And here are those Pony Rompers in the Park:

   

Hunting for the Perfect Detail

                              


Hello!  I’d first like to thank Jen for inviting me to be a guest blogger today.  I’m thrilled to be here J

I’m blogging today about the research I needed to do in order to make my Study series realistic.  Many of my readers have asked me if fiction writers research or do we make it all up.  Well…we make it all up.  Okay – that’s the end of my blog, please leave a comment on your way out…. Sorry – I couldn’t resist. J 

The real answer is YES, fiction writers do a lot of research.  In order to maintain that “suspension of disbelief” for our readers, we need to have certain details correct or else risk jolting the reader out of our stories.

Even in fantasy, where the setting and inhabitants and magic are all created, an author can’t make things up willy-nilly.  In the first book of my fantasy series, Poison Study my main character learns how to pick a lock.  The world of Ixia is a complete fabrication, but in this world there are metal locks with keys that work just like on Earth.  Now, I can write she used her magic to open the lock, which is perfectly fine if I set up that she has that particular magical skill, but if I’m going to say she “picked” the lock, well – I better know how you pick a lock.  And not cheat and use that Hollywood booby pin nonsense – any good locksmith would scoff at that!

So I learned the proper way to pick a pin and tumbler lock (ones with keys), using tension wrenches and diamond picks.  And just for the record, I am NOT responsible for that rash of strange break-ins in our neighborhood last year ;>  Really – not me – and besides, nothing was stolen – so it’s not really a break-in……  er…..yeah….back to my topic.

Which is research.  Another subject I needed to research was how to taste foods.  My main protagonist, Yelena learns how to taste food for poisons – the tasting methods in the book are real methods used by professionals who work in the food industry.  I just happened to be married to one professional who is an expert in tasting chocolate (I know – I know – I hear it all the time! He has a dream job.). 

And for those who are interested in becoming a food taster – here’s a quick 5-step method:

How to Become a Food Taster in 5 Easy Steps

by Maria V. Snyder

1. Amass a file folder full of technical articles on tasting.  Having a husband who is an expert in “tasting” and has a degree in engineering helps.  Just show appropriate interest to husband and wait.

2. Read and digest technical articles.  Titles range from the intriguing, “Learning and Speaking the Language of Flavor,” to the scientific, “The Flavor-Fusion Illusion; The Psychology of Flavor,” to the fun, waist-expanding, “How to be a Knowledgeable and Discriminating Ice Cream Gourmet.”  At the end of this step, you will know more about the tongue than you really wanted (trust me!).

3. Learn about the appropriate tasting methods.  Tasting is not just about the flavor, it’s a complex mixture of sensory data.  The smell, how food feels in the mouth or “mouthfeel,” and even how it looks are all important.  Or you can use the 10-year-old boy quick, “If it smells good, it’ll taste good,” test for unknown edibles.

4. Practice methods learned in step three using chocolate (Why use anything else?).   Examine the chocolate.  Is it smooth?  Does it give a nice clean snap when broken in half?  Free of that white stuff (i.e. bloom)?  Smell it.  Put a piece in your mouth.  Let it melt and coat your tongue.  Swallow a little bit to cover the back of your tongue.  How does it feel in your mouth?  How does it taste?  Gritty?  Bitter?  Fruity?  Sweet?  After you swallow it note the aftertaste.  Make notes (or not, depends on your ability to remember).  Drink some room temperature water to cleanse the palate.  Repeat analysis with different chocolates as many times as needed (if questioned, tell others with a haughty air, that you’re eating chocolate for science).  After sampling, compare and determine the best one.  How?  The best one will be the chocolate you liked the most.  

5. Use these methods on all kinds of food and impress friends and relatives.  And if you encounter any “off” flavors, “strange” smells, or “unusual” tastes in your meal, review your recent history.  Fired anyone?  Cut someone off on the highway?  Forgot to send your mother flowers on Mother’s Day?  If the answer is “yes” to any or all questions, throw food away and don’t feed it to your dog (unless you’re looking to get a new dog).

Other research I needed to do for my Study series includes learning how to ride a horse for Magic Study. Having grown up in Philadelphia, I had zero knowledge about horses.  My friend, Susan offered to teach this city girl how to ride her horse, Kiki.

Kiki, an American Saddlebred, is 16.1 hands tall.  While I can’t tell you exactly how high that is, sitting on her for the very first time, I felt I was about ten feet from the hard, hard ground below.  I was wearing a helmet, but it seemed inadequate for protection – full body armor would have been more preferable to me. And it didn’t help my nerves when Kiki’s head went straight up, her left ear cocked back, and she gave me the eye without turning around.  With almost 360 degree vision, she only needed to move her head a little to keep me in sight.  And I knew she was plotting how to dump this stranger on her back into the nearest mud puddle.

Kiki though was a perfect horse for a terrified beginner.  At 22 years of age, she had seen it all, and we spent many hours slowly walking around the training ring.  It was July, she was hot and I probably could have gotten off and pushed her faster.

It was a scary, fun and interesting time.  I learned about horses and I learned about myself.  Mainly, that I like to be in complete control.  Even though I held the reins, I knew Kiki was in charge.

Learning how to blow glass for Fire Study was a blast.  In order to write the scenes with Opal, a glass artist in the book, I needed to learn how to work with molten glass.

The teacher made it look easy to gather a slug of glass.  But when it was my turn – yikes!  It was HOT!  The big vat of molten glass was kept in a rip roaring furnace at a toasty 2100 degrees Fahrenheit.  I held a metal rod, and, while squinting through an eye-melting orange light, I dipped the end into the thick goo and spun it, gathering a glob of glass onto the end.  The incandescent glob glowed as if alive. 

Once acquired, the slug then needed to be quickly shaped.  Glass cooled at a rapid pace, and, even though heat waves pulsed from the slug, it didn’t stay pliable for long.

My first paperweight was a misshapened blob.  After hours of practice, my ability improved, and I created a paperweight worthy to hold down my next novel’s manuscript pages.

I learned that working with glass required deft coordination, arm strength, tons of patience, and a good partner—it’s a good thing I have a day job! 

Not all my research is hands on – while it is my favorite way to learn and, really, who could resist taking money spent on glass classes off their taxes??  I also use the more traditional methods – like books and the Internet.  Although my non-fiction research books tend to be those written for children.  Yes, you read that right – kids’ books.  Why??  Because those books have big color pictures – like when I researched castles – that make it easier for me to describe.  Plus they give you the bare bones of information, and save me from wading through pages and pages of text.  So far, the kids’ books have been able to answer all my questions.

To make a long story even longer (hey I’m a novel writer – it’s hard for me to write under 100,000 words), I’ve given you a behind the scenes (so to speak) look at my methods of doing research for my books. 

Now it’s your turn.  What have you done in order to find information or learn a new skill??

Maria V. Snyder, author of the Study series and the Glass series, will be guest blogging here tomorrow!

I asked her to talk about the research for her books, because in my experience you learn tons of great stuff about the Corsican tuna fishing industry while researching your book about talking dolphins and then none of it ends up in the book, and there you are, packed up to the throat with tuna, and nowhere to talk about it.  

I'll be guest blogging on her blog tomorrow, so drop by and visit!

Well, that was gratifying!  What a big crowd!  and what illustrious attendees too!  I saw 

sdn

New York is...New York.  For the first time since I came out here on the train from New Haven, twenty-six years or so give-or-take, I felt comfortable in the city, never got scary-lost, used the subway a lot, didn't eat much (behaving myself), had fun and also felt that unlimited additional fun was just around the corner.  Which is no doubt true.

Now it's beddy-bye.  Gosh I'm whipped. 

PS, pix from this trip coming soon, when I get home.

PPS I met some fun people at Del Rey / Ballantine / Random House and stuffed them with chocolate  (got pix).  Ditto at my agent's office.  If you ever write a  book and get a chance to go to NY and lunch with your agent & editor, I recommend the experience.  Be the belle of the ball for a day.  It rocks.

Ooooog, I'm really crippled up now.  All the way from Columbus Circle to the north east corner and back, across the park twice.

Must find out how m any miles that is.

More info tonight.  

Oooog

So yesterday morning at oh-dark-thirty Jim Freund picked me up in front of my hotel and we drove down to the bottom of the island and he interviewed me for his radio show, Hour of the Wolf, on WBAI.   A grand time was had by me, and I think by Jim, too.  We had call-in callers, too, and NOT ONE of them asked me where I get my ideas, hur hur, or if my husband minds me writing sexy books, hur hur.   New Yorkers are supposed to be uncivil, but I've met only supernice folks so far.  Soon Jim will post a link on his site for the interview.

This morning I slept until NINE O'CLOCK.  It felt great.

Today, Ling Ma (coolness maven at  VenusZine and Index Magazine) and I went to Century 21 and "did" the store.  I think we missed the perfume department, but that was about all we missed.  I bought a black jacket with subtle sparkles in it and a black tank with silver bling, to go with my new glasses.   Ling bought one of those beach-pinstripey sack bags with a big graphic smileyface on one side and a big toothy frowneyface on the other, plus pinstripe bows.   The handbag department at C21 is mind-boggling.  She almost got something by Gysten, an $800 bag, for a mere $295.  Acting on instructions, I played the angel on her shoulder and dragged her back.  Here's a link to one of her odd, fun stories.

Then Ling dragged me up to SoHo for a crawl through all the really hip stores, almost none of whose names I can recall except for Yellow Rat Bastard, which greatly entertained.  Good thugwear, plus some tempting shoelaces with skulls in pink ribbons on an argyle background from, who knew, a Chicago company.  (We derby girls obsess about shoelaces.  I'm still looking for some 72" pink and brown laces in wide-width.  No luck so far.  Let me know if you find any!  Also some brown or at least really weird & wild fishnets.) 

My feet were so beat, I couldn't face skating this evening, so I walked over to the Borders at Columbus Circle, signed stock & chatted with the booksellers, bought Isabel Sharpe's new Blaze novel, Forbidden Fantasies, a quart of strawberries, a chunk of chevre, and a banana, and ate and read on a park bench until it got chilly. 

Tomorrow I hit more bookstores, skate in the park again, and in the evening I'm going up to the Barnes & Noble north of here somewhere to a book launch do by a gal I met in the pool.  (I meet a lot of cool people in the pool.)  Her name is Joan Wile, and she wrote a book called Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace, which is just out this week.  I'll report on that later.

Ouch!  Very sore today!

I skated about an hour forty-five minutes in Central Park this afternoon.  The cherry trees are in bloom, along with redbud and Idunnowhat, but there were big clouds of pink and white blossoms everywhere.   Most of the trees are in the process of leafing.  Lots of people, most of them on the west side of the park, were out enjoying the day; kids, dogs, skaters, bikes, joggers, the whole boiling.  Sightings:

A svelte beauty in big swirly turquoise-blue  palazzo pants with huge "butterfly wings" that she could open by lifting her arms...on skates.  She was being photographed.  Very wow.

At the same location, but under me in the archway of the underpass, someone singing opera.  Haunting and lovely.

Before me, viewed off the same bridge, the tree-overhung lagoons, with people messing about in boats.  Cherry trees in bloom.  Music.

A group of people harnessing their tacked-and-blinkered partners up to little one- and two-person sulkies, then driving them off down the bridle path.  This was the Pony Rompers In The Park, a pony-play group.  I took pix but have no way of uploading them until I get home.  You simply can't imagine.  They were having such fun.  As I told their PR gal, I myself am in roller derby so I don't feel like pointing a finger one way or another.

I skated around the southwest corner of the park about four times, then took off across the park to go about 40 blocks north along the east side, then cut across again and return to the southwest corner.  May I say right now that this is the hilliest park I've skated so far?  I was either zooming downhill way too fast, slaloming and doing all the tricks I know to slow down, or toiling uphill with quick baby steps and feeling warning twinges from my groinal muscles the while.  Ow ow ow.  Back to the hotel, a loooong sleep in the steam room, then a slow swim in a very warm pool.  I'm still not put back together.   Hoping to skate tomorrow in the early evening, when, I'm told, they do R&B "dance" skating at around 72d in the center of the park somewhere.

I've no idea how far that is, distancewise.  Assuming it's roughly the same speed I usually skate outside, i.e. about six miles an hour, I figure I did ten miles, very conservatively speaking.  This is good.  Grant Park, where our Walk&Roll For Cancer takes place May 18 (www.walkroll.com --sign up to sponsor me!) is flat flat flat.  On the other hand, The Central Park skating surfaces are all lovely, and beautifully kept.  Wish I could say that for  Grant Park.  Plus the wind off the lake, if there is one, will add to our fun.

All things considered this was a good training day.  Let's see if I am physically capable of skating tomorrow--or even walking.

When I was a kid I had monsters in my closet.  I've developed a fondness for stories about kids with monsters in their closets, in the same way that I've grown fond of movies with psychotherapists in them.  It's always engrossing to see what somebody else does with this.

There's a really grand new strip running in the Chicago Trib called Lio by a guy named Mark Tatulli.  Lio is the mad-scientist small son of a single father, a father with a very pruney-wrinkled, harried face and a desk-worker's paunch.  Lio gets pushed in the mud sometimes...but he always has a comeback, generally high-tech, not to say rube-goldbergian, and his best friend is a squid.  And nobody talks on his strip.  Ever.  Pretty brilliant stuff.

Last day or so Lio has been dealing with the monster in his closet.  I think my favorite was the one where he makes the monster play "tea party."  As Tatulli says in an interview on the Universal Press Syndicate site, [compared with a kid traumatized by his secret world], "Lio is much more accepting."   

This revelling in the strangeness of the world is something that kept  me sane when I, too, was a mostly wordless, weird little kid.

Go read the whole thing; it's really brilliant.  Kids' worlds are dark, he says.  "It's not .... [Lio's] imagination but his reality" he says.  This guy can think like a kid.

Okay, now I'm going nuts.  I had a nice post written about crows nesting in the Chicago area, and then got derailed onto cricket frogs, and tried to find you a recording of cricket frogs only to realize that the frogs I've been calling cricket may actually be chorus frogs.  Then I blew the post away by accident.  How embarrassing.  So here are some URLs for some cool frog call recordings.  Meanwhile I'm trying to find out what frog I'm thinking of!

The frog I want sounds like "a thumb being dragged across the teeth of a comb."  In thousands, their call is quite overwhelming.

And yet this one, a Mississippi version, is some kind of mutant.  Certainly not my frog.

Ooo, here's a whole bunch of good frogs and toads.    

...And BINGO.  Mine are apparently upland chorus frogs, and wowee.  Imagine a few thousand of them singing in a schvamp.  They're almost impossible to see, even when you're standing almost on top of them.  About the size of a dime.  When they puff themselves up to sing, they're the size of two dimes.

I researched toad calls when I was writing THE VELVET CHAIR (coming May 20 to a store near you!)  (there's the commercial,  not too shabby eh?).  Now you get to wonder where the heck the toad calls come in.