Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

Hiya, WordWrangler Readers! We have a special guest today. Author Shay Lacy is talking about the crazy side of story ideas. Shay, take it away!

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut...


Or often, in my case. Why do other people make me feel like a nut? Is it the questions I ask? Like for Hero Needed, released Oct. 22nd from Crimson Romance, “Can a train traveling 30 mph kill someone pushed in front of it?” After wide-eyed stares, the most common response was, “Why would somebody use a train to kill instead of a gun?”

Or for the brain spore in my novel Mating Urge I asked a neurological nurse. “He’s got this infestation in his brain. Where would it lodge?” I described my hero’s imaginary symptoms. The nurse walked away without answering to hold a non-imaginary conversation with someone else.

Or the question for my July, 2013 release from Crimson Romance, Counterpoint. “How large does a shoulder bag have to be to hold ricin and how would a person carry it so that when they dump it on someone a rooster tail cloud flies up over their head and poisons them too?” I had to bribe a friend’s teenage son with candy to let me knock him down sufficient times to get the “ricin” (flour) to make a rooster tail. The younger son wanted nothing to do with me, even for candy!

Or the question for my novel J’Tar. “Where do his clothes come from when he shapeshifts from jaxtar cat to man?” “Would these imaginary clothes move in a breeze?” “If they’re imaginary, why can’t other people see through them?” I got big-eyed, vacuous stares from several people. Thank God I know other people who love paranormal!

Then there are the questions I ask myself. I have a working title for one novel, “Sliding on Flannel.” I asked, “CAN you slide on flannel?” Since I own flannel sheets, I experimented. The answer: difficult, but not impossible. It was the underlying premise of the novel.

There was, “Can a ghost get a flash drive out of a buried casket,” for Grave Secrets, my July, 2013 release from Lyrical Press. I had to return to the movie Ghost with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze for a possible answer. Not that anyone needs a reason to see that movie again!

Or the question for my story Chameleon’s Secrets about whether electrical tape could hold a stone carving affixed to a man’s chest and how many times the tape would have to wrap around to be secure. Hubby gave me the large-eye stare but did submit to the electrical tape. I believe his chest hair has grown back.
I have fun writing my novels, researching them and making up imaginary things that I ask other people about. So people think I’m a nut. So what.

What about you? As a writer, do you ever feel like a nut?

Comments

  1. Ladies, thank you so much for having me here and reminding me how much fun writing can be!

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  2. Hi, those questions are the perks to being a writer. My daughter worried about me when I told her I wanted to attend a Bigfoot convention.

    The reason? My WIP is Murder at the Bigfoot Convention.

    One of my persistent quuestions is: if Bigfoot were to kill someone how would he do it?

    Ahh! I love my job!

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  3. Hi, Shay, thanks for being here today! I usually feel like a nut - I mean, 'normal' people don't have conversations with fictional characters, do they?

    Terry, love those what if questions. They're the best!!

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  4. LOL...love the lengths you go to all in the name of research. It's a wonderful thing when you get together with a group of writers and learn you're not the only one who does some crazy things in the name of research!

    Good luck with your books...and I could just stare for hours at your lovely book cover!

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    1. Someone should video a group of writers discussing the lengths we go. It would go viral. Thanks, Christine!

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    1. Thanks, Sharon. I see you recognize another of your kind.

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  6. I write RS, and the questions I sometimes ask! I'm lucky Homeland Security hasn't come after me! LOL

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    1. Ooh, can I follow you around for awhile? I'd love to hear your questions.

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  7. Great, it's finally out there -- writers are nuts! Great post, had me laughing out loud thanks.

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  8. LOL. Brainstorming shows each writer's true colors, not that we ever hide them.

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  9. Trying things out to see if they'll work...isn't that fun? LOL My kids LOVE my battle scenes.

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    1. You're lucky, Sheri. I have to borrow other people's kids.

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  10. I love this post! We've all been there, haven't we?

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    1. I think it's mandatory in order to be a writer.

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  11. Our town has a huge fireworks display every Fourth and a lot of people go to the Fort Vancouver grounds--like tens of thousands of people--to watch. One year I was sitting there and you could hear the boom from the river float where they were shooting them off and I thought, "What if there was a shooter in the trees pegging people off? We'd never know." And then, I kind of freaked myself out and couldn't enjoy the rest of the show.

    Great post :)

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  12. I asked my cp's for the name of an imaginary disease.

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  13. Kristina: thanks for inviting to share the day with your followers. I had a great time!

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  14. I can't tell you how many times I've been editing my work and said to myself, "Where do I come up with this stuff?" LOL Great post!
    -R.T. Wolfe
    www.rtwolfe.com

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  15. Hahaha. I know. My husband would agree.

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