Insecure Writers Support Group - Travelling through the Queensland Outback

Hi Everyone!

Well, this October IWSG caught me napping, or actually, on holidays. It's Aussie school holidays, second week, so I've taken a trip to Northern Queensland to catch up with family.

Every outback town has its pub, or two or three...

NaNoWriMo begins next month. I have my story idea, which will be set in Outback Queensland, so I'm doing some research while I'm here on the spot. A writer doesn't have to be insecure if he/she has done his/her research. Maybe this time I'll even get an outline done before I start writing!

I've been busily taking photographs, so today I'll share some with you. 

This morning Geo and I hit the road from Townsville to Charters Towers, an historic gold-mining city on the edge of the Queensland Outback.

Smoky mountains west of the port city of Townsville, self-proclaimed
capital of North Queensland.

First stop -- lunch at the Old Stock Exchange Cafe in the centre of the
city of Charters Towers.

Charters Towers City Hall - 1888

• I hope you enjoyed my day's snaps of Outback Queensland. 
• And don't forget to sign up for the HAUNTING bloghop in my top right hand sidebar.

Denise

Laura O'Connell speaks on research. Her new novel, Web of Lies is out! Lynda R Young launches Make Believe anthology!

Hello. How are you today? Thanks for coming by. I hope you noticed my Christmas greeting to you!

NaNoWriMo is over and I completed my 50,000 word novel, Fijian Princess, with an eye on the Harlequin Escape market. They're actively seeking submissions and their range is WIDE! Click HERE to read an interview with the editor. Kate Cuthbert.

Today I have two Aussie authors visiting my blog - Laura O'Connell who has just released her new book, Web of Lies, and...

My blogger friend, Lynda R Young, who is launching the anthology, Make Believe which features her story, Birthright. The anthology is published by J. Taylor Publishing. You can read full reviews on the stories at the Reader's Commute.

By clicking HERE you will access the list of bloggers hosting Lynda through this month-long tour as well as those who are supporting her today.

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Now I'd like to introduce you to fellow Aussie author, Laura O'Connell. Laura has just released her novel, Web of Lies. Laura is speaking today of something dear to my heart - research, to me, the real fun part of writing a novel (yeah, I know I missed my calling!)

LEAP INTO RESEARCH

Hello and welcome to those who've read this far and who I hope will continue to read about what's on my mind today. 

I researched Denise’s website before I wrote this blog and discovered she has travelled throughout the world visiting lots of interesting places that she could use to add authenticity to her stories and novels. I wish I could say I’d been to Africa to do some firsthand research before I wrote African Hearts. Africa is on my list of places to visit, but it seemed my muse wanted me to write this story before I visited, so I had to find another way of finding out about this amazing country of contrasts.

Research for African Hearts started with me interviewing missionaries who’d lived and worked in Africa for several years. They were able to give me the minutiae of day to day life in an African village. I viewed YouTube video clips to get views of the landscape and I borrowed a lot of books, fiction and nonfiction, from the library on Africa and immersed myself in the country and its culture.

To understand the current affairs, I read the Ugandan newspaper online daily. This gave me a feel for the day to day issues that affected Uganda where African Hearts is set.

Throughout my life I’ve read a lot of books on Africa. I took copies of images from these books and made a collage that triggered any information I’d stored away in the deep recesses of my mind.

To save yourself some time, prepare a list of questions centred around the focal point of your novel. You need to have a fair idea of what you want to achieve by the end of the research. This will keep you on track as you find the information you need for your story. It’s easy to get side tracked and spend too much time on research, however, as your project evolves your direction of the research may change as ideas come to you. Be open to these little detours they can take you to areas you’d never considered. These are the gems of your work.

While reading, don’t get bogged down in the text. Skim first for what you think you might be looking for then drill into the specifics as information triggers your imagination.

Be aware that research can be a way of putting off writing. Keep this in the back of your mind and know when to stop researching and start writing.

My latest release, Web of Lies, is set in Sydney, Mount Tamborine and the Gold Coast. I’ve lived in all of these areas so I know them intimately. It was refreshing to have that firsthand knowledge instead of relying on the detailed research I did with African Hearts. However, research time isn’t wasted if we can find a second use for it in a later project. 

Add authenticity to your novels by leaping into research. You’ll find it’s a lot of fun and your readers will thank you for taking the time to get it right.

Thanks for reading...

About Laura O’Connell

Laura enjoys writing stories about second chances in love and life. She calls the Gold Coast home, however, her curious nature leads her on adventures to locations that surprise and inspire her. Laura has a passion for telling a good story set in places where she has lived and travelled.

Laura around the web:

Website             Facebook              Twitter        Author Page

Book Blurb – Web of Lies

High school sweethearts, Stephanie and Lachlan are torn apart by circumstance, bad decisions and a web of lies, leaving an unknown future for their son, Ryan.

Eight years later they reconnect, but the time apart has changed them. The family had made decisions based on lies and deceit and now must find a way to either reveal the truth or find another option. On the surface, their arrangements seemed flawless, but dig deeper, and the people they thought they knew aren’t as they appear.

Lachlan and Stephanie are forced to confront the consequences of their actions and the entire family is compelled to reveal the truth, find forgiveness, and renew loving one another. But the hardest decision is still to come … where does Ryan live?

Buy Links:

Amazon                  Amazon UK

I hope you enjoyed reading about Laura's ideas on research. Perhaps Web of Lies and the Make Believe anthology would be nice gifts for a lucky someone? Please leave a comment for both Laura and Lynda.

It's great to be diving into the blogosphere again! I've missed you all. I'll be around to visit you asap.

The End is Nigh (of week one NaNoWriMo) - how far did I get with my new novel? Well, I did some research...

I've received one or two snide remarks about why I do NaNoWriMo every year, but I have one answer - I love to research! And every November I get all fired up about a story idea, then I dive in, finding out all I can. Well, this is my favourite part of story writing. How about you?

First thing, I struggled home with two bursting library bags of goodies.

Then, I was helping one of my students do a Comedy assignment this week. We were looking for examples of one liners. I found a beauty - 'When we steal someone's idea it's called plagarism. When we steal a lot of ideas it's called research.' Don't you love it?

Next, I spread the books out on the bed...

Unfortunately the research I'm doing for this novel  is depressing beyond words. You might see a woman in a blue burqa on the cover of the book in the foreground. Well, that's often how Afghani women are referred to: 'There go the burqas down the street.' And the war books, the journalist's reports, the soldier's blogs - "killing a hillful"...man, this is so tough!

But I've managed to get over 3,000 words written, way behind the amount expected. My research is changing my original premise. What I've written may be pretty vomitus, but editing can wait. That's what NaNo's all about. Get the words down, worry about that inner editor screaming at you later!

• If you're doing NaNo, how are you going as we approach the end of the first week?
• If you're not doing NaNo, how are your writing or reading projects shaping up? 
• Do you like to research?
• I did a post about being too show-offy with research when I reviewed Jodi Picoult's Sing You Home . Can we show too much just to look clever? Or is our research just to underpin our story, implicit rather than explicit?

If google says it, it must be so...my hymn of praise to the mighty google

My fingers pummel the keyboard into submission. I'm plum out of words. The muse has deserted me. NaNoWriMo is past the halfway mark and I'm behind in my word count - should be well over 25.000 words by now, loser!

I take out my frustration on my keyboard and hurl it against the wall. Silly hunk of logitec plastic just shredded itself. Now what am I going to do? Let's try pen and paper. Cramp! Not used to that, RSI already! Botheration! Now what?

Aah, I lie down and dream of...Barbara Cartland. Where's my chaise? Let me lie here and dictate my words to a lesser mortal. But, even now there's a problem...what could possibly be wrong now? I've got everything - the pink hair, the pink frilly frock, the pink chaise, the pink fingernails, the pink drink with its pink umbrella, the pink dog, the pink ribbons, but...


 
I need more research! Now! Right now! I shouldn't have smashed that bit of not-so-useless plastic after all because it can do what not even Barbara Cartland could do - google google!
 
Why am I desperate for my google fix? Because I need to know a few more facts/names/places and what better way to find out? Better run off to my local JB Hi-Fi and grab another logitec, maybe one with light touch keys this time. 


Well I drowned myself in so many pre-NaNo writer's guides, most of which frown on pantsers like me, so I tried, I really dd, to get my outline together, my story idea fleshed out from start to fini, and my character profiles...blah blah. Trouble is, my outline was out the window on the second day as my headstrong characters snatched the reins outta my hands and trotted off in another direction or three, bolting away with my story and leaving me hanging on tight and gasping for more...research...

My writer's guides said to get your research done beforehand  - it may take months I read - hello? Who's got a month, even, to research for NaNo? So I've taken to pen and paper and have been trying to keep ahead of my bossy boots characters - Need to Know This, Need to Know That, lists, lists, lists...

I'm a firm believer in not in writing about what you know, but about what you would like to know. I therefore rely on the big R - RESEARCH! To make it harder on myself (and more interesting too!) I've set my story mainly on Nantucket island, MA in the mighty US of A. The queries I've made for this story say it would work best in America, so go figure. Not too hard - it's the R capital of the world. Therefore lies a passel of problems - language, settings, accents, dress, beliefs, police procedures - how different are they from country to country! We all have our own lingo and don't we chuckle knowingly when we read a book by a writer who's obviously never been in our country tries to give the character our voice and we fall down laughing 'cause we'd never speak like that, fair dinkum'!

So, I don't want American readers (and I hope I get some!) falling down laughing/guffawing/cracking up/going hysterical at my Americanisms, so I've been tapping into Stephen Fry's America (where he has a list of British words and their
American counterparts,) reading a lot of books set in Nantucket, but most of all I've been googling!
I've run out of things to say!

How easy is it to soldier on! For example:

I NEED TO KNOW;

1. How do the cranberries get harvested on Nantucket?

• No problem - here's a video, watch it in awe - here's the history, here's the manager blah, blah...

2. What's the name of a cafe where my MC could meet her beloved?

• No problem, here's a video - and a review or two -and the menu - anything else?

3. Ah, what do houses look like on the island?

• No problem - take a virtual tour of all the properties for sale/rent on Nantucket. Now go inside. Lookie there! Here's some further info...ready...there is a strict building code...only built in shingles...blah blah...

4. What do they call police in Nantucket? Sheriff, Inspector, Officer, Cops, Pigs?

• No problem. Take a virtual tour of the new, just-opening-soon, police headquarters. Here's a list of the officers' names and ranks. Here's the address. Now go inside and take the lift - there is the Chief of Police's office - there is a blah blah...What else can I help you with?? Oh, and Sheriff Wyatt Earp (not his real moniker) just got stood down coz he liked to wave his piece/gun/weapon/firearm/Magnum/Glock/ around...

Get the drift? Just gotta say how much more thrilling research is in the google days. How could we live without such instant gratification?

Now I can finally throw away my dream of being Ernest Hemingway - the running with the bulls is on in Pamploma, Spain. Like let''s go and get plastered and watch a bit of the excitement, but you didn't think I was going to be sober enough to run ahead of a mob of maurauding beasts with big horns, did you? But I'll write a great book about it - well, it's not just about the bulls, but it makes a cute interlude...

.The Sun Also Rises 

Now I can google all the silly bull I like, unless they've banned all the fun and games by now...better get on google and find out...lol...

Happy NaNo-ing, and more sane writing all!

Denise :D

All images thanks to google images - gotta love it!

This blog entry is part of the NaNo"WriMo blogline.

Disclaimer: The words and phrase in this post may confuse you as they confuse the author being as they are a conglomeration of Australian, British and American English. Can you tell which is which?