A bookaholic when it comes to research

Okay, I confess. I'm a bookaholic when it comes to buying research books. Oh yes, I buy lots of romance also, but we'll save that for another day. Today, I decided to start my inventory project and I decided to begin with my office.

I knew I had lots of books but writing down the titles, authors and copyright dates on three shelves worth of books took all afternoon. But - I found some real treasures in doing so. Most of the books I buy come from Half-Price Books. I can spend hours just browsing for historical gems and it shows. I found at least 4 collectible books, books I bought for five or ten dollars but are worth far more. Doing a search of the books on a collectible site led to the discovery of these 4 jewels. So fun.

Books usually find their way to my place because they spark an idea, like the the book, Life at the Texas State Lunatic Asylum, 1857 – 1997 by Sarah C. Sitton. I always thought it would be fun to use an asylum as part of the setting for a book but never got any further than the idea.

I have a whole row devoted to the medieval times and Vikings. I also have a whole row on books that deal with writing like On Writing by Steven King and TheWriter’s Journey by Christopher Vogler.  I highly recommend both books. Astrology books also grace the top shelf as I find them useful in developing my characters along with a book on archtypes. Another row is devoted to just books on the old west from Texas Rangers to the Overland Trail to a Railroad Atlas. The bottom photo shows just a few of my research books.

The fun part about doing the inventory is being reintroduced to books I'd forgotten about and letting those books spark ideas. Oh yeah, the ideas are flowing. Now to find time to write. 

Yes, the Internet is a wonderful tool but sometimes I'd much rather do the research the old fashioned way.

Spike in Ranking!

So Tuesday, I was checking the ranking on books and I noticed a significant spike from the previous day. The book in question is The Keeper of Moon Haven and the site I was checking was Amazon.

Why? Not sure except that my publisher is attending the Calgary Expo where she's got a booth to sell books. Anyway, the ranking for this book was 570,000ish (can't remember the exact number) but let's say, it was just sleeping there on Tuesday, but Tuesday night when I checked (Yeah, I was procrastinating on writing), the ranking had risen to 76,000ish. Today, it had dropped some but still, I'm quite thrilled.

Of course, these numbers are rather intimidating to figure out so I did a search and found information on another blog site that's fairly easy to understand. http://www.rachellegardner.com/2010/10/what-do-amazon-rankings-mean-to-authors/

Anyway, thought I'd do a little plugging for this book in hopes that the ranking would improve even more. I realize it's an older book but I would love to get it back into the 1 - 10,000 rank if possible.

Here's the Blurb:

On the southern fringes of the Mendip Hills sits the Castle Hamingjur, an abandoned structure most fear haunted. Yet, on the rare occasions when the Hunter’s Blue Moon occurs, the Keeper occupies this mysterious castle where he guards the bridge to Alfheim Haven.

Noreen Willshire discovers more than fairytales hidden between the pages of Beletania’s diary. She opens the ancient book and finds a pathway to a Faery Realm where all manner of mythical creatures reside. In her naïveté, she summons the Keeper before his scheduled time in the human realm. In that brief moment, the mysterious wizard touches her soul with more than magick. She promises to return the diary during Mefylleth, a time when the barriers between the two realms melt away, but danger stalks her path. Torn between her desire to make a new life for herself in America and her growing love for the Keeper, she must bridge the gap between magick and time to follow her heart.

Available for Kindle 

That song resonates

Have you heard a song recently that you just knew would hit the charts running? My daughter played a song for me about a month or more ago, Gotye's Somebody That I used to Know.  

At the time, I think they were known in their country but not yet International stars. Well, that song is now #1 on the charts. It's a great song and the video is equally exciting.

So - are books the same way? I mean, an author can have a ton of good books but usually, there will be one that stands out, that surpasses all others in the way readers receive it.

That's what I'm going for. I think that's what most authors are going for, to have book after book reach a level of success that basically says; wow! You've arrived.

An author can do everything right in terms of craft and still have a story that's ho-hum. Sometimes an author can have the most amazing story but somehow miss the mark with craft. Which sells more books? Dunno. But - I think you raise your chances of a great novel if you do pay attention to all the craft elements. I think it's important to revisit those sometimes so here's my checklist. Feel free to add to it.

1. Active vs passive
2. POV
3. Fully developed characters who have history, ancestors, background, religion, etc
4. Internal and external conflict for both main characters
5. An antagonist that has redeemable qualities
6. Chapters that end and begin with hooks.
7. Pacing
8. HEA (since I write romance)
9. A powerful black moment
10. Goals, motivation and conflict
11. A great story

So now - I want each of my stories to resonate, to ring a chord with all my readers. It's a great wish, I think.

Onward to Alabama

I'm happy to report that my characters have left Indianola and are now in Citronelle, Alabama. I'm at 63,000 words and I'm hoping to tie up all lose ends by 80,000. Of course, now I have more research ahead of me and I'm discovering there's not as much info as I would like but I've managed to get a pretty good vision in mind for how the town was laid out. I went to every site on the web I could find.

While the majority of my story takes place in Indianola, the hero is from Beaver Meadows (also known as Beaver Mills) , now a ghost town in Alabama, but at one time Beaver Meadows was a thriving community. They supplied confederate uniforms from there. Wow, lots of history.

Of course, I'm also learning that at the time of my story, there was a lot of political upheavel in the state. The election in November of that month (about the time of my story) was rather brutal. Various factions prevented republicans from voting so the democrats would win. Not sure how I plan to weave that into the story, but ... it is a fact that I can't ignore.

I do hope to add the Surrender Oak to the story somehow. It no longer exists, having been distroyed in a 1902 hurricane, but it's a very important part of history. Speaking of trees, check out the bend on these trees. We found these in Fulton, TX along the coast and I can only assume it's due to the constant wind.

Don't forget your geography when researching

On route to our spring break vacation, hubby made an innocent comment that really got me to thinking. He said, "You know, there's only one natural lake in Texas."

How many of us who write historical romance rely on maps to help us picture the setting? I do. I try hard to look for historical maps and there are a ton out there, but often, those maps don't give me the details I'm looking for. On the other hand, I write a lot of historical western romances, most of which are set in Texas. Being a Texas resident, I assume the topography won't have changed much in 100 - 200 years. And too, being fiction, readers generally assume this as well so if you change the land to reflect what it really looked like back then, readers will sometimes argue with you. Needless, I never gave much thought to researching geography in addition to researching the history. Luckily, I don't think I've made any grave errors in the work I've done so far with regards to the evolving land, but you can rest assured I'll be including geography from now on.

As for the one natural lake in Texas, that would be Caddo Lake. An earthquake and a log jam helped create the 25,000 acre body of water. Not only is it the only natural lake in Texas, but it's the only natural lake in the south. What does this mean to authors creating settings for their historical fictions? Be sure to look at the history of the lake or river you're including in your manuscript. Due to flooding from the Brazos River, state legistlature mandated dams in the 1930s and 40s. These dams created lakes. If you're writing a historical western set along the Brazos River, make sure your characters don't encounter any lakes prior to this time.

Weather plays a part in the changing topography as well. As you know we took a trip to Indianola so I could better visualize my setting. Because of the two hurricanes (the one in 1875 and the one in 1886), the coastline if different than what my characters would have enjoyed. For one, there's less land.

Mappin' it out

So one of the things I learned when I made my trip to the Calhoun County Museum is that the town was laid out much differently than I assumed. Unfortunately that meant some major tweaking where my story was concerned.

This was a recreation scale model of the town and since it was in a class container, the pic isn't all that clear but it will give you some idea of the docks. The longest dock actually has railroad tracks on it as the train would pull up right next to the ships so they could load and unload freight.

The town moved from higher ground to this area next to Powderhorn Bayou which unfortunately aided in their demise. The elevation was much lower and a prime target for the flooding the hurricane would bring.

Researching Indianola

Got back from my vacation ready to plow into my wip and finish that baby. Hubby and I tootled down to the coast and spent three nights enjoying the scenery and good food. Of course, we had to share with the ton of college kids on spring break but we only had one bad night of no sleep where the party next door got rather loud and obnoxious. And dang - they didn't invite the old folks. What's up with that?


Our first day took us to Port A. The weather was rainy but we didn't mind. We were there to just relax and hang out.

The following day, we headed to Fulton and had the best seafood. I'm still stuffed just thinking about it. We went to the Rockport museum and refreshed our memories on La Salle's Belle. I'd gone about 15 years ago with a group of students to see the excavation. Very interesting as they'd created a void in the ocean around the Belle's reckage so they could excavate. We took a boat and could see down into the cofferdam they'd built. After this field trip, we took another to TAMU and saw how they were preserving the various items rescued from the find. We also went to the Fulton Mansion, a very impressive Victorian structure.

The next day we spent at Port Lavaca where we saw the Halfmoon Reef Lighthouse. It survived the hurricane of 1875 at Indianola so this fascinated me. We had to wait until the following day to visit the Calhoun County Museum where I could really find the information I was seeking.

So - with that, I'm going to post the rest tomorrow. Off to enjoy a date with my mother.