THE WRITTENS
The Project... What is it, exactly?
Well, in a nutshell, it's a portrait of Oklahoma through the lens of an odonatologist. I specify the odonatology (study of dragonflies and damselflies) here because that focus of ours determines which part of the state we search and guides our encounters along the way. And, frankly, there is a heavy focus on bugs here. My partner and I think about and talk about bugs a lot. Late night pillow talk finds us discussing dragonfly flight patterns (if you know what I mean). Drinks after dinner may find me crying because pictures in some insect guide are overwhelmingly cute. My god are they cute. Romantic walks through the town park are interrupted by both of us suddenly persuing a bug that just flew by.
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But you don't have to have a passion for bugs to sit down with us for a story. You'll learn a thing or two about bugs for sure, but we hope that the sharing of our adventures - and misadventures - searching for bugs across the state of Oklahoma will give you a better sense of what that part of the world is like.
The Author vs. The Editor
The process of recounting these stories has been an obstacle course of effort. The Author, being more accustomed to a title of The Artist, has had to navigate the less familiar seas of writing.
And let's be honest, she sucks at navigation.
Take, for example, the town of Seminole.
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Now, in the town of Seminole, there is a stretch of Wewoka Creek the couple would frequently work.
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Every time The Author would try to talk about this creek, she would confuse The Editor—to be fair, The Author would also confuse The Author—by trying to describe where this "W-town" was. She would also almost always swear it was in the southwest.
The Author's supreme geographic skills lead to conversations such as this one:
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
In addition to this example revealing what awesome navigational abilities The Author has, it also reveals the crucial role The Editor has for bringing extremely blurry details into discernible focus.
Also of importance to note is that the stunning accuracy of The Author's memory extends to her "organizational" attempts for 6 years worth of field photos.
First pass:
Honing in with The Editor:
Note - the files don't line up now because they are ordered chronologically in the second pass.
In short, The Author brings to you the raw story. The Editor, armed with precision memory and years of writing experience, pulls it all into focus.
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An unexpected layer emerges through their collaboration, as bits of their conversations and comments to one another weave their way into the story itself.
The Editor.
Seen here looking as if he is someone who has his shit together.
The Author.
Seen here pouring water out of her boot. She most definitely does not have her shit together.
#teamwork!
The Drudgery of Sleuthing
In order to tell a good story, enough of the details need to fall in place.
The Author is faced with a daunting task. She may want to write about that cool orange dragonfly that swirled around her before disappearing forever, to convey that rush of adrenaline when she briefly thought it was in her net, to share the confusion and disappointment when it vanished. But where was she? What year was this? What other things were seen and done that day? [Aaa! Clearly The Editor cannot edit everything. - The Editor]
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In comes The Editor. Or his field notes. Or the field photos.
Or a cocktail of the above options.
Not only are correct names needed to help retrace steps, but they are also crucial to conducting a search for a particular site name. Additional file organization work includes adding the date to folder names, and having the photo folders and subfolders presented in chronological order.
The Editor, being his organized self, shared his folder of photos documenting individual records.
Behold, the golden nugget of true organization:
But not all things come so easily. In the early years of The Author's field adventures, The Editor did not keep a spreadsheet of his notes, only his handwritten ones in tiny little booklets. It would only be in 2017 that he began keeping his own spreadsheets. However, he did have a typed version of his notes in the form of a PDF list. The trick with this, though, is that if something needs to be written about from one of the early years, some sleuthing had to be done.
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What cool bug is being covered?
Where was it? Or, what day? To The Editor, The Author goes. He is normally able to come up with at least one fragment, the clue that launches the detective work. ["That last clause does not follow our Earth logic, but, hey, it's your book." "What'd'ya mean? You're the editor!"] The Author plugs the clue into the search tool of the PDF. Then, carefully, extracts names and places of everything recorded on a given day to then paste into a spreadsheet, recreating a map of what happened.
Take the chapter Discolor Day as an example. The species having been seen only once, the section of the PDF for that species is found. Aha! It was 10 October 2015, at Great Plains State Park. But what other sites were visited that day, and what other species were found? Searching for the date is necessary.
The search function hops to the next occurrence of '10 October 2015'. Oh, crap! The species now selected has been recorded enough times that the species name associated with these data is on a different page.
Careful scrolling-up is necessary.
After scrolling up a few pages, the name is finally revealed - Perithemis tenera.
Eventually all data is collected in a spreadsheet for 10 October 2015, with some notes added.
Duplicating the spreadsheet to have a version ordered by site instead of by taxon is a helpful step in recreating the day. In this example, several events of this single day were remembered by The Author as multiple days, highlighting the importance of this reconstructive step. And of The Author's cerebellum.
Drudgery in the field, drudgery at the screen.
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But it's all worth it.
...Right?
The Learning Curve
Additional challenges facing The Author include learning new programs. An experienced Photoshop user, she had to unsubscribe due to the money requirement. Instead, she is experimenting with Inkscape, which has yielded good results. The learning curve is painful and often slow, though.
Another program being learned is GraphicsGale, a pixel art program.
You know what program has a 0% learning curve for The Author?
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MS Paint.
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She has been using that program since she was in the single digits, back on the old IBM machines. Her illustrations created with MS Paint are of the highest quality the world of fine art could possibly offer.
Is this... Theatre? [Yes. But is it art?]
Bringing experiences to the reader relies heavily on visual elements.
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Photos from the field, digital illustration, screenshots of satellite maps, and text play all come together as crucial tools in the storytelling kit.
The Editor has to use a net, but the odes just land on The Author's fingertips.
What a loser he is.
Above - Macromia are rather large odonates, so surely they would be easily seen in photos, right? Think again! Below is a photo taken as Dozens of Macromia swarm overhead. But, good luck spotting any in this cellphone shot! To recreate the experience of 'Macromia everywhere' for the reader, The Author took it upon herself to add some very realistic Macromia to the image (again, see below).
Here we have The Author's attempt to convey what it felt like trying to follow one particular individual as it circled the pond, outnumbered by many individuals of a very similar species behaving the exact same way.
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Can you spot the one that is different?
Well, good for you.
The Author takes extra pride with this image because it was from a year she did not have access to a camera phone, so to create this image she searched through photos of this particular pond taken during later years, and worked her illustrative magic.
Playing with fonts, font size, color and spacing are crucial for creating an atmosphere reminiscent of oral storytelling techniques.
Accustomed to skipping the endnotes? *slaps roof of endnotes* Well, you probably don't want to do that with these bad boys. They are meant to be an important element to the experience, because what could be more fun than hearing a couple bicker about myriad topics? In addition to banter, there is a plethora of extra jokes, asides, and photos / illustrations hiding in the endnotes.
To Sum
Long story short, sit down and take a break with us! You bring the coffee, we'll bring the stories.
Maybe you'll leave looking as confused as this snake... But hopefully you'll have enjoyed yourself, and perhaps have gained a better understanding of how natural history research is done, an appreciation of the little things, and a newfound strength to resist the urge to eat that pickle-in-a-bag while on the road.
Just be warned of the colorful language.
And wrong turns. Definitely watch out for those.
At the very least, we can guarantee photos of bugs having sex.