Research, meandering style

I've mentioned this before, but I used to hate doing research. Now it's one of my favorite things. Even when I'm looking up things that are possibly putting me on an FBI watch list somewhere. Anyway, the scene we're writing for Pyromancy is an action one (yay explosions!), and we decided that the attackers needed to conceal themselves from the good guys. Then, Juliette will then have to find a way to neutralize that smoke using her magic.

The next step for me was to figure out, okay, what is the smoke made out of, so that Juliette could maybe do some cool science thing with her magic to take out the smoke.  But I don't know anything about smoke, so off to Google I went! And here's what I learned:

1. There are lots and lots of different kinds of smoke screens.
2. I initially ditched tear gas in favor of a general smoke screen, thinking that whatever smoke was made out of, it was surely less toxic. Nope.  One kind of smoke, which is zinc chloride based, can cause "lesions of the mucous membranes of the upper airways… In high concentrations the smoke can be very dangerous when inhaled. Symptoms include dyspnea, retrosternal pain, hoarseness, stridor, lachrymation, cough, expectoration, and in some cases haemoptysis. Delayedpulmonary edema, cyanosis or bronchopneumonia may develop. The smoke and the spent canisters contain suspected carcinogens."
Since I didn't want the scene to finish with, "And then everyone died. The End.", I decided to go with a different substance.
3. I don't remember any of the two years of chemistry I took in college.
4. "In theory, every soluble pure solid compound can be crystallized to give single crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction studies."
5. I don't have kids, and I want to do this crystal-based project for Christmas.
6. I'm easily distracted.
7. Sheena found this amazing video:

Sheena: "That robber in a ninja outfit."
Me: "The sad life of a ninja in the modern world, turned to robbery, having their own ninja tricks turned against them…"

Bonus YouTube comment: "Well sir the robbers did manage to steal a couple of items. Let's just review the security footage so we can identify them..... oh wait"

8. There is no way I can find an easy answer on a chemical process to neutralize smoke in the way I'm envisioning.


Unfortunately, that's where my research ended. And it still kind of bothered me that I didn't have a scientifically sound answer for what to do. I mean,  I hate it when people get science things wrong. As a prime example, you know how every time you see a bald eagle in a movie, it makes this killer scream? Well, that's not an eagle. It's a red-tailed hawk sound.


Though I don't entirely blame them, given the actual sounds bald eagles make.



Anyway, I know that the whole point of magic is that it defies the laws of science, but I still wasn’t satisfied. But then I remembered the best kind of solution for a science project: ask an expert. So thank you again, MaryAnn, for patiently answering my silly chemistry question, and allowing my mind to be at ease. At least until the next research topic appears.

Lunatic Space Pirates Falling in Love During Free Fall-- Sheena

For this blogaround, we're all sharing a prompt to show how we would write a story based on the trigger

Lunatic Space Pirates Falling in Love During Free Fall.

Okay, so the first thing I do is stare at those words for a few... minutes. In that time,  phrases start to separate.

 Space Pirates, for example tell me the genre. We're talking scifi. And pirate means thief to me, so we know the character's motivation is to steal something so rare they had to go to space to find it.

The free fall is interesting to me. I don't think it's falling if there isn't something to crash into, so the location of my story will be far above a planet. A dangerous not earth planet, so if they survive the fall, there's still a story there. And since they are in space to steal something, it could be the planet that houses the thing they are trying to steal, because the very thing a thief fears more than death, is getting caught.

So a story is starting to emerge. High above a red swirling planet, something bad happens to the ship, and brings the notice, (and weapon fire) of the people on the planet below, so these thieves silently escape their ship, and then something else bad happens, and they are cut off from control, so they are free falling to certain death on this red swirling planet below them, and even if they survive the crash, (and the fall) they might be caught, but still they are hopeful that there's a chance for them to steal this thing they really need, and getting away.

Okay so now I have to figure out what this thing is, and why they really need it... but I got nothing.

Maybe to do that I should go back to the prompt.

Falling in love reflects a story arc. It's a process with a beginning, middle and end. It also reflects the action of the story which is falling to their deaths.

And then there is the word lunatic.

To be honest, lunatic was the word that made my creative side perk up on the very first reading, so I saved it for last, so I can savor it. I love stories where the POV character is slightly crazy. I love exploring madness in all its forms.

 And falling towards one's death is a high stress environment. Anyone could go crazy in the vacuum of space.

So this is where my twist happens.

POV Character is all alone, trying to retrieve something...a medicine, a get out of jail free card, something necessary to save the person they will be falling in love with. Because the story arc needs a beginning, it's a person who the POV character finds slightly annoying, but still is attached to. They aren't in love yet, or at least they don't know yet that they are in love. Something goes wrong, and draws attention of the antagonist, and POV character could run away, but must sacrifice their own safety in order to try to get this thing for this annoying person who they are probably cursing out right about now.

New plan. New disaster, and again the character chooses to keep going instead of finding their own safety, and disaster number three happens, and POV person is falling uncontrollably in space towards certain death. Attempt after attempt to save themselves fail, but eventually the hero get the spinning under control, right when cracks appear across the visor. And the stress sends POV character into a descent of madness. They see this annoying person they are trying to save falling with them, which is impossible since they are on their deathbed, or imprisoned somewhere, and after telling them all the ways they are stupid, their hands meet, and the person falling realizes that they can't live without this person. There a joke or a moment of beauty, trying to distract from the danger, and the POV wishes the person could be there for real. Then right before an insane delusion of a kissing scene, or an almost kiss, there's an interruption. Shrapnel, or a bullet, or pain, and the person wakes up from their insanity, tries one last Hail Mary attempt to save themselves, which doesn't work, and they realize they are about to die, and then one of the early attempts finally works, and last second they are able to save themselves...or maybe they won't. I love tragic endings too.

And now the last thing I decide. The character. I always choose the character last, because I need to know what they will lose before I decide who gets to lose it. Because falling in love, for someone who wants to fall in love, isn't a sacrifice, so it's not something to lose. Falling towards death is really bad for someone with a fear of heights.

So this is a person with a history. Someone broke this person's heart, or trust, and they don't want to trust anyone ever again. This is a person who has cut ties with their history, maybe even with their former name and planet, and left on a space ship, so that because of relative time, everyone they know is dead by now. So this person is seriously prickly... Or maybe they aren't. Maybe this is a person who faced heartbreak, but didn't let it break them. Maybe they are nice to everyone, except this one person who reminds them of the person who broke them. Or maybe they were friends, and this person thought it meant something more.

Time to make some decisions.

My first instinct is to make this person a girl. I love the dichotomy of a girl saving a boy, and then realizing she's fallen for him, but... I don't know, it feels done, like that is a story I've told before, so...yup. I'm making this POV character a dude. And yes, I know a boy saving a girl has also been told a thousand times, but not by me, so I'd rather surprise myself.

So it's a guy... A guy who has lost everything, and still chooses to smile. He's smart, and resourceful, and not afraid to steal, so that means he thinks everything sort of belongs to him. He's confident, but afraid of heights, and afraid of attachments. Now he sounds like Captain Kirk, so I've got to change something.

He doesn't have any legs. No, he's covered in acid burns, from the thing that made him not trust people. No that might make it too dark. He needs more flaws, and more humanity.

Got it. He has a tangled family history, and HE made a mistake that made him lose everything. HE hurt someone who trusted him, and HE is carrying so much guilt he doesn't feel lovable.

Except maybe by this girl. There's this girl he met somewhere who makes him laugh, who makes him into someone kinder. When he's with her, he's someone he can like. He knows he could pursue things with her, except that he doesn't want to put her in the position where he could hurt her. Although he trusts her, he still doesn't trust himself.  So he walked away, even though he knew it meant hurting her, it was the lesser kind of hurt, the kind she could survive.

But when he left, something bad happened, and she got caught up into something, a scheme I think to earn enough money to start a different life. She was caught by the same people who own said treasure, who live on this planet. I.E. The antagonist.

Oh, a love triangle. The girl is caught, and the guy who owns the treasure is super handsome.

That's been done. The girl is caught, and the LADY who owns the treasure is surprisingly kind.

Erm. The antagonist (no gender yet) needs the treasure for a reason. It's medicine? No, that's too easy. It's something terribly important, like the last peg to an engine, or the last chance to go to this planet where the Antagonist's family is. Erm. It's a valuable piece of art painted over a sheet of unobtainium. It's a thing of tremendous value, but is sentimental value to the antagonist. It's a person, the child of the antagonist, who was born with amazing abilities. It's an animal, the last of its kind, and its bones when ground become a drug that is so rare and worshiped, because it gives the user magical abilities.

Oh. I like that.

So the Antagonist, (no gender, because it's an alien who has a different kind of gender than humans recognize), is a protector of this really rare swimming animal. It breeds them, and then sells the bones, but a strange disease caused most of the animals to die, so there's only a few left. The antagonist owns the entire planet, and has enough resources for major weapons, and security to protect the animals. When the girl was caught, she was going to be given to the animal as food, but the animal protected her. Once bonded with this strange swimming creature, she was given the job to start taking care of this animal.

So she doesn't want to be rescued.

Delicious.

Okay, so now we have a story that is complicated enough to start to plot.

My next step would be to create and plot out secondary characters. And since this story just moved beyond the free fall, the hero will survive, and will need help. so maybe the pilot of the ship, other Animal caretakers, Allies on the planet that can help hero reach the girl-- maybe an ally who's purposes run cross-ways from the hero. Then I'd figure out the rules of the world, the way the science and technology of the world work, aspects of drug culture that have shifted society, figure out the moral line of the characters, and then I'd figure out what a happy ever after would look like. Oh, and figure out how long the hero's insanity will last, hopefully a good long time. Because...yummy.

Then I'd plot out archetypes.

Hero- Dude McDudehead (Goal to save the girl, and steal the bones in order to release the girl)
Antagonist- Alien Druglord (Goal to protect its creatures, and its bottom line)
Sidekick- Pilot of Ship, friendly but at a distance. (Goal to help friend, and get the payday)
Skeptic - Ally on planet. (Only in it for the payday)
Guardian- GIRL McLoveinterest (Moral line, Goal to protect Dude McDudehead and Protect the Creatures)
Contagionist- Ally on Planet who wants to take down the Antagonist, by any means necessary, and will betray hero
Emotion- The Animal itself. Strong emotional telepathy.
Reason- Girl McLoveInterest's friend and fellow caretaker. (Possible love triangle. Does she choose to stay with logical dude and take care of this Animal she loves?)

Then I go through and assign gender to the archetypes.

Sidekick, Skeptic, and Contagionist all need genders and ages. Let's make them all girls, because we can.

Sidekick is an older lady, like Mags. She's the touchstone of the story. Common, kind, loyal.
Skeptic, is a sassy alien type. Short. Fierce. Lots of guns, bombs and knives. Swears in her native tongue.
Contagionist. She's the Mrs. Brown of the story. Human. Ambitious. Knits. She's a plotter. Widowed with a significant fortune. Former buyer of Whatever Dude McDude was selling.

Then I do some character analysis, and figure out all the specific details about these characters. They need a name, age, a nationality, a backstory, character quirks, catchphrases, personal style, fears, inside jokes, attachments.

Then I'd plot the full story from the Dude's POV, The Girl's POV, the Antagonist's POV, and the Contagionist's POV. And possibly Reason's if I choose to go the love triangle route. Which I will.

There's a good chance you've started skimming by this point, if not stopped reading altogether. I'm betting plotting isn't as interesting to read as it is to write.

But in case you are reading these words, I thank you. This is how I plot. I take an idea and twist it, until I find something that has been done before, and then I twist it again, and again, and then again. I find one failure after another, and choose my hero based on what they have to lose, because the common theme of all my stories is making the absolute worst thing happen to the character so that they can survive it. The hero must be someone who fails, and sacrifices, and keeps going.

Happy plotting!
~Sheena

For more Space Pirate plots, check out these by...
Karen
Trina
Melanie

On interviews

 Every so often, I make the mistake of taking a step back and trying to think of all the things that make up a truly amazing book. Plot, characters, and idea are just one thing. Then there's pacing, setting, dialogue, believability, authenticity, prose, marketability… it's sort of like a juggling act with every object in your kitchen, including the kitchen sink, except your blindfolded and all the objects are imaginary and you're never even sure whether you caught them…

Or something.

Good advice in any of those areas is like precious gold. This week, I came across an article at one of my favorite book review sites, Dear Author. The article, written by bestselling contemporary romance author Julie James. In the article, Julie discusses the way in which she conducted research for her latest book.

http://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/julie-james-and-the-art-of-interviewing/

It's a short read, and a lot of fun. Julie has a good list of interview questions that she asks that go beyond the obvious.

The best part of the article for me is not necessarily the tips, but the encouragement to be brave. I'm not normally a shy person, but the thought of calling a stranger out of the blue and asking for such a big favor terrifies me. But Julie reminds us of a couple of important things at the end of the article:

1. People like talking to authors, and it's very flattering in general to be interviewed.  

2. No one will criticize you for getting things too "right."

3. Really, the worst they can do is say no.

I still hate calling strangers on the phone, but it's nice to remember that most other people are happy to help if you ask nicely.  

Of course, here's where being a fantasy author has its disadvantages. I can't exactly go visit a magic school to learn what classes are really like, or interview dragons on what's really so fascinating about gold (copper is shiny too! And a prettier color).

If, like me, you're not yet bold enough to cold call the FBI, remember that a lot of the people around you also probably don't mind being interviewed by authors. We each have our own unique repository of experiences and information.  For example, if you need to know pretty much anything about ecology, or North American birds, I'm a good one to ask.

And because I haven't had a picture in this post yet, here's one of my favorite birds, a cedar waxwing.

You could also interview me on life working for the federal government, or what it's actually like to be the poor kid at a rich high school.

So on which subjects could you offer expertise?