HAVING FUN WITH RESEARCH

My guest is Terry Spear who writes some fabulous stories about wolf and jaguar shifters. I thoroughly enjoy her stories and stepping into a world created by Terry is almost as good as a vacation. I'd still like to find a nice beach with white sands, balmy warm breezes, and frothy turquoise waters, AND a Terry Spear book. Now, that would be a great vacation!

I love to research settings, animals (for shifter types), temperatures, plants, everything I can to make an urban fantasy story as real as werewolf and jaguar shifters can be. J

Visiting Grand Cayman Island was a lot of fun. I’d always wanted to set a story there because I thoroughly enjoyed it. When a story is set in a place you've been, it makes it easier. But I still did research to ensure I got my facts straight and added more details I missed—like about where the different types of sharks are located, and something about the huge amount of banks that are on the island (offshore bank accounts, ring a bell?), and more. I saw one when I was there, and it wasn't anything like what you might expect. I also saw a man in a business suit at the hotel where we were staying, chain around his wrist and a briefcase. Hmm-hm. And I included it in the story. The man and the stingray story? Happened to a man swimming near me. The tale the man told them about the ray with no tail? The shark with all the undigested ray tails? All of these the guide revealed to us during the snorkeling trip to feed the rays. So sometimes what I add is researched, and some of it is real. The pirates putting on a sword-fighting show was also real. Well, faked, but you what I mean. LOL

It was fun when Duncan couldn't stand it anymore and had to show how a real swordsman fought.

When I went to Grand Cayman Island, I did almost everything that Duncan and Shelley did, except swim and run as a wolf, and no fighting bad guys. I also went on a submarine, but Duncan and Shelley, being the wolves they are, didn't want to do that.

Since I also write thousands of blogs, I love to take photos of animals that I might share since they’re in the stories. I wish I’d had a decent camera to take pictures when I was on Grand Cayman Island. But that was one of the things I always forgot. A camera.

I’m getting better about it!

While visiting my son and daughter-in-law at Omaha, NE where my son is stationed in the AF, they took me to the zoo, and I got a lot of neat pictures of sharks and stingrays and jelly fish, caimans and jaguars—for my jaguar stories, and tons of other great stuff. But they had no wolves. They took me to another park, complete with wolves. My Thanksgiving was perfect!

My next story, A Highland Werewolf Wedding, is set in Scotland, and the castle ruins I used in the story, was actually one of the ones I visited and fell in love with. Visiting a place that you set your story can help to create a real world in a world of fantasy. Since I really loved it, like I did Grand Cayman Island, Scotland, and some of the silver mining towns in Colorado that I used to create Silver Town, Colorado, and the Oregon coast and Portland areas, I could create a world I loved, too. With a camera, I can take pictures to help me remember details I might forget. Tour guides can give details, too, that we might not be able to find by doing other kinds of research.

I’m still learning to use my new camera though. I spent a couple of hours at the local zoo, capturing a tiger cub playing with his mother, and a jaguar making its strange huffing roar because it was separated from her cub, and got home to find that I must not have turned the movie on when I was taking it.

*sigh*

I have to say that when I went to the Grand Cayman Island, I was still writing on a historical romance, and had no idea that one day, I would be writing a story about a hot Highland wolf meeting up with a sexy Texas she-wolf in that same island paradise.

Now, everywhere I go is a potential setting for a story.

Have you ever been somewhere that you can’t stop thinking about because you just had such a memorable time there?

Thanks so much to Sia for having me on her blog! And good luck to commenters!!

                                                                                                                                                                                   

BUY:   AMAZON,  B&N

A HOWL FOR A HIGHLANDER BY TERRY SPEAR – IN STORES FEBRUARY 2013

A Highland Wolf on a Mission...

Duncan MacNeill is hell-bent on catching the thief who's stolen the clan's fortune and run off to Grand Cayman Island. Duncan has rarely left his homeland and he couldn't care less about an island paradise. He never expected to find a beautiful distraction who will show him just how appealing paradise can be...

Meets a Dangerous Distraction...

Lone wolf and botanist Shelley Campbell headed to the island to study the old growth forests. She didn't count on meeting a handsome Highlander who can't keep his paws off her.

Excerpt (Amazon chapter read) 

"Fascinating characters and an exciting, action packed plot."  RTBook Reviews, 4 Stars

                                                                                                                                                  

FOR HOWL BLOG HOP IS A WOLF PRIZE PACK 

OF ONE OF TERRY'S BOOKS IN

HER WOLF SERIES

FOLLOW THE COUNTDOWN TO HOWL BOOK BLOGGER HOP:

1/24       Literal Addiction http://www.literaladdiction.com/ 

1/25       Under the Covers http://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/  

1/28       Book Lovin’ Mamas http://booklovinmamas.blogspot.com/ 

1/29       Anna’s Book Blog http://annavivian.blogspot.com/  

1/30       Urban Girl Reader http://www.urbangirlreader.com/