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Debra did quite a bit of research for A Christmas to Remember.
The inspiration for A Christmas to Remember came from a song of the same name sung by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Every year at Christmas while listening to the song, ideas for a story would spin in my head. One year I finally sat down and got around to writing it. The theme of Christmas was easy. I love Christmas so it was a delight to play up all of my favorite things about the holiday to include in the story.
The setting, however, was a bit trickier. A line from the song goes: "curled up by the fireplace in a Tahoe ski chalet". I didn't want to copy the song exactly, so I moved the chalet to Colorado, but I definitely wanted to stick with a ski resort.
Problem was, I'd never skied a day in my life. Normally I use settings I'm familiar with, as in I've been there before, so this was new territory for me. What did I do? Headed to the trusty library, of course. When I do need to research, my reference books of choice are usually found in the Youth section. Youth non-fiction books have lots of pictures and easy-to-understand text. They break things down into simpler terms, without getting bogged down with too much detail. So, I found a few of those and then also checked out either "Skiing for Dummies" or "The Idiot's Guide to Skiing". Again, for the basics: simple, clear, not too detailed.
After doing my research I really, really wanted to get brave and head out on a ski holiday...maybe one of these days.
In writing the skiing scenes, I used lots of the information I'd gathered. Perhaps a tad too much. One of my editor's comments said those scenes read a bit like an instructional manual. Oops. I got so carried away and excited about the things I was discovering that I forgot to focus on the relationship that was developing. Instead I was aiming to share all of the wonderful things I learned about skiing.
After some creative editing, I shifted the focus of the scenes back to the romance, while still keeping many of my newly-found details about this popular winter sport.
And I learned something else, too, getting the details right and authentic is super important, but even those super-interesting and newly discovered facts shouldn't overshadow the main focus of the story: the romance between my hero and heroine.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
You hit upon something that turned on a light for me, Debra.
ReplyDeleteAfter I research details (like your skiing) and write, I, too, tend to sound more like a manual than a character with a passion (or fear). It's okay for the first draft, and I can edit that into a character's deep POV later. Just have to remember to do it.
Great post!
That's such a great way to put it, Ana...the research should go into showing a passion of a character! I'm going to keep that in mind...make it personal, not technical. :)
DeleteMy librarians always recommend the YA section to me when I want to do research. Maybe they're writers by night.
ReplyDeleteI love librarians!
DeleteI discovered the same kind of thing with my volcanoes in Changing the Future. While it was interesting to learn so much about volcanoes, in the end I probably only used about 1% of all the information I researched. Similarly with my current WIP which features the scandal of the hundreds of illegitimate babies sold for adoption in America. Once I started researching this, I became totally engrossed - but will need to omit a lot of the detail. As you say, the main focus of the story has to be the relationship between the hero and heroine.
ReplyDeleteIt's like all of the backstory we build for our characters. WE need to know it in order to know them and write the book, but readers don't need to hear about most of it. It's more for our knowledge than theirs.
DeleteHi Debra, It's so easy to get carried away and share everything we've researched. I agree with Paula - best to limit the amount used.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to get the "ski" experience, try cross-country skiing. Much tamer and a great workout.
Joanne :)
I've heard that about cross country skiing. I love that option...tame is totally fine for me! :)
DeleteCross country skiing is tame height-wise but you sure have to be in good shape. And have the right ski wax for the conditions.
DeleteYes, I hear it's super strenuous.
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