Firing up your Fiction

Have you ever read a book where it is obvious that the writer did not do his or her research? Did it turn you off from reading further or did you get past it?

There are many editors that will do the research to verify something mentioned in a novel is fact or fiction. Even if the novel is a work of fiction publishers and readers prefer to see some string of fact in the writing. This is why we, the authors, do our research.

My latest research has engaged me in the "right to bear and keep arms" as afforded us in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. (okay...I had to look that up)

On Saturday mornings for about 8-weeks now I have been getting up and packing what can only be termed a small suitcase, and driving to Weare, NH for pistol shooting lessons with Gunnery Sergeant Mike Stevens, USMC Force Recon Retired otherwise known as 'Gunny'.

Seriously, could you ask for a better instructor?

Mike is is the owner of Classic Armorer and a no holds bar, tell you like it is instructor who is very serious about what he teaches and who he teaches.

My very first class Gunny taught me how to handle a pistol, how to tear it down, how to clean it, and how to put it back together.

It wasn't until after those first lessons of the day that we walked down to his outdoor shooting range. There, Mike coached me on 'range etiquette'.

I have to wear protective eyewear, a shirt that covers my upper body so a hot bullet doesn't hit and burn my skin, and protective 'ears' that muffle the gunshot sound but allow me to hear his instructions, and always keep the weapon aimed down range.

With the weapon unloaded, the magazine loaded with target ammo, and all safety gear in place, I walk to the 21-foot line in front of a paper target.

Why a 21-foot line?

According to Gunny and the FBI, the average distance in a gun fight is 21-feet.

With my unloaded .380 Bersa held at my side and the clip in my opposite hand, I wait for Gunny's command.

The first command is "Ready on the line." This phrase tells me to load my weapon and stand in the shooting position he taught me with the gun aimed at the target.

"What is the shooting position?"

Your feet are about shoulder-width apart, your upper body is tilted slightly forward in what Gunny describes as "arrhhhhh", and your shooting hand is up at eye-level. Then you take your free hand and place it under and wrapped around your shooting hand so it acts as a pedestal to help control the weapon. This is known as the pedestal hand. The arm attached to your pedestal hand is slightly bent at the elbow for cushioning the recoil. Your head is tilted enough to site down your shooting arm and eye the site at the end of your pistol to the target. At this point, your finger is NOT on the trigger.

Now I wait for the next command.

The second command is "Fire on the range." This phrase is the command to fire when ready and for me is usally followed by Gunny saying, "Squeeze and breathe." Apparently I hold my breath. Not a good thing as it makes my muscles bunch up and therefore my aim will be off and the recoil will not be cushioned.

How am I doing?

Shooting takes practice to be able to hit the target in a skilled and consistent manner and an instructor with integrity to teach you how to not only shoot the pistol, but to teach you how to care for and handle the weapon in a safe and responsible way. This is why a friend of mine recommended Gunnery Sergeant Mike Stevens, USMC Force Recon Retired.

Stay tuned as I continue my lessons and research with Classic Armorer.

Sometimes research can be embarassing

Yesterday my friend and fellow writer as well as artist Lisa stopped by. She showed me the drawing of the beautiful glass art she is going to make for me. I am really looking forward to seeing it when it is completed.

Beyond that we talked about our current writing works in progress. This is typical of us when we get together and it's always helpful and interesting. As we talked we discussed the research we have to to do. Lisa's was particularly interesting because one of the pieces of information she needed we don't think you can find in a book.

Now, if you're a sensitive soul you might want to turn your head or you'll blush.

Here's the question: If you're the hero in a book and you need to either prevent yourself from getting um. . .excited, hard, what do you do?

Or another version of the same question: What if you're already in an erect state? How do you, uh, deflate the situation?

Whatever help you can provide us would be helpful not to just Lisa and I but I'm sure to other writers as well. Thanks.

Friends make the most interesting characters

Let's talk about friends. Actually, Let's talk about really good friends and how they influence our writing. Moreso, how those friends make for some really great characters.


Do you have one of those friends that you have known for what seems like forever? You know, the kind that you met as a kid, who knows what you're going to say before you say it. The same person who can tell when you need a chocolate ice cream cone to make the bad day go away.


I have a friend like that. All the other friends I met in my younger more formative years have gone by the wayside, but Duane has somehow managed to remain a constant in my life. I might not hear from him for months or see him for years, but when we do hook up it's like time stood still. The conversation is fluid and comfortable as if we haven't moved across the country or world from each other.


Duane is my lifetime friend and the one guy who managed to work his way into my entire family's heart. He became a part of the family. I think my father secretly considers Duane (AKA Dewey) the son he never had. My father has four daughters. :-)


When my father turned sixty, we had a huge celebration with family and friends. Duane, who had been overseas, surprised my dad by showing up for the party. It was one of those memorable and rare moments where my father choked up with happiness.


Duane is one of those good friends who when I sent him an email message to tell him that I got divorced he called my parents' house to get my phone number (because, gee, he's only had it for how long, but somehow can't locate it) and blabs to my mother the situation before I get a chance to and then he proceeds to call me up and give me grief for not saying something sooner. Of course, I yell right back and tell him I can't believe he said anything. Gotta love friends like that!


Later that same year, I located the house I wanted to buy the same day he called me from returning from overseas. After a very short conversation, he was on a plane flying up to checkout what would become my new home. Duane was the first person to see it. I still have the photos of him posing in every empty room.


Why am I telling you all of this?

There are some people in our lives who affect us so profoundly that we can't let them go. Duane is that character in my life. I use the word character because he and his career have influenced my writing.


How?

When I wrote It Happens in Threes, all I knew is that I wanted to write suspense. I used what I imagined Duane's job would be like for my hero as a government spook. Not to mention some of his quaint, if not overused quips he likes to throw at me, in particular, one Russian phrase that appears to be his pet name for me. I can't share it in mixed company. Between Duane's chosen career choice and my technology background, I crafted my first techno-romantic thriller.

When Jeannie Ruesch made the book trailer for It Happens in Threes, I gave her a description of Duane and if you checkout the video, you'll know she came pretty close to capturing the hero. Trailer link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBTLTtJY9V0

In Killer Bunny Hill, I again leveraged some of what I had gleamed about Duane's career to create a hero who works for a secret government agency and has traveled abroad.

It was when I wrote Connect the Dots that I truly started to understand and appreciate what Duane does as this book moves into the realm of human intelligence gathering, only this time, it's the heroine who travels in that world. After I had the first few chapters written, I emailed them to Duane for his approval and inspection. (I never share my WIPs with anyone who is not my editor or critique partners.) Anyway, this was great! He reviewed it for accuracy in terms and descriptions, and every once and a while we would catch up and I would get to ask him questions and cross my fingers that he could answer them. Wait til you read it!

There are obviously other family and friends who have influenced my writing and become a big part of my book process. Most of you know my father is my first round editor and probably my biggest supporter.

Share with me and other readers.

I tell you about Duane because I want to know, would like you to share, who of your friends have made it into your books and why? Is it just their name? Their personality? Their looks? What about this longtime friend made you include him/her in your novel or short story?

Do they know it? What do they think about it?

Tell us about someone who has affected your writing.

The Perils of Research

How many of you have to or need to do research for the book you are writing?

On my current WIP, I had to do some research just to get started because I know very little about how the Intelligence organizations work.

Well, in doing so, I found some great and interesting information. The peril for me came when I would look up one thing that led to another and another, and even another. All of it became too interesting that I forgot the "scope" of the book.

I didn't forget the book because I have been writing like crazy, but I forgot what the hero/heroine's goal was, where I wanted to end up.

I got to about page 175 and became confused. (Okay, that may not be because of my story.) Anyway, I had to revisit the story and get an answer to one basic question. "Why was this one guy dead?"

It actually took me 2 days to state why.

Why did it take me that long to answer the question?

Because all the interesting facts I found became a puzzle in their own right so I wanted to put those together rather than my book's puzzle.

Thankfully, once I had the answer to that single question, I could answer all the other questions and move the story forward. Of course, I did have to go back and tweak a few chapters and even added another one in the middle yesterday.

Moral of this story. . .BEWARE of the perils of research in book writing.

Articles - Passive Voice

One person from my writer's group suggested a couple of writing articles for my next effort. Thanks, Jennifer!

Last week before I took the 5 hour drive to NJ, I did manage to get an article written on Passive Voice. I'll post that soon on my website. This may be an option for me when I do my speaker bit in February for the NHRWA.

If you've never been to a NHRWA meeting you should check it out. http://nhrwa.tripod.com/

Anyway, one thing you should know about passive voice that I found very interesting is that it is the number 1 thing new fiction writer's do wrong. Can you believe that?

But you know why? Because passive voice is how we speak.

There's some trivia for you.

Last days of NaNoWriMo

Okay, so I haven't been the best at paying attention to NaNoWriMo. Shame on Me. My friend Nora is cruising though and her story is excellent.

Me, because I focused on finishing my WIP I didn't get too much done. BUT after I came up with my next story idea and in between research (a lot of research), I did manage to write 8300 words on my new novel. And I still have 4 more days to go. Not that I will have the novel done in 4 days, but I will be into a very good start. So far I'm averaging about 2000 words (give or take) a day or 2 chapters a day. That's not bad considering the research I've had to do on human intelligence gathering and the reading of body language.

My next blog I'll post some of the body language traits I've learned. Maybe you can use them in your next book. . .or in your interactions with people. Very interesting stuff.

Okay, off to write.

Next Story Idea

After two days of frustration I finally figured out, at least at a high level, my next story. Sometimes it's best to just step away from the computer and everything else and go with old-fashioned paper and pen. I found a quiet place to sit and just let thoughts, questions, and ideas drift around in my head, writing all of them down as I went.

As I did this the story started to unfold. Not in any detail, but enough to keep me motivated on this next story and actually do some research into it. The sad part is, that there isn't much readily available on HUMINT (human intelligence) or the Intelligence Community as a whole. And, oh my gosh, if you read some of the information that is listed on sites it is so convoluted and indirect you can't even figure out what they are actually saying.

No fear. This morning I woke up and had the storyline more clearly outlined in my head. So today my job will be do try and write a rough outline and more than likely write chapter 2. I'm one of those writers who really can't outline more than a couple of steps ahead. Believe me, I've tried.

I think someone should come up with a good outline template for a romantic-suspense novel. Not just the Beginning, Middle, and End stuff you see all over the place.

Anyway, I'm to plan, outline, write, and do more research. If anyone has suggestions on good sites on HUMINT collection, feel free to post a comment here.

Quick Quip

Last night I went out with a friend of mine for dinner and afterwards she asked me to stop by the post office so she could drop a couple of letters in the mailbox. The mailboxes were the big metal ones that sit at a curb and you can pull up in front of them, slip the envelopes in, then drive away.

Of course it's not that easy. :-)

We pulled up right behind a car and waited for him to slide his mail in. And waited. And waited. His hands would go sneak out the window and then back in again. Not once did I see any paper.

Finally, I turned to my friend and asked her, "Do you think he's having trouble ordering his Venti Caramel Apple Spice?"

Seriously, I thought the guy was trying to order food or something. No, I did not honk. We were having too much fun laughing at the fact that it took forever. Plus, he finally did figure out how to put the mail in the mailbox. Of course when it was our turn we knew what we wanted so our order didn't take nearly as long. LOL!

Now, how could you use that little event in a book? I can think of a couple of ways.

Your hero or heroine could be in a hurry but just have to do this one little errand. That could lead to all kinds of scenarios. . .they're late for whatever they were in a hurry for, like getting to a stakeout, or a meeting with a bad guy. Or maybe that little detour and lengthy wait in line gave the bad guy an opportunity to ambush them. Any ideas spring to your mind?

4 walls caving in

Ever go through those days when you feel like you've been cooped up and the walls are caving in, but you've got to do some writing? Or have those days when the family, friends, or pets just won't let you do any writing? Maybe you can't turn off your brain from thinking about the job, the house work, etc.

What do you do?

For me it depends on the time of day. Some mornings I get up and drive to a relatively close Panera. They open at like 6:30 AM and they have free WiFi so if I need/want internet access it's available. I get there, grab a Mountain Dew (not a huge coffee drinker unless it's a flavored cappuccino) and half a bagel or pecan twist, then find a booth, boot up the laptop and go to town.

If it's at the end of the day and I need to unwind in order to write I tend to go to a local restaurant like Margarita's or Billy's Bar & Grill. Neither of these places have WiFi, but they have the requisite booth, great wait staff, and an environment that gives you the ability to forget everything else, relax, and write like a crazy woman.

I went to both places yesterday and it was fantastic! I revised one chapter and it's much better (even if I do say so myself). Then last night I managed to write another chapter. And as soon as I quit chatting on my blog I'm about ready to attack the next chapter before I meet my class tonight.

What do you do when you need time and place to do some good writing?

OH! One added benefit to going to some local places is that people get to know you and when they find out you're writing a book they're very supportive and excited for you. Try it!

Research for your book?

You're in the middle of writing a story and you realize your character has to shoot a pistol, but you've never shot one. You don't own a gun.

You have to describe the weapon, the weight and feel of it, the recoil, how to site with it, etc. What do you do?

Easy...you do research. In my case, I didn't just search the internet or look up information at the library/bookstore, I did the hands-on approach. I have a friend that owns several weapons and he showed me them and let me try a few out. We went to his house where he owns 10 acres of land, he set up a paper target, then he told me to pick a gun and try it.

After almost falling on my butt, and he got a good laugh, my friend then showed me all the proper ways to hold a pistol, load it, aim it, and then pull the trigger. Through the course of this "research" I tried various weapons he had at his disposal.

To top off the at home research we went to a gun shop. The owner was very friendly and informative. He was very willing to answer any questions about all the guns in his shop, like what situation would you use one versus another, what do average police shoot, military, etc. He also was helpful in explaining the local gun laws. To my surprise, the gun shop owner offered to let me try a gun. He took me out in the back of the shop, handed me a Walther PPK, and had me aim for his big sand pile. Wow! What a racket. Then, the owner added a silencer to the weapon and I shot it again. Not quite silent, but it wasn't deafening.

I took my research further and went to an actual firing range. A great experience. You walk in and have to show ID, select a weapon (unless you have your own), buy the bullets, and the number of targets you want to shoot at. You take all that and hearing protection into another room where you do the actual target shooting. This would be the firing range. It kinda reminds me of a driving ranges where each person has their own slot of space.

Anyway, I did took the lessons learned from my friend and the gun shop owner and applied them as I shot 50 rounds into several paper targets.

Although the internet makes doing research easy, the best research is going that extra step and checking things out for yourself. And when you write your various scenes, like I did in IT HAPPENS IN THREES, the reader will feel like they're right there because they're experiencing what you did through your words.

What research have you had to do?