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Post by dragonlots on Nov 25, 2009 11:17:39 GMT -5
One of the things about writing SF/F/H is that there are a number of experts in several fields who read/write in the genre. A warning I heard on at panel at a con is that if you’re going to write about someone weaving, be sure to do your research. If you write it wrong, the weaving expert is going to write you letter telling you so. The same goes for blacksmithing, horseback riding, sword play, glass blowing and so many other fields I couldn’t even begin to list them.
Keep this in mind when using a city for a backdrop. I caught someone on this when there were writing about Boston since I had once lived there. The same for all the Stargate stories when it’s obvious the writer knows nothing about Colorado Springs or the state in general.
Or odd oops! when the writer didn’t do their research. For instance, I caught a mistake in Stephanie Meyer’s book, ‘Twilight’. In it, she has Bella’s father put chains on her truck so she could go to school because there was ice on the road. Little known fact, in the Pacific Northwest when there is even a dusting of snow or ice on the road, the towns close the schools, and pretty much shut down because they a) they don’t have the resources to deal with it and b) the drivers don’t know how to drive in it. Hmmm, that means there is a second error because Bella is from a desert state and wouldn’t know ‘how’ to drive on ice. Anyway, the only reason I know this fact is because my husband was in the Seattle area when this happened. But it proves my point about doing your research and getting the details correct.
I also ran into this in a critique group I visited. When I pointed out that the writer should have done their research on lions, I got this ‘I’m the writer and I’m going to do what I want’ look. Never mind that not knowing the nature of the big cat will hurt the world building in the story and make it unbelievable.
So a word to the wise, do your research! Because there is always someone among your readers who knows and they’ll either write you a letter telling you what you did wrong, or never read another book by the writer because they know, from previous experience, that the writer doesn’t care enough about what they’re doing to do it right.
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Post by Resha Caner on Nov 25, 2009 11:43:59 GMT -5
Good advice, dragonlots. I wrote an article for "Storytelling Magazine" (many years ago) entitled "Have You Ever Seen a Goblin on the Moors?" I was tired of people placing French derivative monsters in Scottish settings. In today's American melting pot, crossover lit market people probably don't care. But I still do. If I find your goblins lurking about on my moors, I'm going to send some Redcaps after them, and then you'll be sorry! Of course, there are also areas where people claim to know what they're talking about, but they don't. One of those famous pseudo-science controversies surrounds whether a baseball can really curve. Believe me, it can! My son plans to do an experiment for the upcoming science fair to prove it. It shall be the definitive experiment to answer the question once and for all. BASEBALLS DO CURVE! (This is much more important than those silly arguments about evolution). [edit] BTW, my professional expertise is mechanics, with a specialty in nonlinear and rotating dynamics. So, if that ever comes up in your story ... What's your expertise?
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Post by dragonlots on Nov 25, 2009 14:11:13 GMT -5
My area of expertise is varied. I can use Boston, MA, Denver, Colorado Springs & the I25 corridor between them, Lewiston, ID & Yellowstone National Park as story backdrops and a number of other places I’ve traveled to. For instance, I used a park on the Oregon Coast in a Surface/SG1story ‘Key Elements’, along with Seven Falls & Bishop’s Castle.
Because of my childhood, I grew up in rural Idaho, I add to that living in small towns, some aspects of ranching, farming and orchards. I still have uncles who own orchards and another who raises cattle.
I also have an avid interest in herbs, folk medicine, Egyptian mythology, prairie history and weather, including the New Madrid Fault, mining ghost towns, Gilman has appeared in several of my fanfiction pieces, Titanic – I was an amateur historian about the ship before the movie came out, caves and lighthouses. I have books in my personal research library about most of the above.
Because my husband and I have visited several animal refuges, zoos, wild animal parks and the book research I’ve done, not to mention actually getting to interact with them in a limited capacity, I’m pretty much an expert on: Tigers whose roar you feel all the way down to your bone and you freeze. I had this happen to me at a refuge because the big cat was unhappy. I’ve also gotten to play with six week old cubs and know both how strong they are and how their fur feels. Snow Leopards – there isn’t much about known about them but I’ve had the opportunity to observe them at several zoos. Limited amounts on Lions, Mountain Lions, Cheetahs, & Fishing cats. Wolves – who I have also gotten to meet. We have several wolf refuges in the area and I got to see one in the wild while in Yellowstone. I follow what is going on with the various packs from time to time. Coyotes – limited. We have some that live in the open space not far from us and we have heard them howl from time to time. I also got to see one dig up and eat a ground squirrel. Osprey – they are all over Yellowstone and we always find and observe nests. My husband has a wonderful sequence of pictures with the male landing, the female taking the fish and flying off to a tree, and male seeming so say ‘This isn’t really what I had in mind. Okay, guess I’ll sit on the eggs now.’ We also saw observed a nesting pair while we were in Boise, ID.
Dollhouses – this is my hobby. I’ve been building, decorating, adding people and pets, for about twenty years. It feeds the writing and I have a romance stated using two of my smaller ones. You also learn a lot about decorating.
I also sew and work on other various craft projects. Not to mention attending local Cons. So, if a writer used a SF Convention in a story, I’d be able to tell if they’d ever been to one or not. The best book I’ve read on one was ‘Bimbos of the Death Sun’ by Sharon McCrumb. Basically it’s a murder at a con. It’s very funny if you get all the inside jokes.
Also, I have the ability to become an ‘expert’ in a very short time if there is need for it in a story. I also use my local libraries or tap into the rich circle of friends I have that includes a Commercial Real Estate Appraiser, he tells some really fun stories, two doctors, a vet who willingly answers questions, several pagans, believe or not, they can supply fascinating information, a potter, and many others.
Guess I call myself a type of generalist. Most writers need to be.
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Post by Resha Caner on Nov 25, 2009 14:49:39 GMT -5
If I ever write a story about a tiger in a dollhouse, I'll know who to call. My dad and I had a toy business when I was a kid, and dollhouses were always a popular item. We used to make dollhouses based on the home floorplan of the buyer. You can go nuts on the details though, like when someone wants real wood shingles, so you have to cut hundreds of teeny-tiny little pieces of wood and glue them on.
So, I guess I have some expertise in woodworking. Baseball is also a hobby of mine. My oldest boy always fakes people out because his breaking ball moves away when most people expect it to come inside. I can't figure out why it does that, and neither can he ... but it works.
Then, I love history - especially the eastern Mediterranean: Greeks, Byzantines, Turks, Israelis.
And, I have a good working knowledge of science due to my profession.
My #1 expertise, though, is the Graseq ... because I invented them. My goal is for my story to be so well known that I can go to a Con and have people dressed in Graseq armor argue with me about how I got the character of Telel wrong because a Graseq from Nanel would be using the southern dialect, and the word "Foden" is definitely of a northern derivative. That would be cool ... or irritating ... or maybe both.
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Post by dragonlots on Nov 25, 2009 17:02:55 GMT -5
It would depend on the person I suspect. I know about a decade back that the fans of BSG Classic got into a big fight over certain aspects of the show. I don’t even know if they have a loyal fandom anymore.
We’re all experts on the worlds we create. I have several I use for both original and fanfiction. I seem to be on a theme and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I’m still deciding.
Too, I’ve had a number of years of collect experience and knowledge. More so it seems than many other women my age. I tend to use a lot of first hand experience in my writing. Something I suspect a lot of writers don’t do. Or at least, in my writing classes I saw more ‘wish fulfillment’ than drawing on the events of their life.
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Post by Kristen on Nov 25, 2009 17:44:51 GMT -5
This is cool. The University of Central Florida provides the media a list of experts in various fields who are willing to be interviewed for background information. I suspect other universities do the same thing. I think it's great to have our own list of experts! So here's my list: Regions: Central Florida, including the space coast; North Florida, which some call South Georgia; and Southern California, even though I haven't lived there in decades. I have connections there. Professions: secretary; graphic artist; copyeditor; public relations; and newspapering generally, though at a small weekly, not a big daily, thanks be to God. But I hear tales <shudder> from the daily side. Topics: business and stock markets and the economy as it relates to them; philosophy, especially as it relates to democracy; a smattering of American history and political science; and computers (mostly Mac, though I have, occasionally, against my will, had to support Windoze boxen). Also, I knit.
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Post by Resha Caner on Nov 25, 2009 18:55:17 GMT -5
It shows up on my profile, but I guess I should mention that my region of expertise is the American Midwest. I don't think of that as being much of anything, but maybe it is. After all, the coasts can't do a decent TV show about the Midwest. Before I was married I didn't watch Cary Grant. Now I know many of his movies. My favorites are Arsenic & Old Lace and Mr. Lucky. There is an awesome substory in Mr. Lucky about knitting and masculinity. Have you ever seen it? BTW, I sorta tricked my wife. Oh, you like Cary Grant. Do you like Mel Gibson, too? He made two great movies: Gallipoli (my favorite war movie) and Hamlet.
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Post by Kristen on Nov 27, 2009 0:38:16 GMT -5
Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my faves, but I've not seen Mr. Lucky. Will have to check that out.
Gallipoli was a heart breaker. I liked Kevin Kline's Hamlet (it was on PBS) better than Mel Gibson's. Seriously, does Glenn Close look old enough to be Mel's mother?
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Nov 28, 2009 23:31:41 GMT -5
Would you believe I've played Jonathan (the villain) in Arsenic & Old Lace not once but twice? Once was in high school. My first big part. Then 25 years later my church was doing it and I really wanted the lead in it (but the director also wanted to play the lead role...) so I played ol' creepy a second time.
Any author who has ever received a rejection letter from me probably thinks it's just typecasting!
Jeff
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Post by dragonlots on Nov 28, 2009 23:37:59 GMT -5
Are your rejection letters really that scary, Jeff?
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Post by waldenwriter on Nov 28, 2009 23:52:11 GMT -5
Definitely research is vital. The best novels I've read have been the ones that seem well-researched (even if the author never comes out and says so).
The Twilight error dragonlots pointed out amused me. I wonder if anyone has caught that and told Stephanie Meyer. (I'm not a Twilight fan myself and have never read the books or seen the movies).
I like to do research, even for school, and I'm very careful to cite what I find. I'm not a "certified expert" on anything. I guess my specialties though would be: history, mythology, literature (especially C.S. Lewis & Tolkien), movies, geography, languages, and anime/manga. It's tough to say, though - people with Asperger's Syndrome (like myself) tend to have restricted interests, with intense interest in the details but not always in the overarching topic.
For my current novel, I've done most of my research on theater, since my main character works in theater, and on London, the city where the novel takes place. I also did some research on mythology and on nomadic life, which may not end up being used for the novel. I think the mythology research was for building the R Andromedean pantheon (or some other pantheon). The nomadic life research was for the witch-sirens who show up later in the novel. (I also tried to research gypsy life for them, but the book I got wasn't very useful).
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Post by dragonlots on Nov 29, 2009 3:01:43 GMT -5
I have about six years of research into my MS, although you can’t tell that by what it’s about. We also did a lot of travel, visited a number of places, and they’re all listed on my acknowledgement page. And, the details are important. Now that I’m working on the sequel, I’m trying to work in the same type of feel and not really sure I can. Not to mention having to go back to the original work and ask, ‘now, where did I leave this character?’ Not to mention the main lead in the first, becomes a secondary. I also introduce some new ones and have an idea on what is going to happen based on the events in the first. Trouble is, I haven’t worked in that world for a couple of years.
Luckily, I write fanfic and tend to start a story and come back to it later, so I have a lot of practice doing that. For instance, ‘Saga of Gold Squadron’ has been up five or six years and now I’m trying to finish it. I’m hoping it ends at chapter 20, but it’s being stubborn.
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Post by dragonlots on Nov 29, 2009 3:03:14 GMT -5
Oh, and I doubt anyone has pointed out Ms. Meyer’s error. I hear she’s a B.
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Post by morganlbusse on Nov 29, 2009 13:25:08 GMT -5
Actually, I live in a small town in the Pacific Northwest and ice or snow or wind rarely closes down things. And I only remember Portland closing down once because of ice (and it was thick sheets of it). My understanding, the reason large cities shut down is because of the driving and all the freeways. But in small towns, we don't have those to contend with. You just drive more slowly (not that we don't already do that lol).
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Post by jfranklin on Nov 29, 2009 13:34:30 GMT -5
My wife and I went to Florencefor a month the summer before last and I loved it. I had 2 different concepts brewing when I realized Florence would make a great setting and combining the 2 might become a unique and great product. We went back to Florence for a month this last summer. This time it was a vacation/research expedition and I enjoyed it even more. I couldn't believe the different things I came up with and things I could use.
My current project starts in west Texas and spends the majority of time in Florence, but you are correct that there are always those who will know if you are right or not. IMHO, research is a must.
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