Beth Lyons

Thank goodness for Google. I’m working on a sci-fi piece, and it’s set in the Houston area in 2006. I needed a golf course so I googled “Katy, Texas golf courses” Google didn’t let me down. And in case you’re curious, there are five.  Using the map feature I could look at the street layout and figure out what house I wanted for my character. With that figured out I happily went back to my story, only to be kicked out again a minutes later by the thought — but was the golf course there in 2006? Sigh. Back to Google …Read more »

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about research and what happens when the concrete information dries up, when reality has to give way to imagination. As a writer that’s maybe the best moment. I have to leap and hopefully soar within the story because there is no other choice. It’s also a critical moment in the life of the story. Research can be seductive. I remember talking with a coworker a few years ago, and she described this novel she was working on. In loving detail she described the research she’d done on Victorian women. But when pressed to discuss …Read more »