In Which I Blog About Research

oing research is one of my favorite parts of writing. It's when and where I get ideas for plot points, find ways to make the unbelievable a little more believable, and I like learning about new things.

Here are some of the things I've been researching for "Penny's Luck".

• Names of magic tricks. (Many years ago I was a magician, but other than "French Drop" I couldn't remember the names of many of the magic tricks. It's part of the jargon that Penny will use, so I'm brushing up and learning new names.)
• Butterfly smuggling.
• Human Growth Hormone and how it's given. (Squik.)
• Meningitis, and how it's spread.
• ASL. (I'm not sure this counts, as I took lessons in sign years ago, and my son is taking ASL in high school as his foreign language, so it's stuff I may use, but didn't start learning about just for this book.)
• Cochlear Implants and the controversy around them. (Again, was learning about this stuff for a while before this book, so I'm not sure it counts as research for the book.)
• Deaf and Hearing Impaired subculture. (Same as the two above.)
• Storefront floor plans.
• Organized crime.
• Pole vaulting.
• Escape artists.
• Las Vegas. (Jobs and housing and local schools, as well as the viewpoint of the city.)
• Average growth rate of teenage boys.
• PTSD in humans.
• ATF agents.
• ATF canines. (Did you know that ATF canines are failed Guide Dogs?)
• PTSD in canines.
• Paranoia.
• VW Bug.
• Italian names for "grandfather".
• Agoraphobia.
• Monty Python. (Oh, who am I kidding? That's for fun. The fact that I can work something into the book is just icing.)
• Comic books.

Ok, that's all I remember for now, but I haven't finished outlining, so I'm sure some more things will be coming up.

Plague Research for Fun and Profit (ok maybe not so much profit)

In my Troll Wife story, I mention "The Plague Wars". This was a war between the faeish and the humans, and was the first historical example of biological warfare on a massive scale.

I don't go into much detail about the Plague Wars in the story. If I took all the bits about the wars that are spread throughout the book and put them all together, it would be about  3 pages worth of stuff. That includes dialogue.

I did study the plague, (online articles and Discovery Channel documentaries) and also read "Return of the Black Death, The World's Greatest Serial Killer". Fully 3/4 of that book was about the symptoms of the disease.

Just as a side note, after reading Return of the Black Death, I agree with the authors that it wasn't the bubonic plague. There are similar symptoms, of course, but the incubation period doesn't match at all. And some of the worst hemorrhagic symptoms don't match. Plus the disease vector for the bubonic plague didn't even exist in some of the worst hit areas.

Anyway, other than the mention of the CCR5 gene and the death toll, none of that plague research ends up in the book. But I still needed to do it, so that I would know that what I did include was authentic and verifiable. I think it makes the stuff I made up seem more believable. I could be wrong :)

But lets face it, it was fun. If it weren't fun, I wouldn't have done nearly as much research. And as an added bonus, if anyone around me starts exhibiting symptoms of the Black Death, I'll know it right away!

website: TV Tropes and Idioms (or why I can't do anything I want)

I love the website TV Tropes and Idioms. Truth be told, I could sit and read it for my entire lunch hour (and beyond). Fortunately, I still have enough self control to stop reading it at the end of said lunch hour. It's so great, I can't explain it. It's a list/data base of storytelling ideas and themes are that are used in TV, books, comics books, computer games(!) and other media. But it's really so much more! If you haven't visted this site, please check it out.

If nothing else, you'll understand that I work with Minovsky Particles and not Applied Phlebotinum which shapes how I do my world building. (Trying to explain glamour and The Gloaming in my troll wife story was very hard, because my son kept me on the straight and narrow for Minovksy Particles. I don't explain all the aspects in my story, so people might think it's Applied Phlebotinum, but they're wrong.)

from earthquakes to volcanos

Near the end of The Clockwork Cat (my steampunk WIP) Our Fearless Heroine, her aunt, the clockwork cat, and (of course) the butler take an airship (captained by a possibly smitten Luddite) to an island to rescue our Fearless Heroine's father.

The only problem is that the island is named (de de de) Mount Tambora!

Yeah, just doesn't have the same kick as Krakatoa, does it. The problem is that Krakatoa didn't have its huge eruption until 1883, while Mount Tambora erupted in 1815. 1815 fits better for my timeline, plus Mount Tambora was a bigger eruption than Krakatoa. (Thus lots of potential for some volcano vs airship action.)

When my readers see the name Krakatoa, they know a volcanic eruption is coming. I don't want it to be a surprise, I want to use that foreknowledge to build tension for the reader. So, shift my book timeline to 1883 and use Krakatoa, or keep it in 1815 and use Mount Tambora, and find some other way to alert the reader without being too ham handed.

Le sigh.