Ask the Authors (Fandemonium)

[brihana25]

Anyway: Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX. (Wikipedia can tell you more if needed.)

I actually wasn't talking about my own research, but rather how much factual historical research the Fandemonium authors do on their books - even on the seemingly throwaway lines. How much research is done to avoid the little errors, like moving Dealey Plaza to Houston?

[GermanAstra]

And arrived home just in time to yank them off the doorstep before the rain came pouring down. I ask you, U.S. Postal Service, would it not make sense to plastic-wrap any boxes you plan to deliver on days with a 60% chance of rain?

So this is the ordinary kind of delivery? They just lay it onto the doorstep and everyone that just happens to come around, can snatch it away and you never know that it had been there?

Me, I often receive parcels for my neighbours, and they do it for me. We always have to sign to the delivery guy that we got 'em. If nobody's at home at all then I get a little card in my mailbox and have to go to the next post office to get my parcel.

But then, that's Germany, of course

[Gate Geek]

Aha -- much easier to answer this than face the cries of the folks getting cheated out of CoW this weekend. (Ali, GG, Suz: sorry! I swear it wasn't my goal to mess with you. I still fear the jinx, but I'm told it should only be a couple of weeks until the full, no-kidding release ...)

Anyway: Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX. (Wikipedia can tell you more if needed.) The building from which the shots were fired -- well, some of them, at least, depending on which theories you believe -- has been turned into a fascinating museum. I stopped in for a visit last year; I was attending a two-week class in north Texas and had to waste the weekend somewhere.

What's in north Texas, you might ask? That would be the amusingly-named Sheppard Air Force Base.

And an early "happy birthday" to Suzotchka!

I'm just taking this as further proof I should have gone to the Chicago Con instead of the NJ Con.

[sonny1]

I actually wasn't talking about my own research, but rather how much factual historical research the Fandemonium authors do on their books - even on the seemingly throwaway lines. How much research is done to avoid the little errors, like moving Dealey Plaza to Houston?

Fiction is the creation of verisimilitude; grounding the audience in the familiar is the first step. I write on subjects which interest me and with which I'm familiar, and I check my facts on things I'm not sure about. Alternative time lines - all historical ‘facts’ (and there’s an oxymoron if ever one existed) are fair game. None of us are perfect, though, and sometimes I make stupid blunders like 'meteorite' in Roswell, (still don't know where my brain was that day), but the bottom line is the word ‘fiction’ printed on the spine. As someone said when it comes to fiction, (homework for the class, he's an American and his initials are MT), first get your facts straight, then distort them at leisure.

[Elizabeth Christensen]

Fiction is the creation of verisimilitude; grounding the audience in the familiar is the first step. I write on subjects which interest me and with which I'm familiar, and I check my facts on things I'm not sure about. Alternative time lines - all historical ‘facts’ (and there’s an oxymoron if ever one existed) are fair game. None of us are perfect, though, and sometimes I make stupid blunders like 'meteorite' in Roswell, (still don't know where my brain was that day), but the bottom line is the word ‘fiction’ printed on the spine. As someone said when it comes to fiction, (homework for the class, he's an American and his initials are MT), first get your facts straight, then distort them at leisure.

Are you sure his initials aren't SC?

I definitely believe that authors have an obligation to do their research. If you're going to set a story in a location that exists in the real world (assuming you're not messing with timelines), you shouldn't place your Harvard heroine at the base of a clock tower if Harvard doesn't have a clock tower. That kind of thing tends to jar readers out of the story pretty quickly -- even more so when it's a widely-known issue. For example, JFK was assassinated fifteen years before I was born, but if I read a book that randomly suggested that his motorcade had been in Great Falls, Montana, that November day, I'm pretty sure I'd quit reading. Unless there was a really cool alternate universe thing going on.

For CoW, I had very few worries on that front, because the entire story took place in Pegasus with only minor references to anything on Earth. Therefore, my research was almost exclusively related to show canon. Blood Ties, by contrast, has scenes in a number of Earth locations spread over three different continents. (Some might argue that it's actually four.) One of those locations was a city I'd visited, but I needed to do a little online research to get the name of the county, how the local law enforcement is set up, et cetera. Another was a place Sonny had visited and knew well. The third was a place neither of us really care to visit at present, but a military pal of mine had some firsthand knowledge that was very useful.

But of course Sonny's right that it's human nature to miss a step every now and then. And I'm confident that someone will point out those little goofs to us when they crop up. It's only fair.

All in all, when it comes to research, the Internet (so long as you consider the validity of the source) is an author's friend.

[Elizabeth Christensen]

So this is the ordinary kind of delivery? They just lay it onto the doorstep and everyone that just happens to come around, can snatch it away and you never know that it had been there?

Me, I often receive parcels for my neighbours, and they do it for me. We always have to sign to the delivery guy that we got 'em. If nobody's at home at all then I get a little card in my mailbox and have to go to the next post office to get my parcel.

But then, that's Germany, of course

You know, we used to get those little cards; they said "Sorry we missed you..." and I'd pick up packages at the post office in town. I have no idea why they don't do that anymore. Maybe it depends on whether it's a "priority mail" package. <shrug> Fortunately, I live in a sleepy little town where nobody notices or cares what's sitting on people's porches. Good thing, too, because UPS once left a package containing a very expensive aircraft part sitting on my doorstep after they ASSURED me it would require a signature confirmation. Sigh ...

[Gate Geek]

Are you sure his initials aren't SC?

I definitely believe that authors have an obligation to do their research. If you're going to set a story in a location that exists in the real world (assuming you're not messing with timelines), you shouldn't place your Harvard heroine at the base of a clock tower if Harvard doesn't have a clock tower. That kind of thing tends to jar readers out of the story pretty quickly -- even more so when it's a widely-known issue. For example, JFK was assassinated fifteen years before I was born, but if I read a book that randomly suggested that his motorcade had been in Great Falls, Montana, that November day, I'm pretty sure I'd quit reading. Unless there was a really cool alternate universe thing going on.

For CoW, I had very few worries on that front, because the entire story took place in Pegasus with only minor references to anything on Earth. Therefore, my research was almost exclusively related to show canon. Blood Ties, by contrast, has scenes in a number of Earth locations spread over three different continents. (Some might argue that it's actually four.) One of those locations was a city I'd visited, but I needed to do a little online research to get the name of the county, how the local law enforcement is set up, et cetera. Another was a place Sonny had visited and knew well. The third was a place neither of us really care to visit at present, but a military pal of mine had some firsthand knowledge that was very useful.

But of course Sonny's right that it's human nature to miss a step every now and then. And I'm confident that someone will point out those little goofs to us when they crop up. It's only fair.

All in all, when it comes to research, the Internet (so long as you consider the validity of the source) is an author's friend.

So how much, if any, personal experience gets worked into a book?

You mentioned you visited one of he cities - not knowing the story premise or anything (so this is a bit hypothetical), when you wrote about this city, were the character(s) reactions in the city somewhat based upon your experiences (what you saw and did and acted etc) or based more on the research? Or a combination of both? i'm not making much sense here am I? Maybe I should wait for this question till after I read the book.

[Elizabeth Christensen]

So how much, if any, personal experience gets worked into a book?

You mentioned you visited one of he cities - not knowing the story premise or anything (so this is a bit hypothetical), when you wrote about this city, were the character(s) reactions in the city somewhat based upon your experiences (what you saw and did and acted etc) or based more on the research? Or a combination of both? i'm not making much sense here am I? Maybe I should wait for this question till after I read the book.

No, I understand the question just fine, but it might be better aimed at Sonny -- because in my case, the city was Colorado Springs, which is kind of a default Earth location for Stargate. There's very little detail about the city itself.

The larger question, though, about working personal experience into a book? You betcha. For me, it's mostly in minor details. The challenge-coin scene from the beginning of Chosen came from the fact that I collect challenge coins from all the bases I visit; there's a line early in Exogenesis that would be hilarious to you if you'd been one of my housemates in college; and in Casualties, Carson gets a care package from home that's essentially me saying "I love you" to my Scottish grandmother.

[Gate Geek]

No, I understand the question just fine, but it might be better aimed at Sonny -- because in my case, the city was Colorado Springs, which is kind of a default Earth location for Stargate. There's very little detail about the city itself.

The larger question, though, about working personal experience into a book? You betcha. For me, it's mostly in minor details. The challenge-coin scene from the beginning of Chosen came from the fact that I collect challenge coins from all the bases I visit; there's a line early in Exogenesis that would be hilarious to you if you'd been one of my housemates in college; and in Casualties, Carson gets a care package from home that's essentially me saying "I love you" to my Scottish grandmother.

That is so cool. Even though we, the readers, may never be privy to all the personal experiences in the sotries, it'll be nice to know when i'm reading that maybe something might have a deeper meaning.

Oh, popped in on the Chicago con site...there is talk about you only bringing three copies of CoW and some "fighting" that may happen to get one of the coveted copies. I think for safe keeping, you should send one to me here in Wisconsin.

Have a great time this weekend! Tell Fandy to get CoW available right quick to the rest of us!!!

[Jennifer Fallon]

I actually wasn't talking about my own research, but rather how much factual historical research the Fandemonium authors do on their books - even on the seemingly throwaway lines. How much research is done to avoid the little errors, like moving Dealey Plaza to Houston?

Ah... finally, someone noticed

Roswell is quite deliberately seeded with slightly "off" historical details like this (there's another reference to a certain type of aircraft that shouldn't be there, in our reality, that Sonny's a bit peeved nobody has picked up on yet... hehehe) because when we were writing the story, the whole subject of alternate realities and branching timelines was such an issue and so central to the story, that it was the cause of many large phone bills for both of us, as we discussed how far we could go...

In the end, we had to cut back, because the story was getting too big and too complicated. We decided to stay away from the alternate reality side of the argument as much as possible. But we couldn't ignore it. I mean, alternate realities are Stargate canon. We compromised in the end and in the last chapter set in New York, the characters acknowledge they may have created another reality, to make sure we'd covered the issue. And we plonked little "off" references, to give the sense that somewhere along the line, things were not as they would be in our universe.

The reference to a grassy knoll in Houston (rather than Dallas) is a leftover from several alternate reality chapters we had to cut, which involved a fabulous scene with Teal'c, the men in black and a homage to Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, (Jack and Daniel landing an Asgaard escape pod and asking for directions...LOL) all of which centered around Houston. It was such a pity it had to go. It was really good stuff). Sonny now has to content herself with the knowledge that somewhere, in an alternate reality, her brilliant chapters survived the cut.

Which brings us to the next point, which also came up in our discussions, and is the reason we moved the grassy knoll... the Stargate universe operates in an alternate reality. If it was set in our universe, they wouldn't have a President Hayes, they'd have a President Bush. And we'd be at war with the Ori, rather than terrestrial enemies. This minor but important detail got us discussing ways in which we could convey the differing realities in the story without going into laborious detail. This was a migraine inducing pastime, BTW. Thinking about this stuff is a very good way to make your brain explode.

Bottom line, in the end, we left in the reference from the other chapter that was cut, because it doesn't really conflict with the story, and because, as Fox Mulder said, sometimes the need to mess with their heads outweighs the millstone of humiliation.

[sonny1]

No, I understand the question just fine, but it might be better aimed at Sonny -- because in my case, the city was Colorado Springs, which is kind of a default Earth location for Stargate. There's very little detail about the city itself.

It's not just Hobart, but parts of Tasmania, and I warn you all now that Tasmanians will be the first to point out that I've selectively repositioned certain geographic features to suit the fictional story, not the geographic reality. In the Blood Ties Stargate reality, Howard isn't the Australian PM, either

[sonny1]

That is so cool. Even though we, the readers, may never be privy to all the personal experiences in the sotries, it'll be nice to know when i'm reading that maybe something might have a deeper meaning.

Inside info on deeper meanings...Hm...

In Blood Ties, there's a small place in Germany that I happened to have visited in 1970, which left a lasting impression on me. Turns out my editor was there on a school excursion at the same time … Anyone want to figure out the odds on that? Elements in the opening chapter come from a boozy night with a fingerprint expert and homicide cop plus an equally boozy Halloween party talking with (ex) undercover cop friend (picture can be seen at http://www.sonnywhitelaw.com/h1.jpg…careful about snarky comments because one of those pictured is my offspring ). In short, nothing is safe from writers. You do realise how much fun it is taking revenge on teachers we hated? Don't believe for one minute the para about 'any resemblance to persons living or dead..."

[JMSwallow]

Butting in...

So how much, if any, personal experience gets worked into a book?

The short answer is, all of it.

We writers, we go through life senses open, taking in the world, the experiences we have and the ones people around us have, shaping it like raw clay. Even if you're writing about far-off galaxies and alien worlds, life is the matter of story, and we take it all in, turn it about, make it fiction.
People sometimes ask "Where do you get your ideas from?" and I always answer "Everywhere."

Of course, some stuff comes from more direct exposure; there's moments in every book I've written that are personal, that happened to me in some parallel fashion - but then there's plenty that hasn't as well. We draw from the real, but also from the unreal, because at the end of the day, we're paid to make stuff up for a living.

[Jennifer Fallon]

People sometimes ask "Where do you get your ideas from?" and I always answer "Everywhere."

James, my accountant says the correct answer to this question is everything. Because that makes everything tax deductible

[Elizabeth Christensen]

Oh, popped in on the Chicago con site...there is talk about you only bringing three copies of CoW and some "fighting" that may happen to get one of the coveted copies. I think for safe keeping, you should send one to me here in Wisconsin.

Three?? <scurries over to Chicago con thread>

Thanks for the mention -- it hadn't occurred to me to duck into that thread until now. I probably should have looked for it earlier.