January was an interesting month for romance writers.
Made me think about a few things I hadn’t thought as much about before…not necessarily plagiarism, because my views on that, what is and isn’t plagiarism haven’t changed. But it did drive home a little more about paying acknowledgments even when all you do is use a few books for research and work the knowledge you picked up into your books… in your own words, naturally.
Now I’m not a writer who does bunches and bunches of specific research. A lot of ‘paranormal’ type stuff I know comes from years and years of being addicted to paranormal stuff and reading up on it. Not just genre books, but reference material, vampire encylopedias, scary stories, mythology books.
But from time to time, I do focus on something that requires specific research. Like the American Revolution. My upcoming novella, Hunter’s Mercy from the Private Places anthology is set right at the end of the war. It’s one of my favorite periods in history, but I don’t know it in and out. Research was required.
In my acknowledgments page, I mentioned
- The Complete Idiot’s Guide to The American Revolution by Alan Axelrod
- The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America from 1607-1783 by Dale Taylor
But while I was adding them in, I got to thinking…ya know, I’ve got a lot of friends that have helped me out here and there and that help was every bit as valuable as the research and reference material. Maybe I should say an en masse thank you type thing.
- Lora Leigh~ One of my best friends, and she’s also my bouncing board. Something gets stuck, I go gripe at her. She helps me get unstuck. I bounce new ideas off her head…like Fragile, scheduled to come out in 2009 and I’ve been talking about that book to her for probably a year now. And I just now wrote it. 😐
- Jaci Burton~ for coming up with the title Once Upon a Midnight Blue… because the original title stunk.
- PBW ~ for all the posts on world-building, characterization, and just writing in general. And for helping me out with a project I had last summer.
- Dr. B ~ Keep your friends close and your enemies dead in the ground. When I was helping out at the office a few years, something came up…can’t remember what, Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. He laughed and said, I prefer keep your friends close and your enemies dead in the ground. 😉 He’s a weird type guy. I like that in a person. Asked him if I could use that line… and it appeared in one of my books, not sure where.
- Anni ~ For reading sooooo many things and telling me if it worked or not, for reading Through the Veil back when it was just a few pages and a terrifying prospect. And for being a friend.
- Valerie ~ For helping on things English, for pointing out a few things I wasn’t aware of, for mead, for a surprise she gave me at RT in 2004.
- Renee ~ For reading, supporting, reading… and for being a friend.
- Patti ~ For reading, correcting, editing, reading…and for being a friend.
Are there more? Oh, scads. But when it comes to writing, the above people have either repeatedly helped me out or helped me in a specific instance that made things so much better.
😉 There. I feel better now.