I’ve lived in this community for over seventeen years. I decided it was time I should have a library card.
I’ve used the library a lot over the years, but I’ve always gone, done my research and come home again. My daughter had a card, but I’ve never taken anything out until now. I was doing research for a short story and found a perfect reference book among my online hunting. Found that the book was in the library and decided it had more than I could extract in a single sitting so I finally got a card of my own.
Now I may be addicted. I turned the first book in and checked out another for research for a different story. Anyone monitoring my library borrowing habits will think I read nothing but non-fiction.
I finished the first draft of the story I was working on. It came in at just under 4000 words, or 12 pages in standard manuscript format. My first reader sent me back a page of notes, a lot of which have to do with inconsistent voice, so I will take another stab at it this weekend. It’s a story where the voice of the narrator is distinctive. Knowing the troubles with writing in an “accent,” I wanted to just use a few tells to imprint the voice in the readers’ heads without going hog wild, but I guess I fall out of his natural voice too much. Maybe hog wild is the way to go with this one. If not, I’m sure the editors will be quick to tell me so.
In addition to revising this story, I plan to start researching the next one in earnest. I have a book on the way from ABE books, several dozen pages of printouts, a stack of PDF files from online research, and the library book, so that should keep me busy. After writing one heavily researched story where I did the research on the fly during the writing process, I want to do the next one differently. I want to be like the character on a rerun Criminal Intent show I saw yesterday: immerse myself in a character’s mind and forge documents in his hand.
I really liked C.S.I. last night. It’s not usually a show about tension. Very methodical and orderly. The reverse forensics scheme and the exclusion of part of the team from the con was effective. And I love the passing glance of the camera over the box on Grissom’s desk, since we all know there’s going to be another crime scene miniature in it and how can that be since the miniaturist killed himself?
