stories I’d call them, they almost lost you? Course, I’m also a little dyslexic, so I do have to go over some things a couple of times before they sink in (and with some of these sex scenes, this can be such a chore – wink).
I can get into reading all sorts of fiction, but when I have to try to remember 12 levels of hierarchy or keep notes, I’m not sure I want to invest that much into it, you know? It needs to be believable, factual, but I’m not one to look things up to make sure the the author is right. I always assume that they know what they are writing is true. Guess I should I know what happens when you assume… right?
Let me reassure you though, no complaints with your stories, except for maybe the contraption that held Savannah suspended above the boardroom table in Board Resolution. Sometimes I wish for pictures…(grin)
Terry, do you think that says you’re more of a character-driven reader than plot-driven? If so, I’m the same way. I have to push myself to stick with the books that integrate complicated plot lines, hierarchies and a million characters. The only author I’ve found that pulls off the multiple-character issue beautifully is Stephen King. He’s character driven, and so manages to give you 6-10 people that you can care about, enough that the flipping between them isn’t bothersome. At least for me (grin).
As much as I love fantasy, I’ve never been a fan of the 800-page high fantasy tomes that focus on so many political intrigues that I can’t get a hold on who the characters are. However, if they give me a strong enough character, I will stick with it, but as you noted, it’s usually the type of book I read slowly, going back to it over time.
Of course, thankfully, that’s why there are many different types of readers for many different types of books. And yes, one of these days, I need to get an artist to draw me that contraption that Savannah was in, though I’ve seen similiar suspension methods done with rope on the fetish sites. I’ll have to find you a picture (lol). If it helps, I remember during the editing process, I got a little hung up in that description – started feeling like I was detailing how to tie a shoe to a blind person. There’s a push to convert certain titles to graphic novels now (aka Laurell K Hamilton) – can you just see some of my work done as a graphic novel? Wicked grin.
I love that you care so much about your writing that you do extensive research. I can appreciate the difficulty in finding experts for your mermaid and vampire characters. The closest you can get is a SCUBA diver and someone with hemophilia.
The Thursday Next series from Jasper Fforde is one of my favorite bizarre worlds. The man is clever and his ideas intrigue me.
I stopped reading Sci-Fi when I was younger because I kept reading either battle books or the ones with so many characters and side plots, it gave me a headache. My husband has re-introduced me to the genre and, I kinda like it.
I’m glad you are back and blogging!
TB – glad to be back! And glad to have you here as well. As Terry noted, there is the side benefit of being able to justify the expenditures to find out information, but of course the nice (and bad) thing about the technology age is you can find out so many things without even leaving your house! I’ll have to check out Jaser Fforde. I always like learning about new worthwhile books.
Liked the comment about hemophilia.
There is the theory out there that “can we really understand a different humanoid species?” ie, could we really understand what it’s like to be a vampire, if we don’t have any available to observe or discuss their viewpoint? Of course, from observation of the world around me, I see there are a lot of people whose lives I can’t comprehend, but we all seem to be driven by basic things – need for acceptance, recognition, happiness, safety, pleasure, etc. So I expect the issue isn’t that all species don’t have those needs, but what forms do those things take for them? For example, happiness for a vampire is going to be different for a human…maybe.
It makes exploring the issue in a story challenging. If the author focuses too much on the character’s “otherness”, I think they lose the reader, because we want some ability to connect and relate to the hero/heroine. But once the reader is hooked, makes that connection, that “otherness” gives the author a cool opportunity to explore the emotional issue in the context of an unfamiliar environment.
For instance, in the upcoming A Mermaid’s Kiss, Jonah, my angel hero, is the Prime Legion Commander – he’s second in hierarchy only to Michael in command of the angel legions. He carries the ability to realign stars, destroy planets, etc. But for all that, he’s lonely, weary of endless fighting and losing his fellow angels in battle. He’s losing his faith, as we all do when faced with what seems like a terrible situation with no end. So he has a difficult emotional problem – and we all face those – but he is dealing with it as an intriguing creature we don’t know very well.
Hmm…now you have me thinking further. I missed this part of blogging (grin).
This is interesting. I had never dissected whether I was plot or character driven in my reading selections before. I think I enjoy both. I tend to think of the character driven books as “lighter” ; more easy reading just to relax with. But I ADORE the 800 pages of political entanglements as well. I suppose I am a “switch” in this category – cureently my two most all time favorite books/ series are Lord of the Rings and Ice Queen/Mirror of My Soul. Well, three, have to put Diana Gabaldon’s trilogy in there too….
In your genre, the best examples of stories which are very effective at putting me into some very “different” characters heads are the Circlet Press anthologies, edited by Cecilia Tan. Of course her Telepath stories rank right up there; then there is Shayna Maidel (sp?) by Laura Antoniou, Cyberfruit Swamp by Raven Kaldara, and Mate by Lauren P. Burka. All of these meld erotica and science fiction/ fantasy into one great and glorious yummy treat.
Oh, and I totally agree with the fact that you cannot make the character “too” different. That is the whole reason I will read Jonah’s book; I know that, different as he may be, you will make me care about him. And that’s exactly what I need in a book!
So nice to see you blogging again!
Oh, and what doesn’t work for me at all? Do NOT write about BDSM if you don’t know what you are talking about!
If you leave someone chained (with handcuffs) in a standing spread eagle overnight to punish them, I guarantee you they will not be “stretching out her muscles and then kneeling gracefully in a full submissive bow” when you unchain them in the morning
Ditto for a hogtie
I don’t know what books these came out of, as I did the pretty much unthinkable for me, and threw them away. Still, these are only the worst examples, and I guarantee you that those of us who do practice this do certainly notice if the writer doesn’t know what he/she is talking about.
Sheila, this is why authors need readers so much. Writers get to the point we do dissect, to the point we can’t see the story as a whole. :>
Diana Gabaldon’s trilogy is an absolute favorite of mine. Interestingly, despite the epic scope of those books, I consider them character driven, because Jamie and Claire’s relationship was the main draw for me, and held me enthralled throughout. I started Fellowship of the Rings and am ashamed to say I only got halfway through – it felt more plot driven to me, though my husband insists if I go back to it and stick with it, I will fall in love with the characters as they become more fleshed out. I hope to have some time to do that, because I do admit their visit to the forest of Lothlorien resonated strongly with me.
Your comments on BDSM made me smack my head – I missed bringing that point up in a recent erotic romance workshop I did. It would have been a good caveat to my overarching message, not to write erotic romance if the author personally doesn’t enjoy/isn’t comfortable with that level of sexual expression, because it comes through glaringly if they aren’t. I could have incorporated your point as a second crucial issue – to be sure, even if he/she isn’t directly familiar with BDSM or other alternative practices, to have a critique partner who is, to catch gaffes like that. Of course sometimes we take some artistic license, but it shouldn’t knock someone out of the story to say “Whoa! That would NEVER happen.”