Vision Board for a Nightmare.

Author Research in Action

I am not usually a sensory author. Or, at least, I have fallen out of the habit of being one. I used to gather totems more often when starting a story. Pictures, songs, and on one occasion, a shell cameo that would help to keep me focused as I worked.

But I am particularly bad at giving examples to cover art people of what my characters look like. I rarely have anyone particular in mind when I make people and probably wouldn’t recognize people from my books, even if they came alive and walked up to me on the street.

One one hand, this works well for the reader, since they can plug in whatever characteristics they wish as they read. It makes the experience different for each person.

As to why I have no opinion? It may have something to do with the number of stories I’ve written, and the fact that it is easier to imagine a lot of different situations than it is to identify specific people acting in them. Also, although there are a lot of different ways to describe hair color and texture, it can be hard to find a new way to talk about a nose that doesn’t make it sound unattractive.

For the last 10 years or so, I have done things mostly in my head. I came up with a playlist for the last book which was mostly a mood thing and not an actual representation of anything happening in the book.

If you have Spotify, you can listen to it here.

This next book is going to be different. I am writing a book that will be loosely based on another, out of print and public domain story which has a clearly defined setting that sounds really cool. I want to be in this place, see the furniture and walk around the house. So, I’ve been wandering around the internet, collecting pictures and putting them on Pinterest.

Do you know how hard it is to find a grey, polydactyl, Persian cat? Almost impossible. But if you have one, mail me a pic. I am downloading pictures of toe beans on murder mittens. The desired cat needs seven toes, but the extreme in real life appears to be six.

As for the tazza mentioned in the story? I didn’t even know what one was until last night. It’s a wide cup on a stand. They might exist in black basalt, but there are damn few pictures to prove it.

There will also be a combination safe, and a kukri hanging on the wall. There is never a bad time to have a great big knife in a story. And I also know from the last book, that I have a character who knows how to use one. That’s a very handy bit of information.

I am also looking at house floor plans for both the main character and the house where the action takes place. There are lots of those out there, so I should have no trouble finding what I like. I want one house in the Kensington area, few details as yet, and another near Hampstead with a nice conservatory.

Things get more interesting as I start to research mummies. There is a mummified cat, and plenty of those exist. The characters in the book seem to think they can just pop down to the shops and get a spare, if they need to. In researching this fact, I learned that there were tons of them in Victorian England. So many that they were being ground up and used as fertilizer by farmers.

So much for respect for antiquities.

Which brings me to an Egyptology joke (because everyone should have one).

Do you know why the pyramids are in Giza?

Because they couldn’t figure out how to get them in the British Museum.

But my current characters are living in an era unencumbered by the ethics of cultural appropriation and mummy stealing. They are unwrapping those suckers for kicks and mulching what they can’t use. They are also decorating their houses like some Design Toscano wet dream, with three mummies downstairs and one up.

Probably some extras in the basement, once I get through with them. The two movies I saw based on this story skimped on them, but I plan to go over the top.

This is why I sent an email to a German scientist, this morning. As part of her research, Dr. Barbara Huber recreated the smell of mummies as part of a research project. It’s called
“The Scent of Eternity” or “The Scent of the Afterlife” depending on the site. Museums are using it in their mummy exhibits.

From what I can tell, mummies smell of pine and cinnamon, with a hint of vanilla and old linen. I would wear that. The characters in the book are getting high off it, right this minute.

This may compare with two candles I have in the house, right now. I bought a couple from Mythologie Candles that might suit. Tudor House Library fits my environment since this building is fake Tudor. And Gothic Cathedral is right, though a little overpowering, since I am living in a humble ex-Catholic church. Lighting that one up fills the space right quick, making it smell like high mass on Christmas. What we’d call in the Episcopal Church, “smells and bells”. When the priest lights up the thurible, kills the overhead lighting in favor of candles, and sings all the verses of the hymn.

I think the goal of my current experience is to raise an Egyptian queen. But I bet that smells like Christmas.