To me, science has always been magic; never mind that the universe is rational and can for the most part be explained by physics, math and chemistry. It’s still magic to me.
The periodic table of elements-those squiggly things that I look at and say that’s nice. What is it? When I get an explanation my eyes start to glaze over, sort of when people start talking to me about sports. (Not many do, for that exact reason) Same reaction, except whereas in sports I can figure things and ask myself why bother, so my eyes glaze over anyway.
I really, really try to understand but…must be some kind of chemical reaction in my brain that tells me not to overtax it, because nothing sticks permanently.
There is a point to this blog. Stuck in my story line, I needed a way to solve my mystery and see if it was possible to identify certain properties. I won’t say more-because it’s part of the process of solving the mystery in A Hotel in Bath-suffice to say I needed to identify a process and by using that process identify how something was done.
My younger daughter is a scientist so I asked for help. I wanted it to be unusual but true.
And would you believe my daughter and science came to the rescue. Imagine that…I can only say that I will be using a GC-MS (for those of us who do not speak Acronym GC-MS = Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer)to get the proof. Now I’m unstuck and A Hotel in Bath is moving along nicely.
Did you ever notice that scientists need to learn a whole new language-it’s called- Acronym.
Till next time,
Margot Justes
http://margotsmuse.blogspot.com
http://www.mjustes.com/
A Hotel in Paris ISBN 978-1-59080-534-3
Art brought her to Paris, then a stranger’s death changes her life.
available on amazon.com
3 comments:
Margot - I get many, many of my ideas from reading science articles in various science sources and have read many science books ranging from CSI type science to ice age science to you name it; when I need to know something and I need a pivotal point on which the plot will twirl, I often turn to that magic you speak of -- science. I started down this route young, reading all of Robert Ardrey's factual accounts of the world of nature and animals as in The Territorial Imperative. How much do we writers of crime rely on facts. Fiction is filled with facts. I read more nonfiction than I do fiction in the pursuit of great ideas. I suspect Michael Crichton of operating the same way.
Rob Walker
Rob,
You're right-as writers we do rely on fact to move our fiction along. Michael Crichton, MD relied on his knowledge and really moved a story beautifully along, blending fact, fiction and fantasy.
Margot Justes
www.mjustes.com
Margot:
Isn't it wonderful to have grown children who are so knowledgeable and willing to help out?!!! What a blessing. Great post.
DL Larson
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