From Death to Love

I spent today doing research for The Mark of Abel.

Some nice man put together online a list of the big massacres. At 10pts it's over 15 pages long. I picked out ones I found interesting. In the back of the book, I'll list the massacres Sophia died in. Some people have play lists. I have a death list.

So I'm a little creepy. That's project number one.

The moon is amazingly beautiful. Not only does it continually change its phase and travel across the sky, but like the sun it rises and sets. Unlike the sun, the difference from day to day is more than a couple minutes, so the moon isn't always out at night. Nothing takes me out of a book faster than getting the moon wrong. So I had to get it right.

I spent way too much time on the National Naval Observatory's website looking at moonrise and moonset times. Since I write about vampires, it's a good idea to know when the sun rises and sets as well.

Of course, I had to cross reference this with when the Fall foliage is peak in New Hampshire. I found a neat map where you hover over the date and it shows what the foliage was for the entire state for 2008. As Hubby says, "In books, it's always Fall in New England." True, but I need this to be towards the beginning of the school year and a time when the nights are getting longer. October is perfect.

I know I'm nuts. That's research project number two.

Research project number three involved making Janie into the ideal teacher. I want her to be the teacher we all wish we had. That meant I had to figure out what types of teachers others wanted and appreciated. I did a search for "favorite professors." There's a lot of stuff out there. After over an hour, I decided I had enough material (and dinner needed to be made). From that I got ideas for two awesome scenes that will really show the reader who Janie is.

Reading all those nice things alumni said and figuring out two great scenes was a nice way to end the writing day.

So, tell me about your favorite teachers.

Jeanie

Controversy

I avoid writing controversies. That doesn't seem congruous with my history--I don't avoid controversies; I cause them--but that is my net presence now. On Nathan Bransford's blog when they were talking about whether vamp novels were overdone and finished, towards the end of the discussion I said "I'm tired of people who don't read vampire novels declaring they are dead. If you want to know whether there will be an audience for vamp novels, ask the current audience." On another blog, I defended paranormal fantasy by comparing it to the romantic movement. That's as ranty as I get.

But I cannot avoid controversy. If my current MS becomes popular I will be the center of several controversies.

My oldest daughter's friend's mother is already concerned about her playing over here because I write about vampires. She hasn't seen anything. I reimagine the Bible, including the gospels, and early Christian history. The religious right is going to love me.

Janie has a paternal grandmother who is Chinese, but Janie is not in touch with her heritage. This is an important part of her backstory, but there will be those who criticize me for it.

There will people who disagree. I can either not write the story the muse is giving me or I can accept what I write will be controversial for many reasons.

Guess which I choose.