As part of its investigation novels, best-selling author Jodi Picoult is milked a cow Amish country, and beat the native Alaskan Nat. He trembles when he remembers to leave abandoned mental institution in New England at night in winter and paranormal researchers. His team toiled in a field where the building was burned into the patient.
"I was walking with a sensitive person who can" feel "ghosts," Picoult said. "Suddenly, all the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Before he could talk to my walking partner, built a digital camera up behind us on our shoulders. While there is nothing visible naked eye in the viewfinder was a white mist, ghostly image. "
Like many writers published Picoult, author of books such as Vanishing Acts, do not spend all his time on his computer or his novel would not be as many models as it is. Excursions as they can extend the author's knowledge base and provide opportunities to gather, the mood of the color and scene data are not available for research in the book. More importantly, exposure to practice writing show that you've done your homework. Agents and publishers rely on readers and writers seeking accurate as writers who spew them into the world ripe for an authentic detail.
"There is nothing worse than reading a book and know nothing about him that does not ring true," says the author Erica Orloff.
Of course, the adage "Write what you know" has some truth, but if that's all she wrote, our fiction is boring. The next time you're stuck on a stage, put on his hat as a journalist and pick up the story. Here are some tips on how to do it, and a look at the way some novelists to successfully work practice.
Organize study tours
If you want to visit a site or to interview an expert, search the Internet and by phone to the outlook. Large organizations can have a communication service that handles requests for information. Cold Calling is good, but not a person to be examined on site to take an appointment in both the time to prepare. Etnies Kids Jameson can also submit your request in a letter or email. Before the visit, read about and develop specific questions. Bring a notebook to the interview and ask if you can call with follow-up questions. Then be sure to show your appreciation with a thank you note.
Bestselling suspense writer Lisa Gardner met with the Rhode Island State Police in his novel Survivor's Club, and also paved the Providence courthouse to determine the ideal angle shot by a sniper. Killing hours, visited the FBI Academy to learn to live a new agent and has spent the week, the U.S. Geological Survey team, controlling the remote areas of Virginia, "Eco-Killer" to give up his victim. Other branches led him to hunt in Texas, where he studied the application of the Protocol.
"I have to be able to write something about image," he said. "Actually, since the Texas electric chair retired, was more fascinating than reading about it. To walk in a maximum security prison, get the pictures, sounds, and especially the smell, it makes the atmosphere come alive in a easy way to talk anymore. Then I can enjoy this experience, in turn, and make it come alive for the reader. "
Stephen Coonts, bestselling author of action / adventure, took a flight demonstration on the concept of F-22 cockpit at Lockheed Martin in Georgia fortunes of war. Talked their way into the V-22 Osprey simulator at NAS Patuxent River, the base for scenes of his novel "Al-Jihad." Although research is essential, do not tell the reader information overload.
"The first condition for a writer is a good story," Coonts said. "When you see how the story will go, so do enough research to give the story flavor of authenticity. Salt in a bit of jargon, but only slightly. Write on the information that you do not know. The easiest way and the best to do research is to find an expert and ask exactly the question you need answers. shotgunning (or spread) research is a waste of time. "
Making ring true
Orloff recommends to determine the settings at the beginning, so they look natural under story. He explored the disco Sanibel Island Spanish and realized that a low rate would have tried heroin impatient. Orloff wanted to describe the grungy bar Roof Man, located in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. He visited a place like this and I saw that the accumulation of nicotine giant yellow-brown stains on the lining and a bar.
"It 'a detail that makes me write more than simply writing a" dirty. "He said," When I talk to schoolchildren as the writer, I tell them to expel "cheesy" adjectives to their writing, for example: long, dirty, ugly. What is dirty, the average reader can not be a candle, what a crime lord of Hell's Kitchen thinks so dirty. I think something that sinks in the book some readers there is someone local that can be wrong. "
children's book author Uma Krishnaswami literally wrote the book on excursions beyond the tour, teaching and learning in public places, which describes the benefits of school trips. Krishnaswami returned to his roots in India in search of their average grade novel Naming Maya. Recalls the decision to take a picture in front of a police station in Chennai, India, she and her mother were walking to a grocery store.
"A policeman, she recalls," came on a mission to scold me and said I did not know it was once dangerous and I could not go around taking pictures of a police station .. .. My mother said: "He can tell you are" there ". Well, I wore a sari, but oh hell, Etnies footwear, water bottle ... what I think I could fall in exactly this way? Everything was so perfect that the scene just fell into my book and shut the place where nothing else seems to. "
Keep a new series
The authors of fiction of specific challenges, because they are the representation of different characters and settings. You can prevent stale, Twist Phelan must learn roping, cycled from coast to coast and went to his climbing Pinnacle Peak Mysteries. Mindy Starns Clark, author of Christian-themed Million Dollar Mysteries owner believes paranoid to let my secret.
Clark advised writers to develop short story presented in future series installments before writing their first book. This will facilitate the desired spot the similarities and creates unique circumstances.
"It also helps to know where to go in the future, allowing you to plant seeds," he said. "I knew my character would be diving in a later book, he had mentioned he was a certified diver in an earlier book. Otherwise, do not think it would have been more credible when it finally happened."
Sharon Short, who centers a series of mysterious Laundromat owner Josie Toadfern autistic cousin Josie Guy wanted to make regular appearances. She visited a nursing home, interviewing the director and the meeting of an autistic man who proudly prepared tea for the guests. Without this visit, doubt it could have short-Guy a continuing nature. She did her research before she wrote a contract and new authors should not feel embarrassed by the lack of power in publishing.
"Many people like to talk about their areas of interest," he said. "Just to say" I'm writing a book of XYZ and are happy to visit the museum / store / dorm / whatever and ask a few questions "is enough to open more doors. ... And if it does not work find someone else to ask."
Rhys Bowen, author of Molly Murphy and Constable Evans mystery of mysteries, is a series set in North Wales and the other in 1901 in New York. He always crossing the globe to ensure getting the right things. In Wales, may be small because the information that the beer is drunk in some pub. New York tour, can focus on how long it takes to walk from place to place and walk the narrow feasible boots his character would wear.
'I do not think you can write about a place without feeling his soul, "said Bowen. "Choose a setting and characters, because you feel passionately about them ... If the series takes off, we must live with these people long ago."
Creative Alternatives
It can be a difficult decision to travel to research, especially if you are issued with a family and work. Sometimes the phone can be an inexpensive alternative. Audrey Couloumbis, Newbery Honor author of the book closer to baby need to learn about Louisiana Cajun country for a previous project. Her local library has ordered people she could call on the phone. She had an idea of ??the language and lessons on holiday when "Miz Lanforcaux threw his annual barbecue pork, no men or wimmin chirrun would fail even to have him assassinated." Whenever a question was raised, she called one of his new friends.
"I was particularly intriguing, as the" day it rained snakes, one of the hottest days on record, and yes, snakes fell from tree branches, they got too hot, "said Couloumbis.
The authors can be pro-active in gathering information by keeping a diary of events, although the story is not yet in hand or mind. Preserve the details if you need it, you have a first hand account. After the holidays, store brochures, real estate magazines and maps in a "you never know" file. When Sue Owens Wright, author of Howling Bloody Murder, was a guest speaker at the Illinois Basset Waddle, she realized she could not pass up this opportunity. More than 1,000 dogs participating in competitions such as longest Wing Fang, when the ears extended Dumbo-style. The king and queen waddle loafed in Royal robes above their float.
"Unbeknownst to the dogs and their owners, while observing this strange event that the first time I took notes," said Wright. "I left with a lot of documentation."
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