{"id":42,"date":"2009-11-19T17:33:26","date_gmt":"2009-11-19T22:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2009-11-19T17:33:26","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T22:33:26","slug":"pan-fer-gold-reports-from-a-research-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/pan-fer-gold-reports-from-a-research-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Pan Fer Gold–Reports from a Research Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know I tempted some of you last time with the indication that There Might Be Elk (in my work-in-progress, The Book of the Dead, and in a blog post), so here goes.<\/p>\n

Several weekends ago, I used the second half of some grant money (thank you, Kentucky Arts Council) to visit the Great Smoky Mountains, where The Book of the Dead is set.\u00a0 Not only did I get to right some serious misperceptions about the park; I got great visual details, a sense of the geography, and an awesome four-hour meeting with my new heroine, the parks ranger who is the liaison to the Student Conservation Association.\u00a0 I’ll call her H.\u00a0 She talked to me about so many angles of the book–the plausibility of the horrible accident (it’s plausible; also, harrowing), construction aspects of the trail she took me to, and\u00a0a part of the park where the book can best be set.\u00a0 I now have a location that’s remote, doesn’t get much foot-traffic, is near a stream, and has beautiful views.\u00a0 I owe her a serious debt.\u00a0 She totally rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So yes, amazing information, and, of course, the ersatz Santa Claus figure above.\u00a0 I just wrote him into a scene today, as a matter of fact.\u00a0 And when I stuck that photo into this blog, I realized,<\/p>\n

Hey.\u00a0 The entire trip was one big Pan Fer Gold.\u00a0 Take up a heap of dirt–the endless amount of information that you gather; the interviews you record that you tell yourself you’re going to transcribe; the free newspapers you stashed somewhere–and then, over a long period of time, sift through them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First put them through the big-gunk strainer and remove all the things you know you don’t want, like Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the city at the north of the park.\u00a0 Yegads!\u00a0 I’ve never seen anyplace so touristy in my entire life.\u00a0 It would be a great setting for something, but it’s not right for these characters even to drive through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, of course, you put the info through more strainers to see what’s useful and keep yourself honest.\u00a0 For example, I strongly suspect that Mr. Pan Fer Gold will get cut.\u00a0 I love him, no doubt.\u00a0 But often, when you love something too much early on, it’s the thing that has to go (writers, back me up on this.\u00a0 True, right?)<\/p>\n

One thing, though, that I think will make it through all the strainers is elk.\u00a0\u00a0The part of the park where the book is set is a huge gathering ground for elk.\u00a0 It would be a crime against writerliness not to include these huge, majestic, bugling animals in my book.\u00a0 But–<\/p>\n

which character of the six is going to come upon this elk, and when?\u00a0 I’m not sure yet.\u00a0\u00a0I don’t know if it will be during a high moment–the reward of the elk!–or solace in the midst of bitter disappointment.\u00a0 Figuring it out, though,\u00a0will be a kind of gift.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, I\u00a0think there should be an elk, literal or metaphorical, in every novel: some huge visual gesture that carries a great significance.\u00a0 I’m grateful for H and everything that got me to the park and for the insight of elk-kind.\u00a0 May they continue to prosper on their remote area of the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There will be elk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CataloocheeValleyElk2\"<\/p>\n

Next time: reports from the SCBWI Mid-South Schmooze, which was hugely successful!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 I know I tempted some of you last time with the indication that There Might Be Elk (in my work-in-progress, The Book of the Dead, and in a blog post), so here goes. Several weekends ago, I used the second half of some grant money (thank you, Kentucky Arts Council) to visit the Great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writerly-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jessicaleader.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}