The Right Question

For me, researching a novel usually involves dredging Google, clicking through Wikipedia to follow the rabbit hole wherever it might lead, or watching television. (Mock if you must, but there's a lot to be learned from prime time drama.)

And sometimes, research can be as simple as asking the right person the right question.

Kiev (via Picture Ninja)

The scene I'm working on has one of my lead characters on a treadmill. During her workout, she stares at a framed poster on the wall in front of her. My intention is to tie the picture into a setting later on the novel (or series), and in the initial draft, the image was of Kiev's (Ukraine) skyline, with Minsk's (Belarus) as a second possibility.

Minsk (via Svoy Krug)

At this point, I took a step back. As I've mentioned before, "Virgo" takes place in an alternate universe. I set points of divergence from our history months ago, so whatever city I use for Delilah's poster, it has to be appropriate to the altered universe, not ours, so reading the Wikipedia page of either city isn't really going to work.

Fortunately for me, I happened to know a very intelligent person who lives in Belarus. What follows is a short conversation that derailed my Kiev/Minsk plans before they got started.

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Me: I'm toying with the idea of incorporating an Eastern European city into my new story...that may be a series. It's very loose at the moment. If I used it, it wouldn't be until book 2, but either way I have to drop a hint in at the beginning of 1. (It's just how I roll.) I'm thinking Kiev or Minsk.

Anyhow, I was wondering how Belarus might be different today had the Nazis not invaded Russia during WW2, and the Cold War didn't happen. The story involves both scenarios, in addition to other key historical changes.

Any thoughts?

Ivan: Hmm, an intriguing question. We here usually ask ourselves what would have happened if the Nazis had conquered the USSR.

Never considered the question you ask though :)

Well, I think the Iron Curtain would've never fallen and we'd live in isolation from the rest of the world.

But the USSR had so much territory someone was bound to try and conquer the country.

I'm not sure if I answered your question, if no, let me know :)

Me: Very interesting. The story uses the Nazis-attack-Turkey route. They gain control of the Black Sea oil, which has been argued would have guaranteed their win. Attacking Russia is where they screwed up, but...hmm, if the Iron Curtain doesn't fall, that changes its usability for my story. Shit, I'm so glad I asked you!

Maybe I'll use Mexico City. Or Madrid. Or...

Ivan: It's only a conjecture, Wendy. I don't know what would've happened if there hadn't been wars. It'll probably be better for you to choose a different location, but if you decide to take Minsk I'll try to help you when necessary :)

Me: Right. I hear you. I don't like the scenarios I'd have to think through...a reason for the Iron Curtain falling, or a reason for my characters going to the Soviet Union. After giving it some thought, they wouldn't, so it's down with the Curtain, which begs for Nazi invasion of Russia, just later. I didn't pick a Western European capital because I didn't want to deal much with Nazis. Mexico City's looking better and better.

Thanks so much. You really helped me out! All of this was to decide which city's skyline is framed on my MC's living room wall. *sigh* I have issues.

Ivan: That's quite an important point so it's good you decided to pick one city :)

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Ivan just uploaded the beginning chapters of his second novel to Authonomy. I recommend to any paranomal fan...check him out!

Back to Delilah's poster, my heart isn't in Mexico City. Then I read a news article while I was at work about Guadalajara being Mexico's "Silicon Valley." The country is putting billions into nurturing tech sector start-ups, making it just the kind of place where underground raves would feel right at home. Of course, no discussion of 21st century Mexico would be complete without addressing its drug cartels, BUT...as I mentioned earlier, this is an alternate universe.

Guadalajara is known for being a clean, peaceful city for much of its history. It's only recently that it's seen the kind of violence that is tearing apart the border towns of Mexico. The reason for this is Guadalajara is the home of several leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, and the city benefited from those men liking their home clean and quiet.

Then came 1999. The leader of the Gulf cartel formed a military arm to protect him from rival cartels and the Mexican military. In 2002, they became known as Los Zetas, and after the leader's extradition to the US in 2007, the group took a greater leadership role in the Gulf Cartel's operation. In 2010, Gulf and Los Zetas parted ways, and it's the Zetas that are wreaking havoc in Guadalajara. Why is this important to my story?

Alternate universe, remember. The Zetas are such a recent development in Mexico's history. I change one thing and they don't split from the Gulf cartel. I change one more, and they don't get created at all. That certainly sounds better to me than rewriting the fall of Soviet Russia so I can put Kiev or Minsk on a poster.

Points of Departure

A man walking down the street sees a woman working at a diner counter in 1956. Let's say that he goes inside, orders coffee, and chats up the waitress. A few months later, they get married, buy a house, have kids, etc. His third kid makes an ground breaking discovery regarding kiwi fruit, and his daughter takes it further to produce a pill that achieves the same results as kidney dialysis, but dirt cheap. Now let's say that moment, when the man spots the diner waitress, he's late for a job interview so he decided to keep walking. Distracted by the pretty lady, he steps off the curb and gets plowed by a bus.

Wyoming prairie

I've been giving a lot of thought in the past few months to points of departure as it relates to Alternative Timelines. The world we know is a product of individual decisions made by individual people. The man in 1956 is faced with a simple, two option choice. To walk into the diner or not. We know the world where dialysis is necessary for 350,000 Americans alone. All we can do is speculate what our world would be like without it and its consequences in various corners of our lives.

Oklahoma City

This is my consideration for Virgo. The America Sam and Delilah live in is not the one we know. There are differences caused by three distinct points of departure in the timeline, and these departures must be caused by appropriate responses to those departures. The man in my example didn't eschew his choices, jump straight up and fly to Mexico City. He went into the diner door or he didn't. He ordered coffee and talked to the waitress, or he chickened out. Conversely, he stepped out into the street and got hit by a bus, or he stepped back at the last minute. However vastly different the destinations of the man's choices, they were reached by a billion, logical baby steps. So in building Lincoln, Wyoming, I decide how my three points of departure will result in prairie becoming metropolis.

Cities are not just buildings. Venture capitalists risk their cash because they believe that the risk will pay off. In Wyoming, that requires me to look into oil and natural gas industries. Because of the arid climate, I must look into irrigation systems that would convince farmers to settle down. I must look into decisions made by Wyoming's government during the turn of the 20th century and decide if these choices would still have been made, one of which was giving women the right to vote. In the days when the state was still a territory, people came to Wyoming for a variety of reasons. Therefore, I must ask myself if those reasons still matter if I change something.

Delilah (aka Avril Lavigne)

And the crazy thing about all of this? This is all about setting. It's wallpaper. Stage dressing. Virgo is about a girl in possession of property stolen from a defense contractor. She doesn't want it. She'd give it back if she could, but she can't. And unfortunately for her, the military is not the only interested party that knows she has it. The technology doesn't exist in our word, yet, so for suspension of disbelief, I must create a world in which it does exist. Manufacture in our world would be scandalous. In Delilah's world, I must deal with the social/political/legal consequences of the tech. I must create the conditions by which she will come into contact with it. The conflict regarding her and this technology would have to warrant telling a story at all. And with a plot that's been done, I want to make the world extraordinary. I want something I can tie other story lines into.

Yes, I guess what I'm saying is that I want my own world to play in. I want it to impress me. And I have high expectations.

Research: Remix, Dubstep, & Turntablism

Below are three of the videos that I am using as reference for my WIP. Enjoy.

A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version.
In this video, DJ AM (aka Adam Goldstein) remixes "Wonderwall" by Oasis.




Dubstep, simply, is techno that is centered around bass.
(I picked this particular sample because I think everyone should see Marquese Scott dance.)




Turntablism the art of using one or more turntables,
combined with one or more mixers to create an original musical piece.

Abandoned Spaces

The Ruins of Detroit, by Marchand and Meffre

North Princeton Development Center, Elenor Oakes

Unidentified space.

If you know this stairwell, please let me know.

This post is research for myself. I’m in the very beginning of something new. I have wisps of ideas that float in and out. Colors. Smells. Sounds. I have a setting in this world, but not this timeline, and key moments of time I can use to flip history on its ear. I have shocking moments, chilling snap shots, and characters that make me smile thinking about them. But, it’s all very ethereal at the moment. The pieces fall apart in my fingers. I need a space for it all to live in and I don’t have it yet.

For January Black, I needed a space that could satisfy Matty's wonder and cravings for information, so I built a library for Hadrian that was part special collection and part treasure vault. For Sam and Delilah, I need something that provides shelter…from the elements, the authorities, from world at large. I need somewhere that gives them space to breath, but not necessarily comfort.  I need an abandoned space and that presents challenges.

These are a few of my images of abandoned compartmental spaces that came up in a Google search. Each one showing signs of severe neglect, but very different. They are forsaken, but not empty.  Color has become a roommate of pattern and light in a crumbling space furnished by debris. The former occupants are gone, but their essence remains.

I look at these pictures and think about the tone of Sam and Delilah's safe house. They will have modified the space for their needs, but they hope their residency will be temporary.

As you can see from the pictures on the left, the sky is the limit really on how I could define this space. I can make it an abandoned house with very small rooms, or an entire floor of a condemned factory. Until I decide what the space was in it's past life,  my only limitation is the tone that I want to set.

Do I want their safe house to have a cold presence, and exaggerate it with color like the first photo of the Ruins of Detroit? Or have warmth like the stairwell in the fourth picture. Should it be sparse and institutional? Or have older character? Should it feel lonely and sad? How do I want Sam and Delilah to feel about the place? Likely they'll feel differently, but will one of them actually like living there? Which one and for what reasons?

These are some of the the reasons I chose not doing NaNoWriMo this year. World building, while extremely fun, is time consuming.