The Writer as Magpie

LUCY BURDETTE: Remember I was asking for help with a Friends of the Key West library talk about writing a series a few weeks ago? It all went smashingly well, and I used lots of your comments. So thank you!

One of the things I wanted to talk to them about was how writers are like magpies, picking up characters and scenes and sentences wherever we go, from whatever we hear. The example I used was something that happened to me a couple of weeks ago and I thought you’d enjoy it too.

To set the scene, I was late for my appointment at the gym. I ran downstairs to get on my bike and discovered it was raining. John had the car that day, so I dashed back upstairs, got my raincoat, slapped on my helmet, and rode like the wind up the island. Two blocks from the gym, I glanced in my little rearview mirror and noticed flashing lights. They couldn’t be for me…

But I stopped peddling and turned to watch a tall police officer emerge from the driver side, and a smaller one out of the passenger. “Are you looking for me?” (A little old lady. On a bicycle. In the rain.)

“Yes,” the tall man said without a smile. “Were you aware that you ran two stop signs? I first will ask whether there is any medical reason why you were in such a hurry?”

“I’ve got nothing. I was late for the gym,” I said.

He went on to talk about how Key West has one of the highest bicycle accident rates in the state of Florida and etc. etc. And he was absolutely right, and I’ve been more careful ever since. But all I could think about was whether I'd get arrested if I asked him to take a selfie with me. And how I had one humdinger of a scene for the next mystery…

Here’s what I’ve got so far for the opening of Key West food critic #10, Hayley Snow talking of course…

To whom does our island really belong? That’s what I found myself wondering as I sat on my scooter in the rain, late for my pricy personal trainer, attempting to cross a massive traffic jam on Eaton Street. Underneath the beads and the beer and the outdoor burgers and music on Duval Street where the tourists found their “happy place,“ there was a struggle for ownership. I’d seen this on Instagram and Facebook when I posted something especially beautiful about our little knob of coral. Outsiders craved a piece of paradise as much as the locals – the insiders—wanted them gone.

This week between Christmas and New Year’s, Key West was bursting at the seams. Even my general practitioner confessed that he wouldn’t leave his condo complex unless coming to work: he’d never seen the island this busy. People wouldn’t stop for anyone – on a bicycle, walking, on a scooter, in a car. Already since Monday there had been five accidents, including two couples airlifted to a Miami trauma center, outcomes unknown.

And that pointed to one of the drawbacks of living on a small island and getting sick, with the way to mainland being a four-hour drive to Miami. You could get by fine visiting local doctors with a garden variety cold or a few stitches or an eye exam, but detach a retina or bash your head on the pavement, and you had an expensive helicopter trip to Miami ahead of you.

Because of the congestion, I seemed to be running late for everything. I dashed through a slight break in the traffic and whizzed across Frances Street, nearly slamming into a golf cart loaded with tourists.

“Even in Key West, a stop sign is not a freaking suggestion,” I hollered. 

They waved their beer cans and hooted with laughter.

“Chill, baby,” the driver yelled back. “Anger isn’t an aphrodisiac.”

Idiots.

Several blocks later I noticed blue lights in my rearview mirror. It had to be Nathan. My new husband, a Key West police detective, who was not usually a prankster. But we’d had a little kerfuffle this morning and he’d stormed off mad. He must finally be getting over it and lightening up. I took off my helmet, fluffed my hair, blotted the skin under my eyes where my mascara had no doubt been pooling, and smiled warmly.

But it wasn’t Nathan who emerged from the cruiser, it was two police officers I did not know, one tall and lanky with a shaved head, the other shorter, with the smallest smirk on his face. He stood about ten feet away from the tall man and watched him approach my scooter.

“Did you mean for me to stop?” I asked, feeling confused and annoyed.

“Yes. Were you aware that you ran through that stop sign without even looking? Do you have a medical reason to be in a hurry?”

How should a person answer a question like that, if she isn’t nine months pregnant, and clutching her contracting belly, or staunching an obvious blood flow?

Maybe, give me the freaking ticket and let’s get on with it?

Nathan would be furious. 

Writers, can you point to a scene from your life that you used in a book? Readers, have you ever wondered whether a particular scene really happened?

Reliving the Best of 2014: Who Let the Dogs Out? @LucyBurdette

Happy New Year's Eve day, Reds. As you've heard, we've decided to relive our favorite posts from 2014 this week. I have to say, the timing is perfect, because while you're reading, I will be marching in the dachshund parade with Tonka! I'll post new pictures on Facebook, but here's how it went last year--too much fun!

LUCY BURDETTE: There are lots of unusual events that take place on the island of Key West, but perhaps none so silly and fun as the dachshund parade. 



This has been occurring on New Year's Eve day for the past eight years, much to the chagrin of the Key West police, who have plenty on their hands already, getting prepared for New Year's Eve on Duval Street. 

John and I and Tonka attended in 2012, and ended up falling in with the dachshunds and the dachshund wannabes. After seeing the sights, I vowed that we would come in costume next time around. 



I was planning to sew a costume like this for Tonka. But then I checked on ebay as time grew short--and became the winning bidder on this costume. 





And then I found hats for me and John--a hamburger and a hot dog. Weren't they such good sports about dressing up as lunch meat? We marched from the Courthouse, up Southard Street to Duval, then right on Duval to Appleruth Lane. (Dachshunds have short legs so it was a short route:). 

 There were dogs dressed as lobsters....

 and dogs with their mothers in funny hats...

A

 And dogs in disguise

 And dogs in blue tutus just like their owners

And this is my good friend, Officer Steve Torrence, who is also a character in the Key West mysteries. (He's a good sport even though he isn't a fan of this parade:). 

And here is a family portrait

Leading off the parade were three mounted police and a small van with great speakers that played classics like "Who Let the dogs out?" and "Ain't Nothing like a hound dog." A truly amazing way to end 2013...or any year!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uaPs8sxqB0

And if you think this is material I can't use, you haven't read the fifth Key West mystery, DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS!

Happy New Year Reds! Hope you're out there doing something silly!  xoxo Lucy

Who Let the Dogs Out? @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Last week Rhys wrote about becoming an accidental expert...In Key West, my expertise is a little "different." There are lots of unusual events that take place on the island, but perhaps none so silly and fun as the dachshund parade. 



This has been occurring on New Year's Eve day for the past eight years, much to the chagrin of the Key West police, who have plenty on their hands already, getting prepared for New Year's Eve on Duval Street. 

John and I and Tonka attended last year, and ended up falling in with the dachshunds and the dachshund wannabes. After seeing the sights, I vowed that we would come in costume next time around. 



I was planning to sew a costume like this for Tonka. But then I checked on ebay as time grew short--and became the winning bidder on this costume. 





And then I found hats for me and John--a hamburger and a hot dog. Weren't they such good sports about dressing up as lunch meat? We marched from the Courthouse, up Southard Street to Duval, then right on Duval to Appleruth Lane. (Dachshunds have short legs so it was a short route:). 

 There were dogs dressed as lobsters....

 and dogs with their mothers in funny hats...

A

 And dogs in disguise

 And dogs in blue tutus just like their owners

And this is my good friend, Officer Steve Torrence, who is also a character in the Key West mysteries. (He's a good sport even though he isn't a fan of this parade:). 

And here is a family portrait

Leading off the parade were three mounted police and a small van with great speakers that played classics like "Who Let the dogs out?" and "Ain't Nothing like a hound dog." A truly amazing way to end 2013...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uaPs8sxqB0

And if you think this is material I can't use, just wait for the fifth Key West mystery coming in December 2014....

Okay Reds, your turn: What is the silliest thing you've ever done in public?

Playing Cops and Robbers

LUCY BURDETTE: When I first met my stepson, he was going through a phase of police adoration. Most days, he wore a miniature police uniform with his name sewn over the pocket. He carried a pretend radio with him everywhere and talked to his pretend police officer colleagues. He was four and it was all very cute.

My husband thinks I'm going through a similar phase, only I'm, ahem,  quite a few years older. Maybe it's not quite so adorable? All he can do is shake his head.

You probably read last Wednesday that I'm attending the Key West Citizens Police Academy, which I find fascinating. Having published ten mysteries in the last ten years, you'd think I knew this stuff, right? 

Wrong. 

Of course, I interviewed experts when I wrote myself into a corner, asking questions like "Would a golf tournament continue if a dead body was found on the course?" 

Or I'd call my friend Steve Torrence, the community liaison officer for KWPD, and get a general idea of what real cops would do in certain situations.  

But all in all, I fell into the camp of if you don't know something about police procedure, make it up.


 But now I'm obsessed with the details.

In our citizens academy, we had a session led by Chief Donie Lee about the particular challenges of "protecting Paradise"--the large homeless population, the enormous influx of tourists (3 million visitors a year!), the wild and crazy events like Fantasyfest and Spring Break and New Year's Eve on Duval Street.  

We learned to do traffic stops and DUI investigations. (Yes, that's me with the fake pink gun.) When we came upon the aftermath of a terrible accident early Friday morning, I was able to explain to John what the officers were measuring and why.



In another session, we donned purple gloves and looked for clues in a crime scene that two of the department detectives had set up for us. On Friday, I took one of the detectives to lunch and got what I hope will be a great idea for my plot-in-progress, based on what she called her "white whale." In this case, the one that got away was the brazen theft of a gold bar that had been discovered in a wreck.  You can see the video of the theft from the Mel Fisher Museum right here.

And best of all, I had a ride-along with Officer Ryan, including several traffic stops and a trip to the jail with a very drunk woman, under the auspices of the Marchman act.

I don't think I'd make it as a real police officer though. I don't like dangerous situations. And I'm not great at confronting people. And I like to be in bed by ten:).

But it's still fun to imagine...

Do you have a career you'd like to try out if you had the chance?

On Getting Things Right

The traffic team at KWPD

LUCY BURDETTE: The past few weeks I've been attending the Key West Citizens' Police Academy. For eight weeks, two hours on Wednesday night, we attend classes to learn about how the department works, what the challenges are about policing Key West, and some hands-on activities like searching for clues in a hypothetical crime scene and making safe traffic stops. It's such great fun!

But it also makes me realize how little I actually know about police work. The lucky thing is, I don't write police procedurals. But now that I know a little more, I realize I need to avoid the temptation of putting in a lot of details that will bog the story down.

Reds, how do you handle detectives and police work and crime scene investigations? Debs and Julia--you actually have main characters who are cops. How do you balance getting things right enough and just writing the dang thing?


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  I went to the FBI Citizens Academy, and it was terrific, wonderful, brilliant and even inspirational. The guy sitting next to me eventually said--during a break--"Can I just ask you something? You seem to be writing down different things than I am. What are you writing?"

 And I realized-I was writing down HOW the agents talked. More than what they talked ABOUT.

My main character, Jake Brogan, is a Boston police detective. Writing his point of view, which I love, I just try to imagine--how would a police officer think about this? How would they see this situation? What would they care about?  What would they worry about?  I just try to--channel it.

If I need jargon or info, I--hmmm. What DO I do?  I ask my criminal defense attorney husband. I ask Lee Lofland. And I ask police offiers when I see them during my news reporting. (I also watch them and listen to them when they dont know it.)  I mostly..don't worry about it too much. I've been out with police lots of times..and I write them the way I write everyone else. As real people with a goal.

LUCY: Hank, you are so smart!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Luckily for me, my husband is an ex-cop. He was a 911 dispatcher, then a patrol officer, then ran the 911 call center as a certified police officer (it's usually a civilian job) for ten years. It was a smaller city so he worked with detectives and often with the fire marshall. So there's not much about police work that he doesn't know.

I also have a writer friend who is a twenty-five year-plus officer--he just passed his captain's exam. He reads my manuscripts and gives me tips about things like how the crime scene would be handled. More importantly, though, I count on him to tell me if my cops are doing what cops would really do--asking the right questions, interviewing the right people, coming to logical conclusions based on the evidence they have.

But much of it is what Hank said--I think of my cops as characters with goals, and let the goal move the story.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Debs married a guy who is not only a webmaster, but also a cop? Talk about planning ahead for a crime fiction career...

I get my info from a variety of sources; talking to cops (writer-cops like Lee Lofland, Jim Born and Ken Lang can be especially helpful) books on criminal investigation, articles and newspaper reports, and, I will admit it, even reality TV shows. I think it was Jim who told me once that RENO 911 was the most realistic cop show on the air!

But to echo Hank and Debs, much of the work in getting LEOs "right" is the same sort of work that it takes to step into any other character's skin. The author needs to be able to empathize with the character and to see the world as he or she sees it.

One of the trickiest things to write about are forensics, nowadays. There's so much on TV that people think they know how it works, but a lot of it is wrong, wrong, wrong. I had a reviewer take me to task for one book where the autopsy tox screens took over two weeks. On CSI, the results come back within hours, but in real life, lab findings can take weeks - months if it involves DNA.

RHYS BOWEN: This one of the reasons I love setting books in the past. So little forensics to worry about! When I want to know something specific I ask an expert. When I was doing a Constable Evans book with a child abduction I had the South Wales police expert talk me through the stages. And when I was writing those Welsh books I had two tame policemen I could ask about anything.

I've always been amazed at the generosity of experts. They always give up time to answer questions.

HALLIE EPHRON: Police procedure isn't usually a focus in my books, so I strive to be believable, not accurate. A lower standard (like "preponderance of the evidence" rather than "beyond a reasonable doubt").

The book I'm writing takes place in 1965 and 1985, so when I ended up chatting with a family sitting next to me at Mohegan Sun, and it turned out the older man was a retired police officer, I grilled him on "old" police procedure. "If you found a drowned body in full rigor in 1965..." - He was great, and though I'm not sure he's absolutely right, it sounded good enough.

For any clueless writer who needs to know accurate current police procedure, there's the Writers' Police Academy.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: As in Hallie's books (I always get a kick out of writing that...I so want to be like my fellow Reds!) police procedure does not play a huge role in my stories. I've done the occasional interview and I've allowed myself to briefly occupy a cell at the Stamford Police Station but it's not a hot issue for me. So far my protags have not needed to reload their weapons or shoot from an improbable distance.

I'm doing research now for a new project - a historical - and getting THAT right is going to be a challenge. Props to Rhys and Jan for getting that right!