Saturday, September 21, 2019

Personal Experience, Research or Imagination in Your Book


Rhobin’s topic for this month is another interesting one.
In designing your plots what do you rely on most: personal experience, imagination, or research?
For me, it’s mostly a combination of all three. A Cruise to Remember I wrote after I had taken my second cruise. The setting was the cruise ship, the various islands we stopped at and even some of the stores. I researched amnesia and Interpol. The actual plot was my imagination.

Hunted, the first book in my Hawkins’ Ranch series started with a personal experience. I was staying at the Empress Hotel, a historic and very expensive hotel for a conference in Victoria, BC. I could see the lobby being a setting in a book and it had to be a cowboy in spurs walking across the granite floors. I researched Witsec, the Witness Protection Program. I researched Montana and decided where to set the small town of Duster. I did research on ranching, particularly the business end. The rest of the story was my imagination.

By Design came more from my imagination. I read articles on cloning and then stem cell research and wondered what would happen as it continued to be more accepted. So maybe a little personal experience and thinking. I came up with a plot developed on what might happen. I researched cloning and groups who might use it. I researched Northern California to set an isolated hospital and travel distances. I researched being in good physical condition and time frames for running distances. The rest -my imagination of course.  
On my way to check out the other authors below and read what they have to say.


10 comments:

  1. It is interesting to see what spurs everyone's mind to think of a possible story, and then how they use research and experience to spur the imagination.

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    1. I think most of us use all three in developing a story.

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  2. Your reference to the fancy hotel resonates - I've had some of my best plot ideas when visiting an unusual or historical place. It's like the walls have stories to tell if only we stop long enough to listen.

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    1. You're so right, Skye. And the Empress is also haunted.

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  3. Hi Beberley, I get a lot of ideas from place, too. Not many cowboys in downtown Edinburgh, though. deprived we are... anne stenhouse

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  4. Oh, but downtown Edinburgh would have so much history and interesting places to stimulate the imagination.

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  5. Oh, but the real question is, how did all those elements get combined into a story?

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  6. Its Great. I have same question how did all those elements get combined into a story?

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