Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Am I Batty or Crazy? Or Both?

Being a writer means doing research, and doing research means studying all kinds of things. For me
personally, the range has been from tattoos to WWII music, from West Virginia recipes to motorcycles, from Downs Syndrome to bats. Fun, huh?

If you love research like I do, it is!

For my releasing book--Bat Crazy, the second book in my Denton and Alex Davies mystery series, bats needed to play a part--kind of minor but still an interesting part--in the story line. One of the things I needed to decide was WHAT KIND of bat would I use? Initially I'd thought the normal kind we see flying around at night. The kind that inhabits many caverns.


Then I thought, let's push it up a notch and use VAMPIRE Bats. Lol. That shifted the interest level just a tad bit higher. Of course, you know (don't you?) that vampire bats don't bite humans (normally. Ha!) but imaginations and crowd hysteria can play a hectic part in sending excitement sky-high.


An accident finally slid me into the final decision of what kind of bat would star in my novel. A friend shared a photo on Facebook of a bat. It looked like a small human hanging upside down, kind of wrapped in a blanket.

That did it. So cute!

Now for certain, I've never been a fan of bats. They've always kind of creeped me out, but after research and a lot of writing and picture-viewing, I've decided I like them. I still don't want to be best friends with bats, but maybe this bit of information about the bat I used in Bat Crazy, will give you an inkling of why I used Australian bats.


Australian Bats
(Gray-headed Flying Fox-Bats)


Megabats, the largest bats in Australia, have a wing span of three and a half feet and have a weight up to two and a half pound. They have a dark grey body, light grey head and a red collar.

With large eyes they’re able to locate their food which consists of nectar, pollen and fruit. Their habitat is in forests, woodlands and swamps. They are of key importance to subtropical rainforests because of their dispersion of pollen and seeds from a long range of native Australian plants.

Birth in normally from September through November, and by six weeks of age, they are flying on their own. They can live in the wild for up to fifteen years, and in captivity up to twenty-three years.

(This is the picture that whetted my interest in using this type of bat)

Best!


Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. She loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons? 



Do watch for her releasing book: BAT CRAZY!  

Connect with her here:


And don't forget to check out this week's Giveaway! 


12 comments:

  1. No, sorry, not cute at all. Eeeek!!

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    1. Lol. I know, Mary. Same reaction I used to have and though I still have a lot of reservations, I find them a bit more interesting after my research. Still . . . not claiming any close love for them. :) Thanks for commenting!

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  2. Not too crazy about bats but I am sure looking forward to your book.

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  3. Thankfully the only bats I've run into so far were in mysteries.
    However, they can't be too scary, no?

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    1. Snicker, Poetryinleaves! Not really. It's just our imagination of them swooping in to land in our hair that freaks us out, I think. Or an episode like Mary Preston had. :)

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  4. Doing research on all sorts of topic really looks like fun ;)
    I remember having to do research for papers in school and this part usually took me a lot more time then it should have had just because I always wanted to know more (especially when I got to choose the subject) :D

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    1. Are you my sister? Lol. That's what happens to me. Thanks for commenting!

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  5. Any time I think of a bat, I think of the time my mother - a saintly small, gentle woman jumped up when something slammed into her all-glass screen door. A bat lay on the front porch writhing. Mama ran for the broom and started banging the bat. As she did, baby bats started coming out everywhere all jumping an d wiggling and Mama was screaming and whacking. It was a riot! Then she was so sad to have killed the new mother and her babies :) That was almost as funny. Blessings!

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  6. We have these beautiful hikes that go up a hillside overlooking the Puget sound and San Juan Islands here in Washington State. One hike that takes about 2-3 hours, leads to the "Bat Caves." Not being much of a spelunker myself, many of our guy friends would go in and explore as far as they could before it was too dark just to find bats. Thank goodness the bats here aren't like the ones in Australia. Scary!

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    1. That sounds great. I love hikes and nature trails

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  7. I think bats are cute. I love them

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