In this episode, we talk about the lengths we are willing to go to, to bring our readers an authentic experience. No limbs were lost in the making of this video, but some bleeding may have occurred.
Transcript for Episode 02 – Authenticity
RaeLea: Hi, welcome to FraeLea Conversations. I’m RaeLea and this is Frank. We had a great, ah, well, interesting week, last week.
Frank: We had an exciting week, definitely.
R: That’s um, I, well, why don’t you tell everybody a little about…
F: Well, I had a nasal surgery, that went well, but the post op, I ended up with some bleeding. And, we don’t need to go into details on that, but it ended up resulting in an ER visit, an ambulance ride, and another ER visit. And an overnight hospital stay.
R: And, that’s not restful. If anybody’s ever been in a hospital…
F: No, not restful. That was my first overnight hospital stay, and hopefully my last. That was not fun. But, the bottom line, why are we bringing this up, is we found it kind of interesting after the fact that both of us went into writer mode.
R: So, while he’s actually lying on the bed in the ER, he was actually joking with the doctors that he’s going to have to remember this for future writing.
F: Right.
R: And, while I was driving back, to the second ER room…
F: While I was in the ambulance.
R: Yes, yes. I actually had my recorder out and was recording pretty much everything that I was feeling and thinking at that time. Thinking that maybe, I could use it for future writing. For whenever one of my characters would be having a challenging moment.
F: It was a little scary, not a lot.
R: It was a lot.
F: Yeah, but at one point. I think I blacked out once or twice, I don’t quite remember, from blood loss. And, having the experience of literally choking on your own blood. Which, is a pretty eerie feeling, let me tell ya. If you’ve never had it, it’s a great experience to have.
R: Ah, yeah, not so great to witness, either.
F: Yeah, but the bottom line is, the whole time while this was happening, both of us, independently, were thinking, ‘how can we use this in a story?’. Because, it’s an experience that, if you want authenticity, you try to take notes, you try to experience what you can. You know, people who write about exotic places, they travel to those places. So, they can articulate what it looks like and what the sights and sounds are.
R: And, bring about an authentic reality to the reader.
F: Right, exactly. The people, the culture and all that. So, I think in this case, that was kind of what we doing to. It was like, ‘alright, this is a terrible thing, but we’re going to survive it, so let’s us this experience.’ And I think, maybe enhance the story for our readers, too.
R: Well, let’s hope.
F: To that end, actually, I think we have already started using some of those. There’s one of the series that we’re currently outlining for the future, we’ve got several books in advance that we’ve been outlining for, that I’m going to include some of these elements in it. And, I guess I don’t need to give away anything right now, but…
R: Well, if you want to.
F: Well, suffice to say, we’ll be using it so, we’re back! I can breathe, I’m not choking on my own blood. That’s awesome, so…
R: It’s the little gifts.
F: So, it’s a worthwhile conversation, yeah. An experience. So, anyway, that’s what we have for this week. Authenticity. And, the lengths we go to, to give you an authentic story. Right?
R: You know, there’s nothing we wouldn’t do.
F: So, let’s not write about anybody losing any limbs.
R: Oh, why would you even say that?
F: Well, because I, I don’t know, I like these fingers. They’re kind of handy, so I’m partial to them. These, not so much. These are terrible. But, this hand, they’re useful. Alright, we’ll see you next time.
R: Bye.