Tag Archive for: research

The Research Text

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By Donnell Ann Bell

Years ago, when I worked at the Colorado Springs Business Journal as assistant editor, spotlight writer, proofreader, dishwasher, you get the idea, I shared the print room with my delightful editor and a few crazy people. Delightful and crazy are just two adjectives that come to mind. The word I reserve first and foremost for them all is talented.

Kris Oppermann Stern was the CSBJ’s editor. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to keep in contact with her, whether we toured the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver so I could research Betrayed, stood in the crowded Tattered Cover bookstore waiting to hear New York Times Bestselling Author Daniel Silva, or just hung out at her house binge-watching Twilight. To this day, she remains one of my favorite humans.

Sadly, since I moved away, we don’t do many outings but thank goodness for technology. Our last text was so ridiculous and so much fun, and since it was getting close to my blog date, I asked if I could share. (Please forgive the blurry images I pulled from the text).

Some background. I’m in full research mode for my third book in my series, working title, Irredeemable.  Naturally, I was frustrated. Here’s where our texts begin.

Donnell:  Are you familiar with Morrison Colorado?

Kris: Red Rocks is about the limit of my knowledge. Why?

DENVER COLORADO: July 21 2012: Red Rocks Amphitheater.Famous Historic Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver Colorado on July 21, 2012.

Denver, Colorado, USA downtown skyline viewed from Red Rocks at dawn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donnell: I have an escaped mental patient that needs to get there.

Kris: Excellent … can’t wait to read.

Donnell: I was hoping you might want to take a nice walk 😊

Kris: Love to—sans the escapee.

Donnell: I would take that as a no.

Kris:  ??

Me:  My sister lives close by. We drove the area I planned to write about. I can’t believe how built up it’s become. There’s nothing but residences around there. Hence, I want him to travel to Morrison because I need him to be in harsher terrain.  P.S. I hate writing.

Kris: You do not.

Me:  All right. I hate having to get a character from point A to point B when I’m ten hours away!!

Kris: That’s a different story 😊 Will he take a concert goer hostage?

Me:  LOL

Kris: Where is the hospital?

Me: It’s fictitious so I’m placing it near 423 on this map. I’ll talk to Audra Bell [my daughter]. She may be able to help me.

 

Kris: Ah. I suspect (get it) she can.

Me:  You’re just a scream today. Okay. Gotta run. Must focus.

End of Text

As I mentioned above, I asked to share. Here are two pictures along with Kris’s impressive bio, along with one silly addition, which is another reason she remains one of my favorite humans. Happy writing!

 

Bio of Kris Oppermann Stern:

    • Editor of Colorado Real Estate Journal, December 1996 – present
    • Publisher of Building Dialogue, September 2013 – present
    • Passionate wildlife conservationist, April 2018 – in perpetuity
    • Reader of Donnell Ann Bell, always

Why ‘Google’ Isn’t a Synonym for ‘Research’

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WHY
‘GOOGLE’ ISN’T A SYNONYM FOR ‘RESEARCH’ by Connie Berry

The quote about
Google and research belongs to author Dan Brown, who himself undoubtedly spent
days, weeks, months researching his complicated thrillers and was accused (but not
convicted) of lifting information from books, journals, and blogs written by
others which were available online. So, what was he talking about? There’s so
much information on the web. Isn’t Googling information a good way to research
a book in this day and age?

We all know research
can be a black hole, sucking up precious time while deceiving us into thinking we’re
accomplishing something. That’s one problem. The bigger problem for me is
deciding how much of that fascinating research to include in the book. Here’s
an example from my brand-new mystery, The Shadow of Memory.

When my
characters travel from one location to another, I ask questions. What kind of
terrain will they encounter at that time of year? Are there any landmarks or
unusual features that will capture their attention? Since I can’t always be in
the UK, I have Google Earth. Which leads to Wikipedia and all

sorts of
information connected with my story. While researching Vivian Bunn and Kate’s drive
from Long Barston to the fictional village of Upford, for example, I happened
upon the quaintly named “crinkle-crankle walls,” typical of East Anglia. I was
captivated.

In an early draft
of the novel, Vivian Bunn is reading to Kate about local history as they drive:

“It says there’s no market in Upford anymore,” Vivian said.
She was reading something

on my cell phone again. “Their claim to
fame is a crinkle-crankle wall running along the main north-south
road—smaller than the more famous one at Easton but just as picturesque.” She
looked up. “I’ve seen the one at Easton.”

“What does crinkle-crankle mean?”

“Let’s find out.”
She peered at my phone screen. “A crinkle-crankle wall is an unusual type of
serpentine garden wall found mostly in East Anglia and especially in Suffolk.
The walls began appearing in the seventeenth century when Dutch engineers were
draining the fens. Because of their stability, they were especially well suited
to the soggy, unstable ground. Sometimes as many as fifty bricks high, they
actually require fewer bricks than a straight wall—Really? I wouldn’t have
thought that—because a wavy wall can be built one-brick thick whereas a
straight wall needs at least two layers of bricks. The American president
Thomas Jefferson incorporated serpentine walls into the architecture of the
University of Virginia, which he founded in— Look!” She screeched so suddenly I nearly
veered off the road. “There it is.”

Sure enough—a sinuous red-brick wall
snaked along the road on our right. We were so taken by the sight, we almost
missed the turning toward the village center.

Yes, I was beguiled by my research. No,
crinkle-crankle walls had absolutely nothing to do with the story. They needed
to go. Here’s the final version: 

The address we’d found for the Beaufoys—Wren
Cottage, 27 Bramble Walk—led us to

           the
east side of the market town of Upford, close to the Essex border. A sinuous
red-brick

           wall
snaked along the road on the right. We were so taken by the sight, we almost
missed

            the
turning toward the village center.

The problem with research-by-Google is
too much information and the temptation to include it in the book. I’ve learned
my lesson. Now, when I’m tempted to chuck in that captivating bit of research,
I ask myself four questions:

1. Is this information necessary to
orient the reader in the scene?

2. Does it draw the reader in
emotionally or viscerally so she is experiencing the scene along

    with the characters?

3. Does the information move the plot
forward in any way?

4. Does it reveal anything significant
about the characters?

If my answer is four “no’s,” I leave it
out.

What is the most interesting piece of
information you’ve ever found while researching a book?

Did it make it into the finished
manuscript, or did you end up cutting it out?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Connie Berry writes the Kate Hamilton Mysteries, set in the
UK and featuring an American antiques dealer with a gift for solving crimes. She
was raised by antiques dealers who instilled in her a passion for history, fine
art, and travel. Her debut novel won an IPPY Gold and was an Agatha Award
finalist. Connie is a member of MWA, CWA, and SinC. She loves history, foreign
travel, cute animals, and all things British.

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

Untitled Post

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What I’ve Learned about
Death Services

by Saralyn Richard

When I was a senior in high school, I had an English teacher who moonlighted as a mortician. I don’t remember much about the course curriculum, but I have vivid memories of his stories about dead bodies, sitting up while he worked on them. Mr. M., as I’ll call him, thrived on telling grotesque tales and watching our reactions.

            Aside from those stories, I can’t remember the topic of funerals coming up much. No one likes to talk about caskets or embalming fluid over lunch or on a date. In the few instances where I’ve been responsible for arranging funerals, I’ve worked with experienced people whose calm, tact, and caring attitude helped block out the grief, and I’ve never asked too many questions.

            Fast forward to the past several years, when I’ve been writing mysteries. Mysteries often have dead bodies. Dead bodies require death services. To get the details right, I began interviewing morticians, and I learned a lot.


                                                                           One of my sources, Jay Carnes of Carnes Funeral Home, Texas City, Texas

Here
are a few salient facts:

1.          People who work in death services are
people just like you and me. They have the same hopes and fears and dreads, the
same olfactory sensibilities, the same tastes and distastes. They generally
don’t engage in discussions about them, though. If you complain about a bad day
at the office, they might sympathize, but they won’t tell you about theirs.
 
     When death is your business, and you’re
around dead bodies every day, you become immune to the drama and/or horror that
others may associate with corpses. You might even share inside jokes with
colleagues, like, “Want to have a couple of cool ones from the fridge?” This
kind of levity is never expressed in front of outsiders, though.
 
    There’s a tiny bit of guilt when business
is good, like when we have a pandemic. Some of the joy of a robust end-of-year
bottom line is mitigated by the fact that the income was derived from people’s
hardships, sorrows, or tragedies.

 

                                        James J. Terry Funeral Home in Downington, PA, where Lee Walasavage has graciously answered my questions.

My
upcoming release, BAD BLOOD SISTERS, centers around a woman who’s grown up in
this business.

Quinn McFarland has grown up around dead bodies…

Quinn’s
always joked about death, but this summer, death stops being funny. For one
thing, her brother finally undergoes transplant surgery. For another, Quinn’s
estranged BFF, her “blood” sister, is brought into the family mortuary,
bludgeoned to death.

            Quinn’s haunted by the past, her friendship gone awry,
and the blood oath she’s sworn to keep secret. The police consider her a person
of interest, and someone threatens her not to talk. Quinn is the only one who
knows enough to bring the killer to justice, but what she’s buried puts her in
extreme danger.



Bad Blood Sisters will be released March 9, 2022. My other mysteries, Murder in the One Percent, A Palette for Love and Murder, and A Murder of Principal can be found here. Sign up for my monthly newsletter with special offers, news, surveys, and more at http://saralynrichard.com. 

 

Crossword Puzzles or a Writer’s Research

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by: Donnell Ann Bell 

“What’s a three-letter word for expert?” my husband asks as
I’m getting a glass of water before returning to my office. I stiffen. Here it
comes, where I should be concentrating on three letters my brain turns into a
giant mushroom cloud and I think of every word under the sun meaning expert, including, adept, proficient, and skillful, sans one with three letters.

“You know,” he says, reading glasses perched on his nose, “Daily mind games keep your mind sharp.”

I swallow some of my water and say, “So you’ve said. See you
later, you know where I’ll be.”

What he doesn’t get is that while he works crosswords, Sudoku
and other puzzles our doctors insist keep our minds sharp, I work mind games
all day long.

I do research!  What’s
more the research I do has to. . . you guessed it . . . fit into a puzzle.  Further, that research has to appear seamless
and relevant, or you can come up with a pacing problem or worse, tell the
reader you’re DOING research.  As a new
writer years ago, my critique partner laid a dreadful accusation at my feet,
saying, “Your research is showing.”

Talk about red-faced. You never ever want your research to
show. It’s akin to a plumber’s crack or a piece of toilet paper clinging to your
shoe.

Here’s something that puzzles me, and I’ve often asked
myself why I don’t write less complicated books. The only answer I’ve come up
with is I love suspense, police procedure and want to address the topics
that interest me in my writing.  I want to understand
more divergent topics that I normally wouldn’t come across in my ordinary world. I
love thwarting my protagonists, then watching THEM work to outwit the
antagonist.

Wouldn’t it be incredible to hold all the answers in our
heads as we wrote our novels? Certainly would be simpler and imagine the productivity. But then, what fun
would that be? And how would existing knowledge stretch our imaginations? I
love discovering new avenues, further knocking around the plot with Lois Winston, my very smart critique partner, then brainstorming with experts.

One thing my husband and I are fairly equal at is Jeopardy. We watch it most evenings at 6 p.m. What’s a three-letter word for
expert? Try ACE.  Do you love puzzles? Research?
Both? Something else that keeps your
brain churning? I’d love to know.

About the Author:  Donnell Ann Bell gave up her nonfiction career in newspapers
and magazines because she was obsessed with the idea she could write a mystery or
thriller. Years later, she is an award-winning author, including a 2020 Colorado Book Award
finalist for her latest release Black Pearl, a Cold Case Suspense. Donnell’s
other books include Buried Agendas, Betrayed, Deadly Recall and the Past Came
Hunting, all of which have been Amazon bestsellers. Currently she’s submitted
book two of her cold case series to her publisher and is hard at work researching book
three.  www.donnellannbell.com

Henry VIII, My Husband, and the Pissing Drunkard

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Travel is a writer’s perk. I’ve often journeyed far from home to research the world of my books.

For my historical novels, I tramped England in the footsteps of
soldiers and queens. For my thriller The Experiment in which my heroine lives
aboard her sailboat, I explored a funky New York City marina where a skipper
took me sailing on Long Island Sound. For The Man from Spirit Creek I interviewed
a ranching couple in northern Alberta who invited me to stay for dinner where I
ate the best strawberry-rhubarb pie I’ve ever tasted.

In researching one book, though, I discovered an eye-opening
resource close to home. My husband.

  

The Queen’s Lady is set in England during the reign of Henry VIII.
Now, Henry and my husband share no similarity regarding tyrannical rule and
beheaded wives – I married a thoughtful, peaceable man. He is, however, endowed
with the standard issue male anatomy, and this helped my research.

Here’s how.

In my first draft of the novel, I’d written a
scene of a Midsummer Eve celebration in which boisterous revelers dance around
bonfires, lovers steal kisses, and a drunk old man pisses as he staggers
through the crowd.

Wait a minute, I thought. Can a man do that –
urinate while walking?

I took the problem to my husband. “Can a man do that?” I asked.

“I’ll go see,” he said, and walked out the door.

Thankfully, we lived then on sixty rural acres at the end of a dead-end
road. Not a soul around.

Five minutes later he came back in. “Yup,” he reported.

You can see why I value this resource, right?

These days, with the pandemic keeping us all close to home, I’m lucky because
I can turn to my husband again as a resource. I’m at work on a mystery novel in
which the main character is an animal rights activist, and Stephen has worked
with animal rights organizations for years. That’s him in the picture above, with an
otter friend. His stories about the fine people who protect animals inspired
this new book.  

I’ve enjoyed my travels, but right now close to home feels just fine.

Barbara Kyle is the author of the bestselling Thornleigh
Saga series of historical novels (“Riveting Tudor drama” – USA Today)
and of acclaimed thrillers. Over half a million copies of her books have been
sold. Her latest is The Man from Spirit Creek, a novel of suspense. Barbara
has taught hundreds of writers in her online classes and many have become
award-winning authors. Page-Turner, her popular how-to book for writers,
is available in print, e-book, and audiobook. Visit Barbara at www.BarbaraKyle.com  

 

 The Man from Spirit Creek 

When Liv Gardner arrives in the rural town of Spirit Creek,
Alberta, she has nothing but her old car and a temporary job as paralegal with
the local attorney. But Liv’s down-market persona is a ruse. She’s actually
in-house counsel of Falcon Oil, a small oil and gas company she co-owns with
her fiancé, CEO Mickey Havelock – and they are facing financial ruin.

Farmer Tom Wainwright, convinced that lethal “sour” gas killed his wife, is
sabotaging Falcon’s rigs. But Wainwright is clever at hiding his tracks and the
police have no evidence to charge him. With the sabotage forcing Falcon toward
bankruptcy, Liv has come undercover to befriend Wainwright – and entrap him.

But Liv never dreamed she’d become torn between saving the company she and
Mickey built and her feelings for the very man whose sabotage is ruining them. On a rain-swept night, Spirit Creek is stunned when one of their own is murdered.
The evidence does more than point to Tom Wainwright . . . it shatters Liv’s
world.

“A stunning thriller. A must-read with sabotage, murder, intrigue and romance.” – Goodreads review

 

Page-Turner: Your Path to Writing a Novel that Publishers Want and Readers Buy

“Kyle is one of the few authors who can break down both the art and the craft of writing in a way that is entertaining and easy to understand.” — #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong

 

How to Get a Handle on Using Your Novel Research

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by Linda Rodriguez
Research
is vital for all fiction writers to a certain extent, and for those
writing novels such as historical or science fiction or
techno-thrillers, research can make or break their books. Yet
research has its pitfalls and needs to be kept under control.

It’s
always a mistake to allow research to consume the story you’re
trying to tell. You can’t allow your desire to show off all of your
great research to leave your narrative littered with details that
slow down your pacing and clog up the narrative drive of your book.
It’s often better to have something mentioned in passing and not
defined or explained because your characters would know what it was.
If you feel that some kind of explanation is needed for the readers,
put it in context with a conversation, often joking, about some
difficulty with the object or law or situation that uses the barest
minimum of detail.

Another
major issue—and probably the most important—in dealing with
research is organizing it so that you can lay your hands on the item
you need as you are writing that passage. There are several possible
ways to organize research, and which is best depends on how your mind
works and which you prefer to work with.

If
you prefer to work with notes you take by hand or have a lot of
physical documents to refer to, one or more portable file boxes with
folders for each category of information—or period of time or
whatever organizing principle you choose to use—will keep
everything where you can readily access it. Binders are also a good
way to keep track of notes, documents, printouts, and with enclosed
pocket pages, smaller pieces of research or items that don’t lend
themselves to lying flat or being hole-punched. You may even be a
hardcore 3×5 card user, and you can find card files with dividers
that allow you to organize these, as well.

If
you prefer to do everything on the computer, you can set up in your
word processer a master folder for the book full of lesser folders
organized the way you would organize the physical files we talked
about. You can also use a notes program, such as Evernote or One
Note, which can be organized in any way you choose and can store
photos, graphics, and videos, as well as allowing you to tag items
with sources or cross-references.

Another
good choice for technophiles is Scrivener or other similar
book-writing programs, such as yWriter. Each of these allows you to
add research notes to the actual chapter or scene where they will be
used and then move them around, if need be. Scrivener also has a
virtual 3×5 card function and a timeline function that can be a real
lifesaver for complex books. Scrivener, of course, has many other
functions, and a lot of my friends who are bestsellers swear by it. I
intend to try it soon, but currently I use One Note for virtual
information and a three-ring binder for physical items.

One
of the things I always try to do is to keep a simple Word document
going to which I add the names of everyone I’ve talked with to
research a book. Then, when I need to write my acknowledgements page,
I have that information at hand and don’t have to worry about
forgetting anyone who helped me.

Chronology
and timelines can be a real problem, not only for historical
novelists and fantasy saga writers, but for others, such as mystery
writers, who have to juggle the timeline of what really happened at
the same time they are dealing with the timeline of how the
protagonist solved the crime. For a simple timeline, you can keep
track of things in your writing software, but for more complex or
extensive timelines, you can either turn to Scrivener, which has a
useful timeline function, or many of the other programs available
online that deal with timelines only, such as Preceden, Aeon,
Smartdraw, etc.

Of
course, you can also go the old-fashioned way of constructing a
comprehensive timeline to tape to your office wall, if you have a
nice, long horizontal space available. If not, you can tape it in big
chunks to large pieces of poster board and set them up against your
wall or on a table or floor when you need to look at the entire
timeline and perhaps shift something around on it.

Fortunately,
there are many options for organizing research open to writers today.
It’s simply a matter of choosing one or a combination of them that
fits your mental style of working and using it religiously. That last
bit is vital. You can have the best, most up-to-date method of
organizing your research, but if you don’t use it consistently, it
won’t support the work you’re trying to do. So, if you find
yourself intimidated by the technological wonders, you might be
better off using an old-fashioned file-folder system or binders you
feel comfortable in using, rather than a state-of-the-art system
you’re too nervous to use regularly. Research organization is for
your benefit alone. You don’t have to impress anyone else, so use
what really works for you.

How do you use research, if you’re a writer? If you’re a reader, have you seen good and bad research use in the novels you’ve read?

The Other Research

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by Bethany Maines 


 After reading Paffi Flood’s article about that new Beaver Bum smell, I don’t feel so bad about today’s google searches, which include best easy-open pocket knives, MAPP gas, and a variety of facts about the Tacoma Police Department in 1922. My search history may imply an interest in violence, safe breaking and the local politics of the early twentieth century, but at least I have not learned anything horrifying about ice cream.

 It has been noted on more than one occasion that mystery writers tend to have rather disturbing research patterns. But really, of course we do. No one wants to get that detail about corpse bloat wrong. So embarrassing – how could I face the other writers at the conventions? But the other, less disturbing, research rarely gets mentioned. What gets served in high-school lunches these days? Hint: tater tots are still going strong. What are the three laws of robotics again? (Answer here) What brand would a black, vegetarian, female computer hacker smoke? Turns out it’s either Newport Menthols or American Spirit Organics. What do ballet dancers do strengthen their feet? (Video here)

 My point? There’s a lot more research that goes into a work of fiction than just what happened to the dead guy. But that research isn’t particularly titillating. It’s simply the stuff we bore you with at cocktail parties. What I find interesting is that almost every person I’ve ever met has been an expert in something, from baking, bagpiping, needlepoint, and cars, to wood working, plumbing, or how the brakes on busses work. I never know when I’m going to need that expertise, but I like to keep track of my various experts. After all, I never know when I’m going to need to know how to crash a bus full of bagpipers. Not that I would ever publically admit to mentally cataloging my acquaintances by how useful they could be to future research…

***
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Wild Waters, Tales
from the City of Destiny and An
Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Market Research

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By Bethany Maines
As we have been exploring the question “Who are you like?”
this month on the Stiletto Gang, I’ve been exploring what other books in my
genres look like.  This is sometimes
gratifying on the base level of my fonts
are so much better than yours and also sometimes mystifying on the level of
why are there so many bared midriffs in
contemporary fantasy?  On the topic
of midriffs, and purely for example’s sake, I’ll put the cover of Shifting Jock in Love here.  The cover is obviously… uh… fully functional,
because I can’t stop staring at the uh… weight lifting bar.  Now that we’ve covered that topic (no, we
haven’t covered anything?), let me move on to my point.
Market research, which is what I call shopping and (gently)
making fun of book covers over a glass of wine, is important.  It’s hard to review my own book cover
submissions if I don’t know what the trends are.  Not that trends should inform every decision,
but I like to know how far out of the current I’m swimming. In addition to
finding the occasional good idea that I could be copying, I also find really
interesting authors.  Research shows that
most people buy books based on word of mouth, but in this online age, that can’t
ALWAYS be true.  From Facebook to google
ads, to the wonders of Amazon, we get a lot of recommendations about authors
and books online.  And without a person
to ask, readers are stuck trying to answer “so who are they like” question
based on the marketing surrounding the book. 
But as we all learned in grade school, you can’t always judge a book by
it’s cover.

One great resource I’ve found in my wading around the
internet is a great website – www.literature-map.com  Simply type in an author you like and it will
produce of an animated cloud of similar authors aka a handy new To Be Read list.  And you can click on the question mark in the
corner if you want to add authors to the database to improve results.  And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go
enjoy a little more market research and a Riesling.
***
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Wild Waters, Tales
from the City of Destiny and An
Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Ask the Conductor

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By Bethany Maines
Recently, I spent an hour at our historical documents
library chasing down the names of the trolley stops between Tacoma and Spanaway
Lake in the year 1914. Why, I hear you ask? What possible strange writer thing
could I be up to? Is there a new novel in the works featuring a motorman’s
adventures trying to the clear the name of a fellow conductor whose trolley
appeared to take a turn too fast and go over an embankment fiery ball of flames
in turn of the century Tacoma Washington? No, although now that you mention it,
I would totally read that novel.

In fact this research mission was related to my day job –
graphic design. While it’s rare for a design job to take me to the library, I
strongly feel that both hats that I wear revolve around the same theme – I tell
stories. Sometimes it’s in words and the stories are of my own in invention and
sometimes it’s for a client who wants to showcase their unique narrative either
in print or in the case of the trolley client on the side of their building.
Yes, they take different skills, but at the end of the day, I feel like there’s
a lot of overlap. Each project must have a beginning that sets the stage and
leads the viewer/reader into main message and then conclude in a satisfactory
manner. I think my ability to spot a narrative aids me in both lines of work.
And of course, the benefit to being paid to research strange topics, is that
who knows when a novel will require the use of my new found trolley knowledge.
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of
Destiny and An Unseen Current.
 You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Confessions of a Research Slut

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By guest Shannon Baker

Not
everything about writing novels is great. It takes lots of time I could spend
outside playing. I have to deal with the ugly face of rejection—more frequently
than I’d like to admit. Trying to work out complicated plots hurts my head.
Getting the words right with all the craft and expert writing advice swirling
around my brain is enough to make me crazy(er).

One
thing that is great about writing novels, though, aside from getting to play
god to a world of my imagination, is research.

My
plots and characters are often a product of the really cool stuff I learn while
researching. For instance, when I moved to Flagstaff and found out about the
controversy surrounding Snowbowl Ski area and man-made snow on a mountain peak
sacred to thirteen tribes, I got curious. Off I traipsed with my brand new
Flagstaff library card.

I
stumbled across several books about the Hopi tribe. I was immediately hooked. This
tiny tribe, destitute and insular, believes it is responsible for the balance
of the world. The Whole World.

I
did some in person research. One summer morning I drove a few hours to the
Homolovi ruins north of Winslow. Along with a tour of the dwellings and ruins,
a few Hopi tribal members talked about their farming technics and their
reliance on native plants. One generous young man took the time to explain to
me why the Hopi corn is planted in disarray instead of nice neat rows and why his
corn grows green and strong in the arid climate. Let me give you a hint, it has
little to do with fertilizer, barometric pressure and high and low fronts.
Hopi corn field
 Another
day I ventured even further to a public dance at Second Mesa in Shipolovi. I
was an obvious outsider. The Hopi haven’t been treated well by white folks in
the past. Their sacred relics have been stolen, outsiders broadcast their
secrets, and overall treated them with very little respect. The Hopi now have
some pretty strict rules, such as no photography, no sketching, and they frown
on note taking.

Their
dance was amazing. I was so nervous I’d do something offensive, I stood as
still and silent as possible and watched. But they wouldn’t let me be a fly on
the wall. During one break, when the kachinas filed out of the plaza, the Hopi
clowns gathered up all the white folks and sat us in the middle of the plaza.
They had some good-natured fun with us and in the end, piled many gifts into
our hands.
Because I don’t want to show actual photos from the mesas, I’m using this picture of kachina dolls to give you an idea of what a dance is like. Picture these as living beings and desert setting and pueblos.
My
Hopi research turned up so many intriguing details of their history, culture,
and beliefs I couldn’t address even a fraction in one book. So I was excited
when Midnight Ink offered me a three-book deal. Tainted Mountain delves into the Hopi prophesies, explains a little
bit about their ceremonies. It introduces kachinas and their role in Hopi
lives.

For
Broken Trust, I wanted to focus on a
different aspect of Hopi’s connection with the world. According to Hopi
beliefs, we now live in the fourth world and we’ve just about messed it up so
badly we’re approaching the end of this world and emergence to the fifth world.
Sad news for most of us, because not very many will survive to start the fifth
world.

Since
Hopi believe they hold the key to the Earth’s balance, they are concerned over
climate change and extreme weather, and think these occurrences are due to
their failure to perform all of the ceremonies. So many youth are draining from
the three mesas they aren’t able to keep all of the clans vibrant. Every clan
has specific duties to perform, so when one dwindles another clan must step in
to perform duties not historically their own. 

Hand
in hand with climate change is a shift in the Earth’s poles. The Hopi also have prophesied that “Turtle Island
could turn over two or three times and the oceans could join hands and meet the
sky.” This seems to be a prophecy of a pole shift–a flipping, of the
planet on its axis. The Hopi call this imminent condition Koyaanisqatsi, which means world out of balance, a state of life
that calls for another way.

Hadn’t
I heard of the Earth shifting on its axis? A little dive into that led me to Tesla,
which led to incredible tales of limitless, cheap energy. Following that track
took me to HAARP (the old Star Wars technology of the Cold War) and conspiracy
theories about using weather as a weapon of mass destruction, and mind control.
Which naturally took me to Jessie Ventura, as it would.
The
most frustrating thing about the research is not being able to use all the neat
stuff I learn. I guess it makes me a more well-rounded and informed person. I
figure if I write enough books I’ll be the perfect dinner party guest.

Have
any of you ever researched a topic just for fun?

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