Never has food and wine been so popular among American culture. Cable and network TV is filled with cooking, wine, and travel shows. Food and drink play very important roles in my books. I think of them as inanimate, yet intimate characters in supporting roles. They have the power to define, distinguish, and differentiate characters. They give characters character and offer cultural insights into who they are.
Example: Six misguided M.I.T. grad students form the group of antagonists, led by Nicholas Fischer Jr. and his girlfriend Staci Bevere. Nicky is a health food nut, Staci, a junk food junkie. Staci’s basic food groups consist of refined sugar, processed carbs, and coffee. Nicky won’t touch any of the three. Minor conflict is introduced just sitting down to eat together.
Food, beer, and wine make their appearance throughout Breakthrough. I can add coffee and tea to the mix too. There is usually something significant occurring in the plot when characters are eating together.
Visiting Real Restaurants and Ordering Off Menus: if you are using real establishments like I do in your books, take the time to perform your due diligence in research. Not only do I incorporate existing restaurants into my books, I also visit them to eat and drink the same meals my characters. It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it.
Example: The protagonists are made up of six southern Californians led by Chase Manhattan and his girlfriend Susan Anderson. They meet at a couple of local hangouts in Laguna Beach, Hennessey’s Tavern and the Marine Room Tavern. Hennesey’s is where Chase, Susan, and the rest put the pieces of the puzzle together, identify the players from M.I.T., and decide to follow through with a plan to destroy this breakthrough discovery rather than walking away.
There is an advantage to using actual establishments. My book takes place in two setting; metropolitan Boston and Orange County, CA. People who live or vacation in these places may recognize the establishments. There is a sense of familiarity that engages the reader.
Get a Feel for the Ambiance: There are numerous ways to capture the ambience of a restaurant. Eat there. Visit their Web site. I like to read actual customer reviews from the Internet. Set the ambience before the characters enter the establishment. I took this information from Ti Amo’s Web site:
“Modeled after an authentic Italian villa, the restaurant featured stone tablet menus, faux and fresco artisan-plastered walls, heavy fabrics, candelabras, and soothing lighting. Chase had made reservations for six thirty p.m.—just enough time to get a good seat by the fireplace upstairs before the restaurant filled to capacity.”
Have characters order food and wine right off the menu. Example: Chase paired Farfalle con Pollo Affumicato with sun-dried tomatoes in an oven-roasted tomato brandy cream sauce with a bottle of Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri Ornellaia.
After fine dining at Ti Amo, Chase balances out the night with his girlfriend Susan Anderson at a not so great yet very popular Marine Room Tavern for more drinks and live music. Again, set the ambiance before they enter:
“Chase didn’t have to spend much time looking for parking in Main Beach since it was still February—off-season for tourists. He found a spot two blocks north from Marine Room Tavern. They walked arm-in-arm to keep warm as the temperature dropped to the mid-sixties. Chase led Susan up to a row of choppers, all Harleys.
“The crowd sounds loud and raucous,” Susan said as they approached the bar.
“No worries – fights are rare here. This crowd consists mainly of lawyers, doctors, accountants, and heads of companies. By day they’re successful in the business world. But after hours, they’re living a dream they’d longed for since they sat on their first motorcycle. Let’s go in.”
Pairing: You can pair restaurants with characters. If you introduce minor characters at restaurants, have them contribute in some way. Otherwise, you might end up with character clutter. Example: The waiter Antoine at Ti Amo provides Chase the one vital piece of information that helps him identify the players at M.I.T.
Caveat: DO NOT portray a real establishment (or real living person for that matter) in a negative light. We live in a very litigious society and you may be sued. Example: I originally wrote a scene were Nicky and Staci had a lousy meal served by a washed up waitress with a bad attitude at a Denny’s. I changed the name to a fictitious Jimmy’s Diner to avoid potential conflict.
I use meal time throughout Breakthrough (and Opening and Escalation) to let the characters come together, plot their schemes, attacks, and counter attacks. This is where they discover important things that help them make decisions and move forward. Whether they are eating in their kitchen, a sit down restaurant, or going through In-N-Out drive through, restaurants, food, and wine can help define characters, introduce conflict, and move the story along.
Please join me tomorrow as I visit Karen McGowan at Coming Down From The Mountain as we talk about Marketing and Promotion. As always, thanks for stopping by.
Stephen Tremp is author of the action thriller Breakthrough. You can visit Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs.
Thanks so much for coming by today, Stephen! You know how I love my food and drink in a book. I’m looking forward to reading my copy of Breakthrough.
Thanks Elizabeth for hosting me. This blog was by far one of the funnest posts to write. I took great pleasure in researching the establishments, food, and drink used in Breakthrough. Writing does have its perks and priviledges.
Hi Elizabeth and Steve .. that was a great read – putting the perspective on getting the characters in one place .. and the ambience of different watering holes.
Good to know about – thank you .. and the caveat – so important to remember .. enjoy the busy week .. Hilary
Researching food, my fav. Great topic Steve.
Adding food and drink to a story also helps draw readers in sometimes to identify better with a character. I’m a big coffee drinker so I usually like characters that enjoy coffee. Great post.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Elizabeth – Thanks for hosting Stephen.
Stephen – Food and drink are such an important part of people’s lives, and the way we portray that does make a difference. It’s funny you would mention describing real restaurants. In my WIP, two of my characters eat at a restaurant that really exists; I wondered at first whether to have them eat at an actual location or create one. In the end, I went with authenticity and chose a real one. Fortunately, my characters have a good eating experience, so I don’t have to worry about lawsuits ;-).
Thanks so much for posting today, Steve! Yes, we have to suffer for our art, don’t we? :) It was so tough for me to eat all that BBQ in the name of research! Great post, thanks for hosting today.
Hubster and I thoroughly enjoyed our ‘research’ at a Thai restaurant I wanted to use in my book. Then, about a month before the book came out, the restaurant closed. But, anyone who actually lived in that neighborhood back then should recognize it. And if not, it’s still a great scene!
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Great post, Stephen. I picked up a lot of good advices. And it reminds me of that classical live recording by Tom Waits: Nighthawks at the Diner, which I hadn’t listened to in a long time. I think it was recorded close to your place (LA). Right now I have the song Warm Beer and Cold Women on my ear. That’s the way it usually is >:)
Cold As Heaven
Brilliant post, thank you! It made me think a little more of the people I’m writing and giving more depth to them. My protagonist already has her choice of tea in the third scene, but I hadn’t really thought about what that meant to her and her food style. Thanks again!
You guys are messing with my attempts to diet. Now I’m hungry.
I was scanniny my MS last night and couldn’t believe all the references to food. And not just sitting down to eat. For those who read Breakthrough you’ll recall the scene with Staci and Sensei Masakata and the meal they ate together.
Then, she had the fight to the death and her victim she referred to as a “Ham Sandwich,” named after her favorite food. Also, the guy was as good as dead meat LOL! (thanks Marvin).
Not only is this well-written, sage (no pun intended) advice, on top of it all, you’ve made me hungry.
Hi Steve – great tips there for creating realisting ambience! And thanks Elizabeth for hosting! It definitely is worth at least trying to experience a fictitious scene – more so with food and drink – to create an engaging set piece! Oh and the caveat is definitely important! :-)
Thanks and good luck with your book Stephen Tremp! Take care
x
Thanks for hosting Stephen today, Elizabeth. And Stephen, your topic today is dear to my heart, since I had a favorite Delray Beach, Florida restaurant that I slipped into my mysteries. It’s that crabmeat salad sandwich from “Boston’s On The Beach” that I miss most about Florida.
I have food scenes too and of course I did my due diligence in the research department as well. ;)
I think its important to set the ambience and anticipation before entering an establishment. Sometimes I’ll give a character’s reaction to news of going to a restaurant. Or they may associate a bad experience with Jimmy’ Diner and the next time they go there the negative attitude and ambience can be a harbinger of things to come.
Eating out sounds like tough research. Way to take one for the team, Stephen!
Eating out is the kind of research I enjoy. As I was reading Breakthrough I was thinking, “I’d like to try this place that Stephen’s talking about.” You made them so vivid in the book.
At least In-and-Out is pretty close to my house and that’s not too big of a stretch to explore that research project.
Good post Stephen and thank you Elizabeth.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Interesting post topic! Thanks for posting it. Eating is important, and so is the way people do it.
Great post, Stephen! I love that kind of research. I really should set a book in a big city with lots of restaurants to check out! :)
Excellent advice on integrating food and restraurants. My novels are set about 30 years ago, and I remember the establishments – even if most in my home town don’t any more.
I like the conflict created by such vastly different eating habits of your characters. Lots of fun.
……dhole
I’m not sure why, but this post has made me incredibly hungry!)
I like your suggestions. I had my characters meet in various restaurants and bars, but they were allmostly ficticious places. Using real places, makes me nervous, even if I’m not saying anything bad.
Arlee, I have to admit I “doctored” the In-N-Out Burger place. It does exist by the Laguna Hills Mall just off the freeway, but its the only one I’ve seen that does not have a drive thru. Yet I needed to have the characters drive through it in order to speed things up. Besides, the seriff’s department was tightening their dragnet and they had to literally eat and run …. errr…. eat and drive.
Very nice. Sounds like fun research.
Thanks so much again to Steve for blogging today and to everyone for coming by! Now I’m going to have a little snack, I think–I’ve got food on the brain now. :)
Good points all Stephen. My characters live in a medieval world. So no real establishments here but I did have to do some research as to what was commonly consumed and what sort of manners where followed. The result made for some funny description.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
Who doesn’t love food, wine and drink?
“Minor conflict is introduced just sitting down to eat together.”
I love this line! I know people like that. It’s always fun to watch the faces they make at each other’s food choices.
Thanks, I learned a lot here. Now to go and do some serious research…
Excellent post and stop on your tour, Stephen. As you know, in my new release, Beware the Devil’s Hug, there are lots of eating/drinking scenes, in restaurants in several countries around the planet. It was SO much fun doing the research to be able to accurately describe the menus, the wines served, the ambiance, etc.
And of course since you’ve known Detroit, you may have, as I have, actually eaten at Fishbones – so that one I could describe from direct experience.
Good stuff here, bro – your tour is off to a GREAT start!
Marvin D Wilson
You’re right – it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. :) Hmm, maybe I need to set more scenes in real life restaurants that I’ll need to check out.
Wow! Reading all these comments is making ME hungry LOL! Time to rummage through the freezer and look for something tasty to eat!
Interesting post, Stephen. Maybe I need to add more references to food in my books. Since I write mostly MG and YA, it could be from a younger viewpoint. Tell my husband I need a night out to do research on a resteraunt. I don’t think I’d get any complaints from him.
: )