Facts About Artifacts

Not one of the three of us is a stranger to the joys and challenges of research.  Mary regularly performs research on many topics and the guests who will speak to those topics on her radio show.  As a psychotherapist, Karen constantly researches issues of concern to her clients and how best to help her clients deal with those issues.  And as a lawyer, research is of course a main tool of my trade.

But research concerning an artifact that will be central to the story in our novel?  This artifact may have archaeological or geological significance, or both, and none of us has experience with research of this nature.

So what to do?  Shall we go to the textbooks to identify the sort of artifact we need for our story?  Shall we endeavor to commence months of study and research?

Well, we may have to do some of that.  I think most authors do have to perform a fair amount of research on topics that may be foreign to them, in the interests of crafting credible storylines.  But…geez…we are three fully employed professional women, each of us juggling so many things at one time….there must be a way to short circuit this effort…

And so there may be.  We are calling upon an expert in the field of archaeology… we may be contacting someone who has expertise in the field of Native American history…perhaps also a geologist or paleontologist.  These very knowledgeable people may be instrumental in helping us identify an artifact that will work for purposes of our storyline….or they may keep us from making a big scientific blunder with our storyline….either way, these contacts will prove invaluable to us.

And we are very grateful for their help.  We are learning that it takes a village to craft a credible story line…..

Jean

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