Research Archives - Lindsey R. Loucks

There might be another post with this same title, but whatever. It’s summer, and I’m lazy. Anyway, I’ve been doing research lately on superstitions for What Gifts She Carried (book two in The Grave Winner series), specifically on the rhyme “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back” and lilacs.

For example, did you know this rhyme dates back to the late 19th century? According to The Committe for Skeptical Inquiry, it originated when racism was rampant and warned against marrying an African American. The original rhyme went “Step on a crack and your mother will turn black.” Yikes, this is offensive. The rhyme evolved into “break your mother’s back” in the 20th century, and the number of cracks stepped on equaled how many bones your mother broke. Ouch.

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Also, lilac is used for protection against evil. That actually worked out well for me since lilacs are a big part of the story. I wish I could say I’d planned it that way all along, but nope. So if evil is crouching right behind you, sighing its icy breath against your neck, break out the lilacs!

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Has anyone else run across anything especially interesting in your 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?