For the first time, I’m participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge! The concept is simple: Each day in April I’ll be blogging on a topic starting with the letter of the day, beginning with A and progressing to Z by the end of the month. Posts will be short and will relate to my chosen theme: my new coming of age story, Rightfully Ours, released April 1.
F is for Fracking
I’m not talking here about the Battlestar Galactica reboot’s use of the word “fracking.” (Excellent series though, and a clever way of allowing characters to curse without invoking network censorship.)
Fracking, as used in Rightfully Ours, is short for hydraulic fracturing. Fracking involves drilling to extract underground oil or natural gas. A detailed explanation of the process can be found here, but, in short, slick water is pumped through a fracking well in order to fracture surrounding rock. The gas or oil is then free to flow through the fissures and is pumped out of the well.
So how does this figure into Rightfully Ours? The setting.
“The Marcellus Shale region is particularly attractive to gas drillers because it’s a rich supply of natural gas — some call it ‘the Saudi Arabia of natural gas’ or ‘Frackistan’ — and because many of the region’s rural communities are economically depressed and eager to attract an energy industry that enjoys handsome profits.” (LiveScience.com)
Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the setting of Rightfully Ours, is part of the Marcellus Shale region. For many years, my husband spent several weeks a year working in and around the area. During those years, drilling sites began popping up around the region with an obvious economic impact. Suddenly, more hotels sprung up, often occupied by men working at the drilling sites.
For a buried treasure-themed book, the setting was perfect!
Haha! Having read Rightfully Ours, I suspected “F” would be for “fracking” in your blog today. I will have to guess what “G” will be for tomorrow. Hmmm…
Tomorrow I also mention Battlestar Galactica in my blog post!
Some letters are easier to work with than others!
Found your blog through the A to Z Challenge and I’m glad I did! I notice you are also a Catholic writer/contributor. It’s a small world sometimes. I’m very aware of fracking and the environmental issues it creates. I’m now interested to see how that environment is used in your book so I may have to read it! Keep up the good work on the blogging challenge. Happy Friday! http://www.dianeweidenbenner.com
Glad you found me too! The fracking business plays a big role in the setting and affects the plot in several ways, but I mostly steered clear of the environmental issues. At the beginning, one of the main characters is 14, and pretty much couldn’t be bothered with whether it’s good or bad for the environment but likes the fact that there are good-looking guys working at the drilling site. Just reading a detailed description of the process, it’s obvious there’s a lot of potential to affect the immediate area in a variety of ways.
That’s a great theme you chose for introducing people to your new book. Sounds like it would be interesting and cover a lot of relevant topics.
Fracking was a huge issue in Minnesota a few years ago. I’m not sure how it was ever resolved, but there was a lot of controversy surrounding areas that potentially would be fracked.
When I think fracking, I think Marcellus Shale, but I was surprised to see it all over the map in different parts of the U.S., like Minnesota. Thanks for stopping by!
So THAT’s what that means! A while back I saw a truck and among the services listed on the back was ‘hydrofracking.’ I meant to look it up later but forgot about it until right now! That’s why I read blogs, I guess.
Probably the hardest science I’ve ever written about! Glad I was able to fill that knowledge gap. 😉
Visiting from A to Z. My brother in law (and I) both live in the Marcellus Shale area (Johnson City, New York area). Fortunately (from my viewpoint) New York State has not permitted fracking – yet One of my friends lives on the NY-PA border and, although she lives in NY, she can see the lights and hear the sounds of a fracking facility just over the PA border.
When I was writing, I SO wanted to see and hear it all, but I couldn’t find any accessible and couldn’t/didn’t want to be wandering onto private property.
Goodness! That IS a great location for a buried treasure theme! What creative thinking! 🙂
My “theme” – A Thirty-Word Story, revealing one word of the story each day of the challenge.
#AtoZChallenge The Letter G
I can’t really take credit for it. It was one of those things where I was done writing and then realized all the ways the theme resonated in different parts of the book.
For some reason, none of my comments seem to be appearing on your blog. 🙁 Could it be the link back to my own blog that’s causing it?
That may have been it. I’m glad you emailed me. I found your messages in the “Trash” folder and several others from the last few days in the “Spam” folder. I haven’t had that happen before.