Posts in Category: Pause
“Research, Girl, Research.”
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When I got the idea for Pause, my BF said to me, “Research, girl, research.” I took that to mean I could sit on the couch, eat a giant bowl of ice cream, and watch tons of James Bond movies. Why? Because Pause has a lot of spy gadgets and spy speak and spy worshipping in it.
I wanted to be in the FBI when I was a kid. Kendra, one of my characters, wants to be in the CIA. Coincidence? Nope.
Kendra developed many of the gadgets in the story herself. I love undercover gadgets. They’re neat. Back when I wanted to be in the FBI, my friends made me a bullet proof vest out of maxi-pads. Believe me when I tell you it was not made for stealth, but it was still the coolest thing ever.
Besides getting fat while watching James Bond movies, though, I also scoured the internet. Cool stuff, that internet. Here’s some spy related stuff I found:
1. dead drop – secret location where materials can be left for later retrieval. (I actually kind of used this in The Grave Winner, but it was mentioned only briefly).
2. dead telephone – signal or code passed with a telephone without speaking.
3. FINESSE – disguises developed by CIA using Hollywood consultants.
4. microdot – photograph reduction of a secret message that’s very small.
5. PLASMA – device used to pick a lock
6. spy dust – a chemical marking compound used to keep tabs on people.
7. window dressing – used in a cover story to help convice the opposition or casual observers that what they are observing is genuine.
8. brush pass – something is passed between a two people quickly and without notice.
So yeah, cool stuff!
What about you? What kind of research have you done for your novels?
First Book Trash, Second Draft Treasure… Maybe?
There’s a battle in my brain. Story ideas are throwing spitballs, shouting obscenities, and scratching their chins with their middle fingers at each other. It’s quite rude.
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But the one that has my attention now is my first novel called Pause. Maybe because it’s been sitting quietly in a drawer for so long, acting like an angelic first novel. It’s total crap, though, and I can’t believe I queried it. Yet underneath the meandering plot, the crybaby main character, and way too much internal dialog, there are some real tense moments and several plot twists. I still like the story.
So, I’m rewriting it.
Does that mean I’m not going to write every other story idea in my head? No. What Gifts She Carried and everything else will still be written.
Does that mean I’ll like Pause after I’ve rewritten it? It kind of depends on my critique partners. If they give me permission to like it, then yes, I’ll like it. 😉 (I’ll post a few chapters to Critique Circle soon).