This past week you might have heard about the major league baseball player, catcher Wilson Ramos from the Washington Nationals, who was kidnapped from outside his mother’s house in Venezuela. When I first heard about the story I thought it would be something my husband would want to know about, since he follows baseball.
So . . . during his daily phone call from work, I casually asked if he’d heard about a baseball player who’d been kidnapped? My husband was immediately intrigued. Who was kidnapped? Was he a major league player? What team does he play for?
Well, I’d only barely listened to the report and all I knew at the time was the bare minimum. A baseball player had been kidnapped . . . in Venezuela, I think . . . and he was wearing a red jersey uniform in the pictures. Definitely a major league player, whose name or team of course I did not know.
To me all that was detail, schmeetail. I fully expected my husband to know all about the story before I even brought it up, but when he didn’t he was looking for real details. None of which I had.
After a quick online search he had the information he wanted, and so I went back to what I’d been doing before. Researching my current work-in-progress. Now that’s where details need to be details!
All of this reminded me of how important my attitude is regarding the little things to make any story come alive. As I mentioned recently, I was having some challenges in finding unique material for my 1880s Denver setting. I easily found some big-picture material, but I was looking for in depth particulars.
My Inspirational set in Colorado might not be the first out there—but I want it to appear as if it is. I want a clear, specific image of everyday life. Not just what the city looked like, but what people who lived back then would have smelled and eaten and heard, how they voted and what they did for music, entertainment and work. What were the issues that concerned them? What would they have been talking about? Shopping for? Arguing about? Laughing about?
My online searches started out broad (Denver history 1880) but gradually became more focused (history of Market Street, for example). During one such search, I was led to a group of self-published books that looked promising. With my order of a couple of the books, I was able to exchange emails directly with the author.
It turns out he is a professor with extensive knowledge of the era I’m interested in. Although he’s researched several books in various parts of the west, he was able to point me in the direction of some wonderful new resources. Now I have a plethora of historical detail that will not only help my setting come alive, but will broaden and deepen my original — rather sketchy — plot outline.
And I’m enjoying every minute of it!
PS If you don’t already know, you’ll be glad to hear Mr. Ramos was successfully rescued from his kidnappers.
Join Me!