Research, Poetry, and Discovering the Lore in Spark
by Chris Baron
I remember orange skies, watering down roofs, getting animals to safety. I even wrote poems trying to cope.
The research allowed me to infuse the book with authentic language from firefighters like Matt Ryan, and Torii Cooper, Park Ranger/Photographer with the National Park Service. Provide authentic animal encounters guided by renowned researchers like Roland Smith, and current, historical and cultural significance of fire by working with Frank Lake, Tribal Liaison and ecologist for the US Forest Service. Their voices and experiences come alive as characters, settings, and messages of hope and understanding. In the author’s note in the book, I have extensive information and credits to all of those people and organizations who helped in the creation of the book, and I am forever grateful to them. They are the voices of the “lore” in the story.
I’ve never researched for a book, more than I have researched for Spark. I’ll be honest. I love to research, and like most writers, I find joy and inspiration in the process. But during a recent school visit, when I told the young readers about how much I researched, they groaned. Actually groaned. “Research?” “for poetry?” “Isn’t that boring?” I told them that yes, sometimes it can be boring, but it also gives us a chance to learn even more about what we care about! They didn’t buy it. But that’s when one brave soul raised their hand and said. “I like to learn more about the Star Wars universe.” And it was on. We talked about how they know everything about Pokémon, and Star Wars, and books they love, stories they read over and over. They know the “lore” of the world and the characters. “That’s what research is in stories.” I told them. “It’s the lore of the world you are creating for your story.”
“Even in poetry?” they questioned.
“Yes. Especially for poetry. In fact, poetry is the only way I can write about a friendship so deep, and an experience so challenging.”
At its very heart, Spark, my new, middle grade novel in verse, is about the friendship between Finn, who just wants to do well in school even though his family has had employment struggles, and Rabbit, his feisty best friend, who, if she could, might just live in the national park near their home in the California Sierras. Together, they love watching their trail cameras and learning about the animals in the forest.. They even want to use their trail cameras for their eighth grade project.
But the climate is changing. The seasons are all mixed up. It’s dry, and the fire danger casts a shadow over their green lives. Like so many places around the state, and around the country, communities are suffering. When the wildfires come to their town, the kids must suddenly evacuate and their worlds are turned upside down. They must escape. Live evacuated, and eventually return, but to what?
What can kids do against such a threat?
So what’s the “lore” of Spark? It is, of course, our world. And with such real threats we face, like wildfires, climate change, over-development, and a host of other things, I wanted to create an authentic world and in some small way hopefully represent the unreal impact of wildfires.
My own experience with the devastating wildfires in San Diego, plays an enormous role in my understanding of the story.
 |
| The Cedar Fire outside my house (Photo credit: kpbs) |
But my own experience was only the start. I decided to travel across the state to meet people, visit locations, and discover as many voices as I possibly could.
 |
| Remains of a house in Rancho Cuyamaca State park |
The research allowed me to infuse the book with authentic language from firefighters like Matt Ryan, and Torii Cooper, Park Ranger/Photographer with the National Park Service. Provide authentic animal encounters guided by renowned researchers like Roland Smith, and current, historical and cultural significance of fire by working with Frank Lake, Tribal Liaison and ecologist for the US Forest Service. Their voices and experiences come alive as characters, settings, and messages of hope and understanding. In the author’s note in the book, I have extensive information and credits to all of those people and organizations who helped in the creation of the book, and I am forever grateful to them. They are the voices of the “lore” in the story.
But how does research work in verse?
Every poem is a chance to dive deeper into the minds and hearts of the characters and what they are experiencing. Poetry is a form of expression that speaks for the heart and allows the reader (or hearer) to explore the internal landscape of a character.. We, especially young people, often have so much to express about what they have seen and experienced, but need time and language to process. Poetry is so often the language of the quiet and extraordinary soul.
Research provides some of the richest opportunities to inspire poems. t’s well known that CS Lewis' famous work The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, was initially inspired by an image of a faun carrying packages in the snow. Sometimes a single image can inspire an entire book! Researching galleries of images and exploring the many fires, Paradise, Camp, Cedar, Witch Creek, was extremely difficult. It was so hard to see them up close, devastating. But it’s real. Those scenes find their way into the book. Here’s one where Finn and his mom first see a photo of their own town.
Photos
The Hollows is unrecognizable—
life
interrupted.
Skeletons of cars,
a basketball hoop
with a melted backboard,
cracked plant pots,
bent street lights,
barbecue grills torn apart,
a hollowed trampoline,
and everywhere houses should be,
nothing
but ashes
and silence.
But there are also images of hope and healing. Firefighters rescuing animals, notes left on door frames, and windows of houses they saved, and couldn’t save.
Sorry for tracking dirt on the
upstairs carpet needed to close
windows to keep fire out!
RHHotshots
Through research with ecologists and indigenous tribal liaisons, I also found so many startling and amazing facts about wildfires, their importance to the regions, historically and culturally, and how important it is that we learn the greater “lore” of wildfire. This created an abundance of inspirations. I wrote so many poems that never made it into the book in their first-draft form. Here’s an example, a poem, “Alive,” that eventually exists as just a few lines in the book, but is taken directly from a process used by first rangers.
Alive
It’s alive! I shout!
Uncle Charlie looks back,
lowers his glasses,
reaches into a pouch
pulls out a wiry flag
and places it at the base
of the living tree.
Good, he says. That’s excellent.
holding it up to the light
This tree needed
the fire to germinate.
The other kids
come to see
the living tree.
He looks toward the sun,
points a finger at the sky
and back to the forest floor.
Most teachers teach
with as many words as possible.
but Uncle Charlie is a great camp counselor
He wants us to figure things
out for ourselves.
Jonas, he says,
lift up that pinecone.
He lifts it up from the sooty ground
Now shake it
When he does,
flittery seeds
on tiny wings
fall out from
between the cracks.
These are serotinous cones
they need the fire to be free.
All of us stare
at the pinecone
while seeds
fall into the ashes.
Finally, when Finn and Rabbit discover something incredible and mysterious in the forest, their hope of preserving that last remnant of the living forest, Forest Heart. is sparked even as developers have other ideas. This is when they decide to use their love and experience with trail cameras to become unlikely activists.
Photos
The Hollows is unrecognizable—
life
interrupted.
Skeletons of cars,
a basketball hoop
with a melted backboard,
cracked plant pots,
bent street lights,
barbecue grills torn apart,
a hollowed trampoline,
and everywhere houses should be,
nothing
but ashes
and silence.
But there are also images of hope and healing. Firefighters rescuing animals, notes left on door frames, and windows of houses they saved, and couldn’t save.
Sorry for tracking dirt on the
upstairs carpet needed to close
windows to keep fire out!
RHHotshots
Through research with ecologists and indigenous tribal liaisons, I also found so many startling and amazing facts about wildfires, their importance to the regions, historically and culturally, and how important it is that we learn the greater “lore” of wildfire. This created an abundance of inspirations. I wrote so many poems that never made it into the book in their first-draft form. Here’s an example, a poem, “Alive,” that eventually exists as just a few lines in the book, but is taken directly from a process used by first rangers.
Alive
It’s alive! I shout!
Uncle Charlie looks back,
lowers his glasses,
reaches into a pouch
pulls out a wiry flag
and places it at the base
of the living tree.
Good, he says. That’s excellent.
holding it up to the light
This tree needed
the fire to germinate.
The other kids
come to see
the living tree.
He looks toward the sun,
points a finger at the sky
and back to the forest floor.
Most teachers teach
with as many words as possible.
but Uncle Charlie is a great camp counselor
He wants us to figure things
out for ourselves.
Jonas, he says,
lift up that pinecone.
He lifts it up from the sooty ground
Now shake it
When he does,
flittery seeds
on tiny wings
fall out from
between the cracks.
These are serotinous cones
they need the fire to be free.
All of us stare
at the pinecone
while seeds
fall into the ashes.
Finally, when Finn and Rabbit discover something incredible and mysterious in the forest, their hope of preserving that last remnant of the living forest, Forest Heart. is sparked even as developers have other ideas. This is when they decide to use their love and experience with trail cameras to become unlikely activists.
Here are some of the remarkable trail cameras channels that I researched and consulted to help create their experience.
Links for Trail Camera Channels:
Swan Valley Connections: https://www.youtube.com/@SwanValleyConnectionsCondon
The very famous Pennsylvania Trail Camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyrbqiCokdw
I’ll conclude with this. Research and poetry are perfect companions. Poetry is often the exploration of a single thought, idea or image. Something moved us or affected us so much, that there are no “normal” words that can express the transcendent nature of it. In writing Spark, I knew I couldn't capture the wide range and depth of living with wildfires, but in verse, there are portraits, moments, voices, relationships, healing, and, dear reader, hope, that we can all share together. Here’s one last poem from Spark.
Hope
Hope is the simplest thing—
a warm bed to sleep in,
a loving voice,
saying goodnight.
Hope is sunlight
through the morning window.
Hope is omelets
and French toast for breakfast.
Hope is pine cone scales
opening wide,
the seeds flying off
into the wind.
Hope is oak saplings
coming to life
somewhere out there
in the ashy earth.
Hope is walking
in the forest with Rabbit
imagining any second
we will discover
something new.
Hope is believing
that the ones you love
love you back,
even when you can’t see them.
Hope is having
enough faith
for someone else,
even when you might
not have enough on your own.
Spark is out July 15th. You can preorder signed editions from here.
Links for Trail Camera Channels:
Swan Valley Connections: https://www.youtube.com/@SwanValleyConnectionsCondon
The very famous Pennsylvania Trail Camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyrbqiCokdw
I’ll conclude with this. Research and poetry are perfect companions. Poetry is often the exploration of a single thought, idea or image. Something moved us or affected us so much, that there are no “normal” words that can express the transcendent nature of it. In writing Spark, I knew I couldn't capture the wide range and depth of living with wildfires, but in verse, there are portraits, moments, voices, relationships, healing, and, dear reader, hope, that we can all share together. Here’s one last poem from Spark.
Hope
Hope is the simplest thing—
a warm bed to sleep in,
a loving voice,
saying goodnight.
Hope is sunlight
through the morning window.
Hope is omelets
and French toast for breakfast.
Hope is pine cone scales
opening wide,
the seeds flying off
into the wind.
Hope is oak saplings
coming to life
somewhere out there
in the ashy earth.
Hope is walking
in the forest with Rabbit
imagining any second
we will discover
something new.
Hope is believing
that the ones you love
love you back,
even when you can’t see them.
Hope is having
enough faith
for someone else,
even when you might
not have enough on your own.
Spark is out July 15th. You can preorder signed editions from here.
Head on over to A(nother) Year of Reading where our fearless leader Mary Lee Hahn is hosting our Poetry Friday gathering this week.
