RESEARCH & ROMANCE

Stephen Bly

Stephen Bly

Copyright©2003

When a cowboy writer does research, the sight of a landmark can spark an idea for a full-fledged novel ... or just a poem.  

Southeast of Four Corners, New Mexico is Shiprock, an impressive example of a volcanic neck or a central feeder pipe formed by a long ago eruption.

Shiprock, New Mexico

In Monument Valley, west of this location, the pillars tower one after another. But Shiprock stands alone. With its spire in the shape of the rigging of an ocean bound vessel, the silhouette looks very much like a tall ship on the horizon.  

No wonder the old-timers trudging across the desert rubbed their eyes in disbelief at the view. If you ever get a chance to visit this site, we have found between March and May to be the best times. If you have already been there, what did the vision of it inspire in you? 

5 RESEARCH NUGGETS

Stephen Bly

Stephen Bly

Copyright ©2008

www.BlyBooks.com 

Writers are gold miners at heart. Any story worth its gems has the sweat of pickax research behind it.

In the historical novel, Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon, I discovered these jewels of info that played out in the plot ...

1.) Personal experience

Set in 1955, with the narrator as a 10-year-old boy, same as I would have been, I was able to draw on some past knowledge.

Gary Cooper in High Noon

In the story Tex Ritter sang, "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'" on a juke box, and I had known all the words since my youth when I saw High Noon multiple times at the theater. But I didn't realize that Gary Cooper, who played Will Cane, was a Montana boy, from Helena.

2.) History of a brand

Part of the story happens in a Woolworth's store, which was a Five & Dime, sort of like a "Dollar Store," only it included a soda fountain/lunch bar, better merchandise, and a friendly clerk behind every counter.

The first Woolworth's store was founded with a loan of $300 in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth. Despite growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th Century, increased competition led to its decline, beginning in the 1980s.