Bipods and Tripods and More, Oh My

I've been researching sniper rifles for my next manuscript. While I realize there are many different types, makes, and models of sniper rifles, I didn't realize there were so many different types of bipods and tripods that can attach to a rifle.

The most popular bipod is the Harris bipod. The military has relied on this bipod for years. It's durable, lightweight, and the legs can be flipped into position with one hand in less than two seconds. It is also very rare that the Harris bipod will break. I can see why the military chooses this type.

The most popular tripod is made by the Really Right Stuff brand. This tripod is used mainly in competitive shooting sports but is also popular with photographers because it can be used with photography equipment.

There are also different types of scopes or gun sights from your every day scope to high end scopes that are infared or thermal. It was like going down a rabbit hole, I started reading about one type which led to another, and another, and another. When I glanced at the clock it was two hours later and I feel like I only scratched the surface of the information available.

While I didn't think it would take as much time as it did, I'm glad I took the time to really research this material so I know that the information regarding sniper rifle and its accessories (for lack of a better term) my character will use will be as accurate as I can make it.

Down The Rabbit Hole

In most cases writing a novel will require some sort of research. When I started writing my first Regency set romance, I had some notes for historical accuracy but would find I needed more detail or clarification or something would come up I hadn't thought of when I did my bare bones plotting. I would hop onto the internet, google what I was looking for and end up clicking from one website to another to another only to realize my designated writing time had come and gone and I was now reading information that had nothing to do with what I had originally set out to look up.

It's easy to get distracted by all the interesting information linked from one place to another regardless of what you're researching. I'm working on a contemporary set romance and decided I needed more information regarding orbital fractures. Three hours later, I probably have more information that I'll ever use or need and saw some pretty gruesome pictures depicting the injury.

Since I seem to be easily led from one source of information to another, I've learned to do research separately from my writing time. Now if I decide I need more information on something, I put a note right in my manuscript stating something like "research the Washington National Cathedral services" and highlight it in yellow so it stands out and continue on writing. I also jot what I need to look up in a notebook. On the weekend, I'll pull out my notebook and research all the things I've listed that week. Sometimes I'll go back and add the information into my manuscript when I sit down to write during the following week and sometimes I don't add in the information until I'm working on edits or revisions.

This is the process that works best for me otherwise I'm like Dug from the Disney movie UP, easily distracted from the plan at hand and yelling squirrel every few minutes. 😁

Monday, Monday

I've been thinking about what today's post should be about since last Wednesday. It's now Sunday night at 8:30pm and I still can't come up with a topic that doesn't seem trite, or one that I haven't already touched on in one of my posts from the last 4 years.

On Mondays I usually write about something writing related whether it be the mechanics, my process, or something along that line. Is it possible that I've run out of things to say? That seems as though I know everything and have already imparted it to you, my readers. And that's hardly the case. I learn new things about writing or the industry nearly every day.

So this week I'm asking you -- What would you like me to talk about that's writing related? My process, my research experiences (though I may have already exhausted this topic), writing in general, what I like to read, where I get ideas...Let me know. And in the meantime, I'll do some poking about on the internet and see if I can get some ideas for future posts that will be of interest.

Sore Muscles and Research

Every writer wants their books to be as realistic and believable as possible. That's where research comes in. Research can take the form of reading books or diaries from the time if one's writing a historical novel. It can also lead to traveling to the location where the story takes place. There are many ways to conduct research. Me, I've always like the hands on approach whenever possible.

I participated  in a class where we were taken onto a gun range and took turns shooting different types of hand guns ranging from a .22 all the way up to Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum. Of course we all had to take a safety class first. So now when I write about someone shooting a gun, I know how to describe the feel of the grip in my hand, the kickback when the gun is fired, how the air smells. (I've also crawled out a second story window on to a roof to figure out how to get down without a ladder. I was much younger then. I don't think I'd attempt it now.)

In my current novel, my heroine has to get the unconscious hero into her car. So what did I do? I wrote the scene the way I thought she could do it. Then I tested my theory enlisting help from my nephew.

Nephew is 6' 4". He's taller than my hero and weighs a bit more - 220 while Hero weighs 190. I'm taller than my heroine (I'm 5' 10") and Nephew outweighs me by about 70 pounds so I figured we were close enough in relative size as Hero and Heroine in terms of height and weight differences between the two of them.

Nephew took on the role of the unconscious hero lying on the floor. It took me a few tries, but I was able to maneuver him into a sitting position and then lifted up onto the sofa which doubled as the car. We cracked up a few times, laughing so hard we had to start over but it was doable. (Barely.)

So what did I learn from the experiment? It was possible for Heroine to get Hero into the vehicle. I learned I had to make a few minor changes on how she did it. I learned it's really, really hard to move someone's dead weight by yourself. When we were done, I was out of breath and sweaty which told me I need to up my exercise sessions.

I learned what I needed to know to write the scene realistically so when a person reading my book comes to that scene, she/he doesn't think to themselves "that's not possible" and doesn't finish reading the book.

Oh, and I also learned Icy Hot really does work on sore muscles. :o)

Writing What You Know

One piece of advice beginning writers are often given is to write what you know. This is great advice if you live an adventurous life, have traveled extensively, or are in a profession such as first responder, anything in the medical field, a pilot, work in finance etc. But what if you are a bit timid when it comes to doing adventurous things or work in a humdrum office job where the most exciting thing that happens is when the office gets a new copy machine?

I'm not saying this is true in my case. (Okay, it is. I admit I'm not at all adventurous. I'm always worried about something bad happening like breaking a leg or worse.) So how do I go about writing about things I know nothing about?

I take my research on the road to learn how to do some of the things my characters need to know. I've taken a gun safety course and gone to a shooting range where with the help of an instructor, I learned how to load and shoot various types of pistols from a .22 all the way up to Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum. I've gone to seminars given by medical examiners, police officers, and a crime scene technician. My nephew is a firefighter for the city we live in. His girlfriend is a paramedic. While I haven't done it yet, both have offered to arrange a ride along with them to observe a typical shift. My sister is a registered nurse so I often pick her brain when it comes to medical questions. Of course, there's always research books and the internet. One just has to be careful to verify any information taken from the internet.

You can write what you know even if you know nothing about the profession etc. when you first start your novel. Pick the brains of family, friends, or attend seminars/classes offered on the subject you need to know more about. It's amazing how helpful people are when you express an interest in what they do whether it be their profession or how they enjoy their leisure time.

This I know for sure...

I love doing research for a work in progress, but sometimes I find something so interesting that it takes me off on a tangent researching something that has nothing to do with the current manuscript I'm writing. I find myself looking for more information on this tidbit that's aroused my curiosity even though I know I won't be able to use it. I do sometimes find myself trying to find ways to work the information into the storyline. I've even made notes on some of those interesting items that I hope to be able to use as a basis for a story some day.

The piece of information that I found this week that has me wanting to find a way to use it in a manuscript -- A monk in the 17th century dug his own grave anticipating God's wrath for a sin he committed while trying to help a young woman escape an abusive situation. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it?

Please Welcome My Guest

Please welcome my guest, Contemporary Romance Author Paula Martin. 

Paula lives near Manchester in North West England and has two daughters and two grandsons. She had some early publishing success with four romance novels and several short stories, but then had a break from writing while she brought up a young family and also pursued her career as a history teacher for twenty-five years. She has recently returned to writing fiction, after retiring from teaching, and is thrilled to have found publishing success again with her contemporary romances. Apart from writing, she enjoys visiting new places. She has travelled extensively in Britain and Ireland, mainland Europe, the Middle East, America and Canada. Her other interests include musical theatre and tracing her family history.

Setting my novel in Ireland

I tend to set my novels in places I know, or at least have visited, and as I’ve done quite a lot of travelling, I have a wide choice of possible locations. In a sense, however, I don’t actually ‘choose’ because as soon as I start thinking about a story, it seems to decide its own setting.

That was certainly the case with ‘Irish Inheritance’. Although the original idea came from an article about a Paris apartment that had been abandoned over 70 years ago, I knew my story would be set in Ireland, not in Paris. I even had the first few sentences in my mind: “A house in Ireland?” Jenna Sutton stared over the mahogany desk at the lawyer. “Someone I’ve never heard of has left me a house in Ireland?”

I did then have to make a decision about exactly where in Ireland this house was going to be, but that was fairly easy to decide, as the part of Ireland I know best is the west coast – especially the counties of Galway, Clare, and Mayo. I deliberately kept its exact location fairly vague, apart from saying it was a few miles from the small town of Clifden in western Galway (because I know there are no large Victorian houses in the specific area I was actually imagining!)

In this case, I’ve used the name of a real town, but in my other novels, I have sometimes given a real town or village a different name. This allows me to take some liberties with the topography of the place, and also to move some buildings around!

When Jenna and Guy, my hero and heroine, take a trip across Ireland to the east coast, I was able to draw on my own similar trips, and so they visited some of the places I’ve visited, such as the remains of the medieval Glendalough monastery and the wild area of the Wicklow Mountains.

They explore the small town of Dalkey on the east coast, and I had no problems with this, as I have been there several times. I was delighted when my Irish beta reader (whose assistance I had requested in checking my Irish facts) said she thought I had the atmosphere of the town “just right.”

This comment sums up why I feel happier using locations that I know personally. Not only because it means I can see the place in my mind but also because I have absorbed some of the atmosphere. Hopefully, I can help the reader to experience this too, just like one of the first reviewers of ‘Irish Inheritance’, who wrote, “I felt that I was there with them.”

Blurb:

English actress Jenna Sutton and American artist Guy Sinclair first meet when they jointly inherit a house on the west coast of Ireland. Curious about their unknown benefactress and why they are considered 'family', they discover surprising links to the original owners of the house.

They soon unravel an intriguing tale of a 19th century love affair. At the same time, their mutual attraction grows, despite personal reasons for not wanting romantic involvements at this point in their lives.

A local property agent appears to have her own agenda concerning the house while other events pull Jenna and Guy back to separate lives in London and America. Friction builds over their decision about the house and its contents.

Will their Irish inheritance eventually drive them apart – or bring them together?

Available from Amazon USA http://amzn.to/1gioD1e 

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/1gHiWfA and Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/405113

 

You can find Paula at:

Website: http://paulamartinromances.webs.com

Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/KtlU6Y

Blog: http://paulamartinpotpourri.blogspot.com 

An Unusual Research Fact

I'm visiting Crimson Romance and Wild Rose Press author Stephanie Cage today. Come find out a surprising fact I learned about a vicar while doing research for my current release.  Link: http://stephaniecagewriter.blogspot.com/2013/05/writer-wednesday-interview-katherine.html

Research and Where to Start

Today I'm visiting fellow author, Courtney J. Hall, and talking about how I started gathering the books I've used for research purposes while writing my novels set in the Regency period.  I hope you'll stop by and share how you got started.  The link is http://courtneyjhall.com/

Reading for Research

I read a great deal when researching an idea for a book. It's important to me that I get the facts right when I'm writing about something I have no knowledge of. I have a number of non-fiction books on my bookshelves relating to the Regency period, but I also have books about mythical creatures. I have an encyclopedia of serial killers, a guide book to poisons, a book on deadly killing skills (the title always makes me smile since killing skills would make them deadly, but I digress), a book about the origin of the pistol, and one about combat fighting skills. I also have two books about pirates just to name a few. 

Will I ever need or use any of the information in those books? I've used the Regency period books quite a lot as all of my books have been set in that time period. As for the others, I've used a snippet of information from one or two, but for the most part I was drawn to purchase them by their potential. I was so intrigued by the subject matter that I bought them even though at the time, I had no idea what I would use them for.

I also find that when I'm reading a fiction book for pleasure, I'll sometimes note how well the author handled a particular scene. I'll mark the page and after I've finished the book, I'll go back and deconstruct the scene hoping that I'll learn something about writing that type of scene, whether it be an action scene or a quiet one of introspection. So I guess you could say I read fiction as a form of research as well.

I've always read in a wide variety of subjects even before I started to pursue a writing career. Now I have a reason to buy all those books that whisper, "buy me, buy me" when I walk into a book store.

One more...

Today, I'm visiting fellow historical romance author, Alyson Reuben's, wonderful blog - "Author's Lunch: A Bite of Reuben Sandwich" and talking about some the things I've done in the name of research.  I hope you'll stop by and share some of the things you've done too.  Link:  http://www.abiteofreubensandwich.blogspot.com

What To Be...Or Not To Be. That is the question.

When writers begin a new story there are so many decisions to be made.  Character names, their appearance, temperament, where they live, how much baggage they have, and what they do for a living.  It’s this last aspect of developing a character that I find to be the most fun but it can be the most difficult.

Fun because we get to learn all about different occupations.  The research sometimes can even be more fun than the writing of the story.  I once interviewed a coroner, who was more than willing to share aspects of different cases as well as answer my questions. While he was careful not to divulge confidential information, he was a wealth of knowledge and had a great way of imparting that knowledge that made my fingers itch to hit the keyboard.  It can also be difficult because we sometimes want to include everything we’ve learned or found interesting even though it doesn’t necessarily have to do with the story itself and we end up including so much information that our stories become more like lectures than pleasurable escapes.

When I started writing The Muse I knew instantly that the hero, Blaine Hobson, would be a poet.  The thing is it’s hard to research how to be a poet compared to researching how to be a police officer.  I’ve never been good at writing poetry but admire those who can do it.

In my quest to learn more about poets and poetry, I read about a lot of different poets, their lives and their works.  I started with poets I was familiar with – Lord Byron, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, Walt Whitman, and Langston Hughes.  (Of course, there’s Shakespeare as well, but I stayed away from him.)  Then I moved onto poets that were recommended to me by friends or that I found in the library.  These included Edgar Lee Masters, Anne Bradstreet, W. B. Yeats, Elizabeth Alexander, Donald Hall, and Billy Collins.

Of all the poems I read, I found a favorite – Brown Penny by William Butler Yeats.  Even though there is nothing similar to it written by Blaine in The Muse, I found myself reading this particular poem over and over when I wanted to get into Blaine’s head.

Have you ever been inspired by something you read or learned? Something that you kept going back to even though you couldn’t explain why?