interview conducted by Su Kopil, publisher of The Motivated Writer
10-18-2005
TMW: Tell us a about your current book, COLD BURN, the third in the Steve Cline mystery series.
In COLD BURN, Steve Cline searches for a man who has disappeared from his job delivering foals on a thoroughbred breeding farm where secrets and jealousies and obsessions are the norm, and the present seems to be repeating its fiery past. If Steve’s not very careful, he just might get burned.
TMW: The Place: How do you go about picking a setting for your book? Does the setting come first or the story idea?
For me, the real life settings--horse farms and racetracks where I’ve worked--often generate a story idea that I use as inspiration for a scene, often a scene that kicks off the book.
When I was barn manager at a hunter/jumper farm in Maryland, I would occasionally have to go to the barn in the middle of the night to medicate a horse, and I was always the first person to arrive at work each morning. That being the case, I was the one to discover problems that had developed overnight--a horse that had injured himself, a dead horse, or, on a lighter note, twenty-five school horses running loose with only me to keep them off the road until help arrived. Well, that got me thinking. What would I have done if I’d interrupted something sinister that people were doing? So, I turned that question into the opening scene of AT RISK where my protagonist, Steve Cline, goes to the barn in the middle of a bitter winter night and interrupts a horse theft.
COLD BURN’s opening scene was inspired by a real place and a real series of events. I was working on a huge breeding farm in Pennsylvania, delivering foals on the night shift, when a serial arsonist was burning down barns in the neighborhood. We kept the barn doors cracked open to facilitate ventilation, and I’ll never forget how it felt when I stepped out of a mare’s stall around two-thirty in the morning, looked down the barn aisle and saw an orange glow on the horizon, and knew another barn was burning. That image and feeling opens COLD BURN.
TMW: The Journey: Can you tell us about some of your research trips? Is there one that stands out in your mind? Any funny/interesting anecdotes or mishaps? If you could give us a little scene, that would be great.
Well, I am forever doing my research backwards. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written the story first only to go back later to research the setting. This happens more than I care to admit, partly because I’m writing about Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, but I live in Indiana. I used to live in Maryland, but not anymore. So, I’m often forced to write the book first, before I have an opportunity to make a trip home. COLD BURN is strongly based on a horse farm that I used to work on in Pennsylvania, but I wanted to set the story in Virginia for reasons too complicated to go into here. So, I got out a map. I love using maps for setting research, and I often pick a location based on the quality of map I can find. I love these ADC county maps that are popular in Maryland and portions of Virginia. They are so detailed, they have schools and shopping centers and hospitals, just about everything in them. For COLD BURN, it was important that Steve could see the Blue Ridge Mountains from the farm because I’d already envisioned some scenes where that imagery would be important. I ended up choosing Warrenton, Virginia for the setting of the fictitious Stone Manor Farm. I mapped out the roads, found the apartment complex Steve would live in temporarily, then finally, when the manuscript was done, but before I turned it in, I visited Warrenton. Luckily, everything worked out, except that the roads where I set the farm were all wrong. The terrain was wrong, and the roads were gravel. I couldn’t believe it. Here were these roads right outside the city line, and they were gravel. With a little scouting around, I found the perfect place. I also photographed every real place where a scene would unfold--the library, some local eateries, the hospital, a parking lot behind a food store where a police operation goes bad, the apartment Steve would live in. Getting all those places on film helped tremendously when I went back and edited the manuscript. They’ll also be added to my website early next year with corresponding excerpts. I’ve done the same for AT RISK and DEAD MAN’S TOUCH, so that’s a bonus when you get pictures. (Visit the Story Photo page)
I also photographed the Warrenton Police Department and a bunch of police cars. It had started to drizzle when I got out of the van and was shooting some pictures of some city and sheriff’s deputy cruisers. A young woman was jogging down the road. She nodded hi; then as I wrapped up that photo session, I notice her continue jogging right on into the police station. Undaunted, I pulled over in front of the station, took some more shots, then drove around a side street and took pictures of the police cruisers in the back lot. I noticed I was being watched, but they didn’t come out and ask me what I was doing, much to my relief. I did have visions of them running my license plate though.
The oddest thing that’s happened to me so far is when I returned to the horse farm that Foxdale Farm is modeled after--Steve’s home base in AT RISK. The last time I was on the grounds was almost twenty-five years ago, when I worked there. Anyway, I’d scheduled a book-signing there, and while I was talking to the staff, they asked me if Steve Cline was based on a real person. I said no, and they said that a guy who lived a couple of streets away was named Steve Cline. Same spelling and everything.
TMW: Exploring: How do you go about researching/exploring a setting? [interviews, photographs, etc]
Like I said earlier, I love using maps. I think readers get a kick out of reading about a real place that they might actually have visited. However, that doesn’t stop me from inserting a fictitious place into the story. But I love real life details. I use maps and the Internet, and when possible, I take lots of pictures. Now that I’ve done three books, I’m a little smarter about how I do my research. While I’m in the plotting stage, I try to get to the actual places and photograph them. Book four takes pace at Churchill Downs during the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby. So, I’ve toured the stable area, and I’ve toured part of the grandstand. I’ve taken lots of pictures of the track and downtown Louisville. I’ve gone to every place where I think I’ll have a scene.
I also interview people. I’ve interviewed a director of security at a large Louisville hotel. I’ve interviewed police lieutenants and detectives. I’ve toured police stations and checked out their interview rooms. I couldn’t take a picture though, because they were interviewing an arson suspect. A lieutenant in Maryland was kind enough to show me the cameras he uses. He showed me his office and gave me a copy of their search warrant and even read some pages that I’d written of an interrogation scene that became an important scene in DEAD MAN’S TOUCH.
And I do a lot of Internet research on places and just about the weirdest topics you might imagine. I’ll copy and paste text and photographs that I can go back to as I write. If I’m researching hotel door locks, for instance, I’ll find sites on the Internet, and I’ll copy and paste pictures of the door lock unit and a device called a hotel interrogator that security uses to see who’s been in the room. I’ll research any real place where I plan to set a scene, using the Internet, and note the webpage and copy and paste text and photographs and maps of the location.
Another thing that I do that’s a little weird, but it adds to the realism: I research sunrise and sunset times and moonrise and moonset times for every day that unfolds in my story. Since Steve is outside a lot, and at odd times of the day and night, I need to make sure these details are accurate. I also pay close attention to the weather for the season I’m writing about and even research the bloom times of various shrubs and plants if I plan on mentioning them. Say I want to mention the smell of honeysuckle, I need to make sure it’s actually blooming at that time of year. Weather is a super way to impart mood. DEAD MAN’S TOUCH unfolds during a record-breaking heat wave, and the heat and humidity and an occasional thunderstorm adds tremendously to the feeling of oppression that is a constant undercurrent in that book.
TMW: Keeping it Fresh: How do you keep your findings fresh in your mind? Do you have any methods for organizing your notes/pictures?
For each book that I work or (and even books that I have in mind for the future) I set up a computer folder for digital photographs, and I open a Word document for research notes. All my digital photographs go into that particular book’s folder. I don’t print many of them out because of the cost of ink, but I can open up the story’s photo folder and click through all the photographs. I’ll also copy and paste key photographs in my research Word document. As I’m plotting a book and researching a book, I cut and paste all the text and key photographs into one document. The document usually grows to 400 single-spaced pages at 8-font by the time I’m done the prep work. Sometimes I don’t even get to read all of it, but it’s there if I need it.
I have notes about the weirdest things, but they’re all pertinent to the story. For COLD BURN, I already knew everything I needed to know about foaling out mares, but I needed to research artificial insemination and learn about cocaine and the street price, what it looks like, what a kilo looks like, how it’s packaged, how police handle the drug when they’re going to conduct a sting, and I needed to research the psychology of arson and what kind of equipment removes overturned trucks from highway accidents. All the information I find goes into the document.
Also, I’m constantly collecting information for future story ideas. You can set up Google alerts that will capture website and news stories on any topic you’re interested in. A future story deals with polo, so I’ve set up a Google alert to email me any website additions or newspaper articles posted to the web that have the phrase “polo” + “ponies” in the text.
TMW: The Details: If the essence of place is in the details, how do you know which to include and which to leave out?
I love setting, and I love description. Setting is very much a character in my books, but I have to be careful to make sure that the description has a reason for being there. Readers want to be able to see the setting and picture it in their minds, but they don’t want to OD on it. So, in my first draft, I may describe a lot. When I edit, I par it down to only the most important descriptions.
It is nice when you can combine description with something else, so you are doing two things at once. You can combine description with action. You can combine description with an emotional response to the setting or what is going on in the scene. Then the readers don’t feel like they’re just reading a paragraph on description of setting which can become boring, and they’ll start to skim.
An instructor once pointed out something about setting description that I’d never thought of but find very useful. Each person who enters a scene will have a different response to it. When two policemen enter a barn at Foxdale Farm, they’re going to notice how big the horses are and that they are sleek and well-cared for. They’re also going to be inundated with noises that are unfamiliar to them. They may even be a little uncomfortable or nervous if they aren’t familiar with horses. Also, the upper portion of the stall fronts are made out of metal bars, so they’ll immediately be reminded of a jail and might even comment on it. But when Steve enters the barn, he’ll hardly be aware of the noise, unless something’s wrong. He’s not going to notice the same things as the cops. He’s going to notice if equipment wasn’t put away properly. He’s going to notice if someone didn’t sweep the barn aisle. Out of habit, he might visually check on a horse that hadn’t felt well earlier in the day. So, each character brings their own knowledgebase and past experience into play as they interpret that setting, and it’s useful to remember that when you’re writing.
And getting back to your question, besides combining setting description with something else, I’m always looking for a unique and fresh way to describe a setting, and I’m especially looking for description that creates a mood.
TMW: Bringing it to Life: Do you consider the setting another character? If so, what techniques do you use to make it come alive in the story?
Setting does something unique that I don’t think we contemplate much. Setting dictates character. Think about it. You’ll find a whole different group of characters in a law firm than you would find working on the backside of a racetrack. So, setting has a lot to do with the characters you find in the story.
I use setting and the weather and the descriptions I choose to include as a means to create a mood. In DEAD MAN’S TOUCH, the reader is very aware of the squalid, energy-sapping life that is lived on the backside of a racetrack. The horses seem to have an easier existence than the people who care for them. The living conditions are dismal, the hours long, but there’s still an undercurrent of hope and optimism.
Techniques for making it come alive--hmm. The best thing I can say is that I am there when I’m writing the scene. I think you need to be there when you’re writing the scene for it to come truly alive. I used to write while the kids were in school, and when I’d quit at three o’clock and go to pick them up in the lobby of their elementary school, I used to feel like I’d just walked out of a movie theatre, like I’d just left the backside of the racetrack and had stepped back into the real world.
TMW: On the Set: Can you give us an excerpt of setting, just a few paragraphs from one of your scenes?
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COLD BURN FUN LINKS . . .
COLD BURN is set in Warrenton, Virginia. Much of my early research for COLD BURN was done on the Internet, but I followed up with a visit to Warrenton and fell in love with this quaint town set east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and in the middle of Virginia horse country.
Speaking of horse country, here's a link to a wonderful tack store in Warrenton: Horse Country Saddlery. The photo on their home page says it all.
purchase COLD BURN
K i t E h r m a n . . .
Site content copyrighted 2006/2007 by Kit Ehrman. top of page
Louisville Skyline photo by Fleur-Design.net
Horse photo by Mike Corrado
Hardcover
ISBN: 1-59058-143-1
February, 2005
$24.95
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 1-59058-293-4
November, 2006
$14.95
LARGE PRINT
ISBN: 1-59058-157-1
February, 2005
$22.95
REVIEWS
"COLD BURN is a hot read. Grab it." ~Rita Mae Brown
"Ehrman's best yet." ~Kirkus
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"skillfully ratchets up the suspense" ~Booklist
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"terrific, engaging novel..."
~The Daily Oakland Press
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"absorbing..."
~Publishers Weekly
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"vivid..." Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
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TMW: The Last Word: Is there anything else you would like to add? Any important questions I haven't covered or advice you'd like to give?
Put yourself in the scene when you’re writing it. Visualize the scene as if you were watching a movie. What can you describe that will make the scene more compelling. Don’t forget all the senses. Don’t forget sound and smell and temperature. You can do so much with all of them, and weave your descriptions in with your actions and character’s emotions.
Sure. From COLD BURN:
Outside, a thick layer of frost coated the landscape, and the barns and fence boards and grass sparkled in the moonlight. I glanced at the sky before climbing into the Ford. The moon looked like someone had taken a scythe to it and lopped off the right quarter. As I stood there, a plane passed silently beneath it.
I checked barn one, then froze when I hit the lights in two. A deep equine groan rumbled under the eaves. I sprinted to Sumthingelse’s stall and threw open the door. It slid into the doorstop with a loud crack that startled her neighbor.
The mare was down and straining. When I crouched at her hindquarters, she rolled onto her sternum. She arched her neck and tried to lunge to her feet. A hind hoof dug through the straw and slipped on the wet asphalt, causing the mare to briefly lose her purchase before she scrambled to her feet. I cursed under my breath.
The straw was a sodden mess. An unpleasant smell hung in the air, and I realized that the floor was soaked because her water had broken.
I yanked the farm’s cell phone out of my jacket and left my number with the vet’s service; then I called his pager and keyed in my number. I called Maddie next, and as I listened to the phone ring, the mare lifted her tail, and a pearly white, translucent membrane glistened at the base of her vulva.
This was too damned fast. No wonder her placentas detached. Her uterine contractions must have been phenomenal, tearing the placenta from its anchor.
I hung up on the seventh ring and called Frank.
The mare sank to her knees, and when she collapsed to the ground, the impact forced a groan from her lungs.
I looked at the phone in disbelief when a busy signal shrilled through the earpiece. Who the hell was he talking to at five-twenty in the morning? I focused past the phone in my hand and watched the mare strain. According to Maddie, once a mare entered stage two, they often delivered their foals in less than fifteen minutes.
