My anti-hero is a disturbed sculptor whose art captivates the world. His story is very important to me and as an author I felt it my responsibility to make sure I created a believable character and an accurate portrayal of an artistic genius’ world.

A few months ago I announced that amazing artist, Kristine Poole, would be advising me for my first fiction series.  I’ve begun the initial phases of revising (reading through quickly, chopping up ruthlessly, combating nauseating self-doubt) and I will be interviewing Kristine Poole for in-depth details in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, I wanted to share her video so you can see how she transforms a chunk of solid clay into a sculpture so lifelike that you can almost fancy it’s breathing. I learned a great deal just by watching the video and realize there will be much I have to change in my books. For starters…

  1. I had this vision that my sculptor would carve his pieces from the clay in the same way other sculptors chisel from marble. As you can see, this sculpture is made in a completely different way using coils and slabs.
  2. I thought the armature (support) would go inside, like a skeleton, but as you can see, Kristine uses outside supports.
  3. I had forgotten since my elementary school pottery class that ceramics must be hollow. Solid clay cannot be fired! 

After realizing how mistaken my assumptions were, I know why it’s so important to do proper research for a novel. If a writer cares about their characters and their readers, they must take the time and effort to make sure the story they build could possibly take place in the real world.

I know nothing takes me out of a story faster than lack of credibility and disbelief.

 

Readers: Have you ever been turned off by a poorly researched book?

Writers: How do you find credible sources for your research?

Were you surprised by the sculpting method used in the video?