So there are a bunch of us out there (and particularly at places like Samhain) who live in our own little worlds. Worlds we create, peopled by the folks who just won’t SHUT THE HELL UP! So what do those of us in loonie-dom (otherwise known as authors) do about it? We write it down of course, and hope we do it well enough to draw other people into it, and share our dual reality.
Last week I was blogging at Bam’s about using setting as a character, but, as always, there’s more. I think using what you know (or are fascinated to learn enough about) can be something that not only silences the crowds in our heads—at least until the next set decides to show up—but gives our work a reality that brings our readers into the story, rather than reading about it.
For me, it’s guys and gals in uniform. Be they soldiers, cops, or firefighters, there’s just something about writing about these heroes that compels me to tell their stories. I wrote my first book at sixteen, and it will NEVER see the light of day. Why? Several reasons…first, because I didn’t know what in the hell I was doing. Second, because while I wrote a damned good scene even then, I didn’t know diddly squat about the people’s professions I was creating. I’d been devouring Harlequins at the time, so my first story was a complete rip-off of what I’d been reading, but without the soul.
Flash forward about sixteen years and I had one of those brainstorms while stuck in the car listening to AM radio (whole ‘nother story). I’d already been married for almost ten years, and married into the military at that. So I wrote about what I knew…my heroine was an Air Force officer and my hero was a small-town cop. Here’s where the fascination part kicks in…I was going to throw these two straight-arrows into a situation they never would have believed…witchcraft. So what did I do? I researched my butt off about Wicca, met a few practitioners of the Craft, and tried to breathe life into a world that had only existed in my head until a few short months ago. I’d like to think I succeeded, and the voices haven’t stopped coming since.
And now, seven years later, my stories still address the heroes I see on an everyday basis in my job on an Air Force base, be they male or female. I grew up around small-town cops, married my military hero, and was a firefighter myself for five years…and it doesn’t get much better than that.
Terri
www.tlschaefer.com
