Update Link: Mad World, Book 4.5 – At Christmas Chapter 5

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Well, here we are on the last day of my winter break. Back to work tomorrow.  Our BOE gave us an extra day off this year — normally we go back on Jan 2, but we’re off and honestly, it’s really making so much difference.

I wanted to share a little writing quirk I have that comes up in this chapter. There’s a scene with Dante, Lucky, and Cruz bantering over a hockey game. I’ve also referred in a previous chapter to a penguin movie that Carly and AJ took the boys to. These are real media events, lol. Whenever I can, I look up real details about the dates in which my scenes are set to match weather or media. Every time Elizabeth watched a reality show in Mad World, it was a real episode airing on that date. They watch a romcom on Valentine’s Day in Book 4 that was actually on that night in real life. In Bittersweet, Gia and Elizabeth watch an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and talk about an episode that aired that day.

I think I started doing that with Bittersweet — I was writing the opening chapter, and wanted to describe Jason heading to Elm Street, and I thought — well, what was the weather in upstate New York back then? Thanks to the internet, I can answer that question. I picked Oswego, New York as the location of Port Charles (on Lake Ontario, with decent elevation for the “cliff roads”) and since then, I drive myself nuts with small details. I know way too much about Istanbul Turkey, and the Schloss Sauerthal in Germany (Fool Me Twice spoilers!)

I always try really hard to get those small details right, even if they go pretty unnoticed. I never want to be that reader thinking — why are there cliffs in Jacksonville? (if you know, you know) and hear someone talk about the Bolivian coast (2002, Alcazar story, oh and Bolivia is landlocked) and be thrown out of the story, lol. It can also be traced back to reading a romance novel set in like 1817 and have the characters refer to themselves as the Three Musketeers (a book that wouldn’t be written until 1844). I put the book down and never went back, lol.

Anyway, the hockey game proved a little difficult because I could find the details (Rangers scored three unanswered goals in Periods 1 & 2, and the Lightning came back and tied it in first 3 mins of Period 3 and went on to win 4-3!) I couldn’t locate the time. A Twitter mutual, Steve Holley, located it for me. So there’s still hope on that hellscape 😛

I’m off to finish prepping for returning to work. I’ll see you tomorrow for Flash Fiction!

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