IDEAS GROW LIKE RABBITS DURING RESEARCH

After being visited and marked by aliens, my sixteen-year-old protagonist Alana Odette Blair, aka, Allie, is diagnosed with AIWS, otherwise known as, the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.

This little known ailment is only one example of what digging will turn up, and all fiction writers know the importance of solid research.

CHANGED IN THE NIGHT is set in 1952. Why did I choose that particular year?  Through research, I discovered UFOs were sighted over the White House.

July 20 - 0100 EDT: A Capitol Airlines flight out of National Airport reported unidentified flying objects resembling falling stars without tails that flew in all directions and hovered in place. 0105 EDT: Five witnesses at Andrews AFB reported seeing reddish-orange objects moving erratically. 0300 EDT: A Capitol Airlines flight incoming to National Airport reported an unidentified light following the airline to within four miles of the airport. 0430 to 0630 EDT: Air Force radar operators at Andrews AFB weather tower tracked ten unidentified flying objects as they approached the runway, scattered, and then made sharp turns and reversals of direction.

July 26 - 2115 EDT: UFO targets were clearly sighted on Air Route Traffic Control radar at National Airport. Civilian pilots observed glowing white objects on four occasions: a United Airlines pilot, two CAA pilots, and a National Airlines pilot who reported seeing a UFO flying directly a above his airliner. 2130 EDT: Andrews AFB radar operators confirmed “big target” on radar reported by ARTC. 2150 EDT: ARTC radar at National Airport tracked “sold returns” f four targets in “rough line abreast” and eight others scattered over the radarscope. 2154 EDT: Surveillance radar at Andrews AFB tracked a dozen unidentified flying objects in the Washington DC area. 2157 EDT: National Airport confirmed seeing at least a dozen UFOs over Washington DC. 2238 EDT: The Air Force Command Post scrambled two F-94 jet interceptors from New Castle AFB to investigate. Military officers arrived at the ARTC center and observed “seven good, solid targets.” By the time the F-94 jets arrived, no UFO targets remained onscreen and no visual contacts could be made.

DO THE HOMEWORK.

Ideas crop up like rabbits during research.

However, this was only the beginning of my research. For every episode of a sighting in my book, I needed to back it up with actual accounts. In addition, I researched the styles, trends, slang and attitudes of the fifties. I also reviewed the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor since that incident starts the chain of story events, and I read accounts and watched documentaries about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I struggled to learn about time and space and parallel dimensions, delved into the mysterious death of a cabinet member, read personal accounts from abductees, joined the Planetary Society, traveled to a site aliens had visited, witnessed the aurora borealis, studied ice caves, read Bible passages, mythology, and scientific theory, and discovered what it would be like to be locked up in a mental facility.

No, my research didn't incarcerate me in a mental ward, but it did force me into  improvisation. I relearned what it's like to drive a stick-shift Buick convertible, and I experienced meditation techniques, chakra cleaning, chanting, and sound baths for myself.

And yes, I've seen UFOs.

No wonder it takes so long to write a book! 

As my protagonist in CHANGED IN THE NIGHT was on a quest, I was on my own journey. Even though I'm no longer researching for this particular book, I have a continuing and profound interest in science, space exploration, and the unexplained in our mysterious and ever-changing Universe.

And yes, I believe science and religion are connected, that parallel universes exist, and that aliens are real. As humans, we are truly a miracle, but all of life is a miracle and there are many life forms, not only on Earth but surely throughout the Universe.

In order to pull readers into a time and place and situation, the author must create a feeling of verisimilitude throughout the story. While CHANGED IN THE NIGHT is fiction with elements of sci-fi and fantasy, it is rooted to significant factual events and sound science.

I know. I did my homework.