research woes

[estepheia]

I really hate it when my English lets me down. Within certain areas I can draw on a pretty impressive vocabulary (I'm sure my ex-teachers and ex-lecturers would be stunned by the sheer number of smut-related words that I can use without batting an eyelid *cough*), but every now and then I come across word fields where I have no clue.

Mostly these word fields pertain the physical world. I find it hard to describe objects and places accurately. Fun fairs, machines, architecture, etc.

This is particularly irksome with regard to my fic Four Fear. How am I supposed to describe a headlong flight past the popcorn stall(?) and the sweets shop (?) and describe the open mouths of the livery-wearing circus salespersons (??), when I don't really know what the correct words are. And what are the chains of colored light-bulbs called that mark the path from the entrance to the big top? Fairy lights? That's a Christmas term, right? Especially in action scenes it's important that descriptions are spot on as well as short, otherwise the section reads as cumbersome and does not reflect the urgency of the content. *bangs head on desk*

A few weeks ago, when the circus was in town, I asked the press person (?) of the circus if they have any material on how a circus is run. I told them I wanted background material for a story I am writing as well as material for a creative writing course I'm offering this fall. Alas, they said they don't hand out material to private people, only to the press. Bah.

Lawrence Block said in his book Writing the Novel - From Plot to Print:

"It's worth remembering, I think, that fakery is the very heart and soul of fiction. Unless your writing is pure autobiography in the guise of a novel, you will continually find yourself practicing the dark arts of the illusionist and the trade of the counterfeiter. All our stories are nothing but a pack of lies. Research is one of the tools to veil this deception from our readers, but this is not to say that the purpose of research is to make our stories real. It's to make them look real, and there's a big difference." (p.107)

I have googled the term 'circus' several times and searched the results for useful sites on circus organisation (and terminolgy) but without success. I want the circus in my story to appear authentic, but boy, does ignorance weigh heavily on my shoulders.

Comments

[synful-trixxie.livejournal.com]

Um... if you need help with terminology... I could possibly help?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Ooooh goody. I'm taking this to AIM.

[synful-trixxie.livejournal.com]

err... you're not on aim? or at least you're not showing up for me?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

That's odd. I saw you. I IM'd you and you never replied. Maybe if I use Trillian instead...

[hesadevil.livejournal.com]

Native English speaker here and I have similar trouble when it comes to describing things I'm not familiar with. It's usually the verbs that let me down. When I google, I usually add the word 'book' or 'story' or even 'quotation'. I'm not above lifting a few phrases from the masters of the art. I used some of Dickens' phrases when describing the fog in one chapter of the WIP.

Hopefully you've already got lopts of ideas on IM.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Hopefully you've already got lopts of ideas on IM.
Not really. For some reason Trixx isn't answering (yet?)...

So what do you call the guy at the entrance of a circus (or theatre) who checks your ticket?

I'm pathetically relieved that native speakers face the same problems I face. Thanks. :-)

Will try your googling tip. Cheers.

[hesadevil.livejournal.com]

So what do you call the guy at the entrance of a circus (or theatre) who checks your ticket?

Forgot one of the most important words to google with terminology. Here's a page full of circus circus terminology

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Wheee! Fabulous. Bookmarked.
I just joined del.icio.us - and your link was the first link I bookmarked there. :-)

http://del.icio.us/estepheia

Cheers!

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

A lot of this stuff doesn't really have a name -- that is, there might be a name for things among the circus staff (which is what most of the jargon on the page hesadevil linked is -- internal terms), but for the regular people attending, that guy would be "the ticket taker" or "The guy checking tickets." The lights would be "a string of colored lights" or "a string of white lights." (They're "Christmas lights" only when they're actually being used as holiday decorations.)

Carnival or circus people who call out to the crowds trying to get them to play games or enter certain attractions (the sort where you have to pay extra to get in to see that specific thing, beyond the price of entrance to the fair) are sometimes called barkers. Carnival employees in general are called carnies. (They may not refer to themselves as that, but if you're describing it from the POV of a kid attending the circus/carnival/fair, it's probably the word the narrator would be using.)

A sweet shop would be a candy stall (or a specific kind of candy -- a toffee apple stall, a fudge stall, etc.) -- in general any 'shop' type thing at a circus or carnival would be referred to as a stall. 'Popcorn stall' would be correct.

Also, at a carnival -- not so much a circus unless it's a combination of both -- the central path where there are stalls, games, etc., and possibly the biggest rides, is called the Midway.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

A sweet shop would be a candy stall (or a specific kind of candy -- a toffee apple stall, a fudge stall, etc.) -- in general any 'shop' type thing at a circus or carnival would be referred to as a stall. 'Popcorn stall' would be correct.

Or, possibly, "popcorn stand."

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

Or "booth".

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Cheers. :-)

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Yis - in fact stand would be more popular for a food-selling place than stall, actually. My brain was just stuck on 'stall' because I'd already seen it used. *g*

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

They're "Christmas lights" only when they're actually being used as holiday decorations.

Not in the South. I've never heard them referred to as anything but "Christmas lights", even when they're being put up for other holidays.

A sweet shop would be a candy stall (or a specific kind of candy -- a toffee apple stall, a fudge stall, etc.)

You know, I haven't seen a food stall at a fair since I was a kid. All of them seem to use food service trucks, now. And less with the candy apples and more with the deep-fried Snickers bars (a favorite at our state fair.)

When I was a kid, the county fair still featured a freak show and a hootchie-cootchie tent, but I can't recall seeing the latter at the fairs hereabout since I got married.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Deep-fried snickers bars? You're kidding, right?

What's a hootchie-cootchie tent?

I can see, our German fairs are boring compared to yours'. Bah. ;-)

Thanks for the help.
*rushes back to circus story*

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

Deep-fried snickers bars? You're kidding, right?

Ha! No, I'm not kidding. They also served deep-fried Twinkies and deep-fried Oreos. They ran out of candy on several occasions during the fair's run. (Plus, funnel cakes are always a bit hit, and corn dogs & cotton candy are still favorites, as are Sno-Cones.)

What's a hootchie-cootchie tent?

Well...I never went inside, so part of this is just passing on stories. The barker on the platform would have two or three scantily-clad women, gyrating to 'exotic' music. Inside, I'm assuming there was "exotic" dance and/or strip-tease. There were stories I heard about the dancers being prostitutes, but I can't speak to the accuracy, since it was snide gossip among my Mom's friends. I can remember my mother hurrying me past the tent and refusing to answer my questions about it.

[hesadevil.livejournal.com]

What's a hootchie-cootchie tent?
Didn't you watch any of Carnivale? It's fabulous. And yet another series that was axed before it's story was finished.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I watched the first two epis of Carnivale and found it too creepy. I'd probably watch it if I had access to the DVDs, but I couldn't be bothered to go through the hassle of downloading it... I'm downloading too many shows already. I didn't know that the show got axed. Damn!

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid, the county fair still featured a freak show and a hootchie-cootchie tent, but I can't recall seeing the latter at the fairs hereabout since I got married.

You know, a person with an evil mind could put an unintended spin on that last part.

This midwesterner would say "stand" instead of "stall," and in the context of a fair I might do so even if it was a truck. But being used to roving ice cream trucks, I would probably say ice cream truck.

One of the great books on carnival life, by the way, is Dan Mannix's Step Right Up. Mannix traveled with a sideshow in his youth and came out with a lot of great stories. (Can't remember if he ate fire or swallowed swords, but it was something like that.)

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

You know, a person with an evil mind could put an unintended spin on that last part.

Heh.

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

You know, I haven't seen a food stall at a fair since I was a kid. All of them seem to use food service trucks, now. And less with the candy apples and more with the deep-fried Snickers bars (a favorite at our state fair.)

I haven't been to a real circus in years and years. But it seems to me that the last time I went to the county fair, at least some of the food was sold from stalls rather than trucks. I have to admit I didn't really notice, though, which suggests that it might not be that important for your story. But I'd guess that vendors who travel with the circus or fair would use food service trucks, while vendors who live in the area and just set up when the fair comes to town would use stalls.

Here in northern California, every little city has its own weekend Art and Wine festival sometime during the summer, and the food there is definitely sold from stalls rather than from trucks. Which makes sense, because those are mostly local vendors or nonprofit organizations doing fundraisers.

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Yeah, true, even at our county fairs when I was a kid, they were mostly food service trucks. We still referred to them as stalls or stands, though.

On Christmas lights, yeah, you're right, we'd (I'm from Indiana) call them Christmas lights no matter what holiday they were up for, if they were decoating a house, patio, etc. I'm just thinking that the strings of lights you'd see at a carnival/circus, we'd just call strings of lights. I'm not even sure if they use actual Christmas lights, vs. a larger, stronger bulb.

I never actually visited our state fair until after college (because I lived about 300 miles away from it) but our county fair didn't have hootchie-cootchie/burlesque/freakshow tents when I was growing up, as far as I know. I knew what they were, from movies and books, but the closest we had to individual tents that you had to pay to get into was things like "World's smallest horse" and "World's biggest pig" etc. And possibly a fortuneteller.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I find these cultural differences fascinating.

Say, you wouldn't know if a cotton candy machine makes a characteristic noise, would you?

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

Oooh, oooh! Pick me! Pick me!

When it's turned on, a cotton candy makes sort of a low, humming/buzzing noise, and if you're up close, you can also hear the air blowing around in the thingy that turns the sugar into cotton candy. It's not terribly loud, though. It's a little like the noise of a jet plane taking off, but much, much softer.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Wow, the things people on my flist know...
Thank you. :-)

[querida-bonbon.livejournal.com]

I know you've probably got enough advice on this, but I just wanted to throw in that most sounds at the fairs I've gone to tend to be drowned out by the rumble of generators that run all the rides and food stands :)

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Usually I wouldn't be able to hear the machine because it would be behind glass in the stand/truck. (Also, they frequently have a lot of cotton candy made up beforehand and hanging in bags, so the machine itself isn't always running when you walk up). I imagine it sounds a bit like a washing machine on spin cycle, though, since that's the same thing that's happening -- it's just one piece of metal in the center spinning around really fast and spitting out heated sugar through tiny holes, which almost immediately crystalizes into threads as it cools.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Wheee, thank you, MP, for clearing up a few language problems. I managed to get most of that scene written now.

In this story I'm using a smallish or medium sized circus, not a carnival (because we don't have carnivals here in Germany (or Europe? and I find it hard to imagine them).

European circuses appear to be much more stolid than their American counterparts. :-)

Thanks for your help. :-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

when I'm writing and the descriptive terms won't come I just plough on regardless and leave the closest thing I can think of in the first draft but enclosed in square brackets. Then when the ideas and shape are down on paper I can go back and hit the dictionaries, thesauri and any other research books I need until I get each one exactly right.

Personally I have a small vocabulary and can rarely come up with good words, especially since they often seem to choke in my brain like a sort of mental stutter. Something tolerable usually turns up if I work at it hard enough though.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I wish I could do that, save problems till later. In my mind, small problems become huge -- maybe it's just an elaborate self-deception, and research a form of procrastination.

*sigh*

I am so glad I have an online thesaurus. Without it I'd be lost...

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

I suspect you are procrastinating. I think the highest flights of creativity any writer achieves consist of coming up with new ways to procrastinate.

The square bracket trick works for me because then the problem is noted, pinned down and needn't be a big block on the way. In the early stages anything that stops my flow can be fatal so I have had to develop a system for making sure nothing stops me.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Well, I got about 900 words written today. A 900 word action scene is not bad going for me. Dialogue I can do much faster. So yeah, maybe I procrastinated a little, but on the whole I'm very pleased with my progress. This fic is my personal hell. I am proud of the concept, unhappy with the way I'm putting the idea into writing, and depressed about the fact that I seem to have less than a dozen readers, so yeah, I procrastinate. LOL.

The square brackets trick sounds like something I should try. :-)

[par-avion.livejournal.com]

I suspect tha most of your flit would be happy to help you describe a circus :) I'm conctantly amazed not just at your fluency but how comfortable you are with English. Your writing reads as a native speaker, to me.

Some of the circus descriptions are regional, so depennding on where your book takes place things might be said differently.

And I believe "fairy lights" is a Britishism. I've never heard a non-Brit (or other person having lived in the UK) calll them that.

[par-avion.livejournal.com]

blech. at least three typos. my typing skills are not very good.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Awww, thank you, dear. I am habitually dissatisfied with my skills, I can't help it. LOL. Germans can be a right pest.
I'm glad that you think I sound like a native speaker. Hah, flattery will get you everywhere. *g*

The story I'm writing, and that the research is for, is a pre-Series Buffyverse fanfic in which Xander, Jesse, Oz, and a fourth boy sneak over the fence to get into the circus without paying... only there's a monster, and a dire future...
Actually, once I'm finished with the story I'm thinking about rewriting it in German and with German coleur. The story didn't quite turn out as planned, but while I wrote it I had a few 'road not taken' ideas which I want to try out in the second version. :-)
And I'm babbling, sorry.

Anyway, thanks for the nice compliment. *beams*

[mahaliem.livejournal.com]

I've always admired your ability to describe things.

The circus "salespeople" - are you perhaps thinking of circus barkers? Otherwise I'd just use ticket takers.

While fairs tend to have stands, at most circuses I've been to there have been popcorn vendors who walk up and down the aisles selling popcorn, cotton candy, sno-cones, peanuts, etc. as well as other assorted items. Other vendors sell souveniers.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I've always admired your ability to describe things.
Awww, thank you.
I guess this works like penis envy: if you don't have it or do it, you want it. I for instance admire your sense of humor, LadyCat's ability to describe characters sensuously, Kalima's authenticity, Anna S.'s unique images and dialogue, and witling's elegance. *sigh*

I decided to use usher - but maybe I'll change that to ticket taker.
I will try to find a beta for the entire scene, one who'll honestly tell me if something reads odd.

I never had sno-cones. *sigh*
We have vendors walking up and down the ailes in our circuses, but they usually go to the small stalls that surround the tent for refills. Germans are more comfortable to buy things over a counter. :-)

Darn, you know what? This fic is making me hungry. I want the deep-fried snickers bars that HarmonyfB mentioned or sno-cones or popcorn. *sigh*
A hotdog would be nice too.
*tummy grumbles*

In any case, the chase scene is finished. I was going for a breakneck pace and I think I succeeded. Now I have to write the scene directly leading up the the chase - where the monster attacks the trailer. *chuckles evilly*

[kaydee23.livejournal.com]

Google "Barnum and Bailey" and google "The Greatest Show on Earth." Also google, P.T. Barnum. Those search terms should bring up some historical data about circuses in the US.

Also, google "Run away to the circus" and "So you want to join the circus" and stuff like that, and you should get some information about the ins and outs of circuses.

Of course, none of this may work, but it's a thought.

You might even find a paperback book or cheap hardback book on half.com or somewhere called "The Greatest Show on Earth."

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you, Alice23kate - the main problem was to see where circuses in the US differ from those in Europe so I can describe my setting properly. I have four thirteen-year-old boys who stirred up a monster and who are now running away as fast as they can, and I had a bit of a problem visualizing the whole scene. :-)
I don't think I actually need a lot of Circus history, but the subject interests me a lot, so I'm pretty sure I'll end up following your advice and reading up on Barnum. Thank you. Sometimes I don't find the right terms to google, especially when I'm focused on something else...

Cheers.

[makd.livejournal.com]

Your descriptive ability is wonderful. Your English is fabulous. Your desire to learn more vocabulary is not a reflection of your incompetence in English; it's a reflection of your desire to learn.

I don't know what's changed since the 50's, but I worked from my 3rd year through my 10th in an amusement park every summer. My parents were not wealthy, and my job supplemented the family income.

I worked as shil - my job was to encourage folks to spend $$ - and lots of it-- at a concession stand. There were two 'em, the Devil's Alley and the Fish Pond. They were side-by-side, and I worked whichever one was low on rubes (that is, low on customers). We never used the words "stall" or "booth". We used the word, "stand". But, it's been 50 years since, for me, and terminology may have changed.

There's a lot of regionalism and social status differentiation in amusement park work, vs. carny work. Carny means a traveling carnival, and is considered inferior to amusement park work (by amusement park workers; carnies are a whole different breed from parkies, I think.) Circus folks, carnies, and parkies are different; they have different terminologies (sometimes), different values (sometimes), and their missions are different, too.

The late Marcello Truzzi, another sociologist, was descended from circus folks. I think, IIRC, he said his parents were trapeze artists. He wrote about them and about circus life, and his work has been widely published. I've never written about my parkie life, just in bits and pieces, like this, and strictly anecdotally.

Anyway, if you'd like dated, regionalized, intel about permanent amusement parks, I can probably fill you in.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thank you. *beams* That is very kind of you.

Say, your life story sounds really interesting. It's the kind of background knowledge that could so much enliven a story. Think about it, a story spanning 50 years, with flashback scenes and everything... *looks dreamy*

Germans find American carnevals extremely distasteful. The mere idea of displaying bearded women or Siamese Twins gives us the willies. I can't tell you how pre-Nazi Germans thought about them, but modern Germans would run amok trying to get them prohibited. *shudder*

Our circuses are pretty dull, I guess, without buskers or strip shows, or sooth-sayers. Our circuses have a small zoo, that's all. The last circus I went to sucked. A waste of money. But as a fictional setting I find the circus utterly compelling. (My favorite writer, Dick Francis, always set his mystery novels in the horse racing business, jockeys, trainers, bloodstock agents, etc - I wish I knew a good mystery novelist using the circus as a back drop...)

And our fun fairs? Dull. Lots of food and beer, a few airgun shooting alleys, a rollercoaster or big wheel thingie, a few merry-go-rounds for kids, sometimes ponies, dart throwing, lotteries for way too big soft toys. Dull.
In October we get white sausages with sweet mustard and fresh salt bretzels, that's nice, but on the whole I can live without them. The kids love fairs and amusement parks, but these days we can no longer afford going.

Right now I don't need any more info on parks and such, but if I do, I know whom to ask, thank you. :-)


IIRC = if I remember correctly? (that took me a few minutes to figure out)

[makd.livejournal.com]

You're welcome; you can ask anything, anytime.

Daughter, husband, and friends insist that I write a memoirs. I've promised to start in 2008, after I retire.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I'm not a great reader of memoirs, but I'd definitely read yours!

I made a lot of progress with my story Four Fear. I hope to finish it within the next few days. May I ask you to beta it for me, even if there's neither smut, nor Spike, nor slash?
It's a coming of age story, sort of, and I'd love to have someone look at it critically. :-)

[pronaea.livejournal.com]

Late in coming to the table, as usual, but if you're planning side-show bits to your story it might be a good idea to google "Gibtown" and/or "Gibsonton, FL". Traditionally, Gibsonton is where a large number of circus/carneval folk winter, here in the states. You should find articles mentioning some of the more notable residents and their shows that would add some color to your fic. :)

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Late in replying. Awfully sorry. I kinda missed your post earlier and found it while tidying up my mail box.

I will bear your tip in mind. Actually, the story I am working on does not need more characters, I'd only get sidetracked, but the circus setting interests me a lot, which is why I'll definitely google Gibtown once my story is done. :-)

Thank you very much!!!