Ideas . . . Research . . . and Bull-Riding School
One of the questions writers are always asked is, "Where do you get your ideas?"
It's one that we usually don't have much trouble answering because ideas are everywhere. There are, to be honest, far more of them than most of us can ever write about. The thing about ideas is, they're not enough.
An idea will get you at most a set-up, a rough notion of where you want to start or, if you're talking about thematic ideas, it will get you a theme you want to write about. But it won't get you details and it won't get you characters who are individuals, and it will make you crazy -- and your book unfinished -- unless you have something to go along with it.
Ideas get you started. Then research comes along. Research can be the sort of stuff we did in school -- going to the library and looking for books on whatever topic you want to write about or your characters do for a living or the place they live or the disease they are battling. Recently it can be done online much more quickly and, let's be honest, often more enjoyably.
Websites provide fascinating glimpses of life in almost any place you want to write about. They can tell you not only symptoms and treatments for virtually every disease or malady you can think of, but they can also provide you with personal commentary by people dealing with such things on a daily basis. Whether you want to write about Santorini or San Francisco or San Miguel de Allende, whether you want to know how to mix an old-fashioned, build a Guiness or make homemade beer, whether you want your heroine to be a tightrope walker or a CEO of a major corporation or a bomb defusing expert, the internet has plenty of places for you to go.
But even though such research is easier and more immediately available now than it was just a few years ago, nothing quite beats experiencing things first hand or at least sitting down and talking to experts, people who do for a living what your hero or heroine do. The details they can provide
make all the difference in the world.
That's why, for example, I went to bull-riding school. I audited, mind you. I didn't get on one -- but I got up close and personal enough to have a very good sense of what goes on. I sat through a weekend's worth of classes and bull rides, of video-tapings and critiques. I took pictures, I took notes. I asked questions. I got answers. And when I went to write the book, The Cowboy and the Kid, I didn't feel as if I was walking on water when I tried to describe things. I'd seen them happen. I had the details at my fingertips. It made all the difference.
It's also what took me to the beach one summer to watch a professional sand castle
builder (yes, they exist) make a Nissan truck out of sand. I watched him make an entire fantasy village with castles and turrets and amazing arched bridges in a shopping mall -- all out of sand. I learned about the qualities of sand in various places around the world. I learned how to make an 11 ton sand version of a Victorian house from scratch (er, sand). And my hero built it on one of the Channel Islands off California in Marry Sunshine.
Over the years I've done research in books. I've done research online. But by far the most fun and interesting have been the times I've been able to get out "in the field" -- to talk to ships' captains and boat builders, hair colorists and models, photographers and sculptors, professional athletes and umpires and athletic trainers, lawyers and policemen; to go to small Bahamian islands and SoHo lofts, to prowl cemeteries and climb mountains, to sail and go to jail (just visiting!) and spend part of a summer on an archeological dig.
The old saying is that the devil is in the details. And it's true if you get them wrong. And getting them right can be tough -- but it can also be the very best part of writing. And if you get them right because you've been there and you've met and talked to experts, you've witnessed or even experienced what you're writing about, then your work comes to life. You come to life.
Ideas spark research and in turn research creates more ideas -- ideas that can challenge you and enlighten you and delight you.
I've got a new topic to research now. It started with an idea I had six years ago. It took a turn for the better after a conversation I had with an editor I know (not mine, I might add). The light bulb in my brain went off, sparking more ideas. I wrote a friend who send me an article. The article sent me to the internet. I downloaded lots of pix and articles. I got ideas.
And I might even manage to get there to check things out in person come January. Here's hoping!!!!
It's one that we usually don't have much trouble answering because ideas are everywhere. There are, to be honest, far more of them than most of us can ever write about. The thing about ideas is, they're not enough.
An idea will get you at most a set-up, a rough notion of where you want to start or, if you're talking about thematic ideas, it will get you a theme you want to write about. But it won't get you details and it won't get you characters who are individuals, and it will make you crazy -- and your book unfinished -- unless you have something to go along with it.
Ideas get you started. Then research comes along. Research can be the sort of stuff we did in school -- going to the library and looking for books on whatever topic you want to write about or your characters do for a living or the place they live or the disease they are battling. Recently it can be done online much more quickly and, let's be honest, often more enjoyably.
Websites provide fascinating glimpses of life in almost any place you want to write about. They can tell you not only symptoms and treatments for virtually every disease or malady you can think of, but they can also provide you with personal commentary by people dealing with such things on a daily basis. Whether you want to write about Santorini or San Francisco or San Miguel de Allende, whether you want to know how to mix an old-fashioned, build a Guiness or make homemade beer, whether you want your heroine to be a tightrope walker or a CEO of a major corporation or a bomb defusing expert, the internet has plenty of places for you to go.
But even though such research is easier and more immediately available now than it was just a few years ago, nothing quite beats experiencing things first hand or at least sitting down and talking to experts, people who do for a living what your hero or heroine do. The details they can provide
make all the difference in the world.That's why, for example, I went to bull-riding school. I audited, mind you. I didn't get on one -- but I got up close and personal enough to have a very good sense of what goes on. I sat through a weekend's worth of classes and bull rides, of video-tapings and critiques. I took pictures, I took notes. I asked questions. I got answers. And when I went to write the book, The Cowboy and the Kid, I didn't feel as if I was walking on water when I tried to describe things. I'd seen them happen. I had the details at my fingertips. It made all the difference.
It's also what took me to the beach one summer to watch a professional sand castle
builder (yes, they exist) make a Nissan truck out of sand. I watched him make an entire fantasy village with castles and turrets and amazing arched bridges in a shopping mall -- all out of sand. I learned about the qualities of sand in various places around the world. I learned how to make an 11 ton sand version of a Victorian house from scratch (er, sand). And my hero built it on one of the Channel Islands off California in Marry Sunshine.Over the years I've done research in books. I've done research online. But by far the most fun and interesting have been the times I've been able to get out "in the field" -- to talk to ships' captains and boat builders, hair colorists and models, photographers and sculptors, professional athletes and umpires and athletic trainers, lawyers and policemen; to go to small Bahamian islands and SoHo lofts, to prowl cemeteries and climb mountains, to sail and go to jail (just visiting!) and spend part of a summer on an archeological dig.
The old saying is that the devil is in the details. And it's true if you get them wrong. And getting them right can be tough -- but it can also be the very best part of writing. And if you get them right because you've been there and you've met and talked to experts, you've witnessed or even experienced what you're writing about, then your work comes to life. You come to life.
Ideas spark research and in turn research creates more ideas -- ideas that can challenge you and enlighten you and delight you.
I've got a new topic to research now. It started with an idea I had six years ago. It took a turn for the better after a conversation I had with an editor I know (not mine, I might add). The light bulb in my brain went off, sparking more ideas. I wrote a friend who send me an article. The article sent me to the internet. I downloaded lots of pix and articles. I got ideas.
And I might even manage to get there to check things out in person come January. Here's hoping!!!!
posted by Anne McAllister at 10:22 PM
3 Comments:
I'm curious to find out what school you attended and your thoughts about the sport of bull riding from an outside observation? We strongly recommend anyone interested in becoming a bull rider to attend a school prior to jumping on a bull.
Matt,
Thanks for visiting my blog.
I attended a school of Gary Leffew's that his son Brett taught over President's Day weekend in 1995 in Helena, Montana.
I'd had quite a few conversations with Brett (and one with Gary) prior to that when I was working on an earlier book. Brett was so helpful that I thought I had all this information and background that I never had a chance to use in the earlier book, so I had a new idea and used it there.
I loved the experience of attending the school and was very impressed with how thorough Brett was and how committed most of the cowboys were who attended. Some of them had ridden in high school rodeo, some were already card-carrying PRCA members. Some had never been on a bull in their lives.
I share your concern about groups trying to legislate against rodeo without knowing anything about it. It's not unlike people who think all romance novels are trash without ever reading any! Informed opinions seem to be hard to come by sometimes.
As far as the sport of bull-riding goes, the odds are in favor of the bull. And any guy who wants to ride has to know that and work hard to tip things in his favor even a little bit. I admire their courage if it's what they want to do.
One of my sons has done a lot of extreme skiing (he audited the bull-riding school with me as I was staying with him at the time). There are plenty of dangers inherent in that, too. It's a man testing his strength and wits and know-how against forces stronger than himself. He and I and Brett discussed this at length one night over dinner. In fact we closed the restaurant, still talking. It was a very interesting evening.
If you have any further questions, contact me via my website on the sidebar. There is a "contact Anne" tab at the top which will send me an email. I'd put the address here, but I'll just get a lot of spam.
Thanks!
Anne
Excellent choice. By far one of the best schools and resources that you could find related to bull riding. Bret & Gary would be top of my list. My brother Nathan attened several years ago...and would also agree. Now...you have spur'd my curiousity...I need to read your book.
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