Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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Research Trip: Exploring the Gila!

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If I were posting strategically, I wouldn’t be telling you this right now. I’ve got a book coming out in three months! That’s supposed to be my focus! But I can’t help sharing the fabulous time I’ve had this week in southern New Mexico (and anyway, this blog is about more than promotion, right?).

On Tuesday I hiked the trail to Signal Peak tower, one of ten fire lookout towers in the Gila National Forest. (You might remember I sold a verse novel set in the Gila that comes out two years from now. Up until this point I’ve relied on books and videos and pictures to write this book. It was time to go and explore.) I’d been in touch with the forest manager, and he’d told me the tower wouldn’t be occupied yet, but I was free to hike up and look around.

Guess what? The lookout, Jim, and his adorable dog, Smoke, had come to the tower eight days before! I got a tour and a personal guide who could answer my questions. It was incredible.

Here’s the Osborne Firefinder, which is set in the middle of the 12′ x 12′ cab. (I asked Jim if the cab — the working and sometimes living area at the top of the tower — was the typical 12′ x 12′ size. He wasn’t sure, so he measured it for me.)

The Firefinder was invented in 1911 and hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years. It’s the primary tool used in fire detection. First, a lookout finds the “smoke” through the brass sighting then lines it up with the crosshairs. The lookout then takes the azimuth reading from the edge of the Firefinder (the angular distance from north) and uses the map on the Firefinder (the tower is at its center) to locate the smoke with the measuring tape strung across its middle. Jim’s tape is missing, so after finding the azimuth, he uses this drop-down string map to locate the smoke.

All towers have a map like this of the surrounding area. Signal Peak is “nearby” other towers (also marked), such as Hillsboro, Bear Wallow, and Mogollon Baldy. To get a precise reading, Jim calls another tower to see if they can site the smoke, too. Using the strings, he determines where the azimuths cross. It’s called triangulation and is a very accurate way to locate a smoke.

I’ve placed my imaginary tower on an imaginary mountain I’m calling Wolf, which is pretty much Mogollon Baldy. That means my character, Opal, interacts with some of these same towers. How cool is that?! I asked if it would be okay if I change my Signal Peak lookout’s name to Jim. It was the least I could do as a thanks for his kindness. He seemed pleased with that.

Jim told me his cab is the fancy kind. These cabinets were custom made. That’s Smoke’s water bowl to the left.

Something incredibly cool for me was to hear Philip Connors over the radio. His book, FIRE SEASON, is what pointed me to the Gila for my imaginary fire tower.

There is no electricity at the towers. Everything is gas powered. (Though I see a plug? Don’t ask me to explain.) At Jim’s location, he is able to get internet. He’s also able to drive to his tower. Most towers have spotty or no internet and require lookouts to hike in.

I’ve got three people living in my tower, so I’m going to need to rethink the placement of some things. The table has gotta go, for example, unless I can have a fold-up mechanism? I could also make my cab bigger than the standard. I’ve read that some are 15′ x 15′.

In 2014, the Signal Fire raged close enough to the tower the lookout had to flee, using the trail to get away. Just to show you how close to the tower the fire came, I took this picture maybe one hundred feet from its base.

I learned so much during my time in the Gila. My trek to Signal Peak was the absolute highlight of my trip. Now I’ll add new bits and pieces to my manuscript and send it back to my editor by the middle of the month.

PS — Can you see Smoke on the catwalk?

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Filed Under: The Burning Season, the writing life

A new verse novel coming in 2024!

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I have wonderful news! A verse novel I wrote this time last year has sold to my dear editor, Stacey. This will be our fourth novel together. Here’s the official announcement from Publisher’s Weekly:

Stacey Barney at Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin has acquired Caroline Starr Rose’s middle grade novel in verse, FIRE FINDER. When she turns 13, Opal, who lives in a fire tower in New Mexico’s wilderness, will train as the fourth generation female fire lookout in her family, but she’s keeping a secret—she’s afraid of fire. Alone in the tower, Opal spies smoke after a lightning strike and realizes she must face it on her own. Publication is scheduled for Spring 2024. Tracey Adams at Adams Literary negotiated the deal for World rights.

Drafting this book was an absolute joy. Writing in verse felt like coming home. Speaking of home, I’ve wanted (and tried) to sell a New Mexico book for ages. And look! I’ve finally done it!

When I started this manuscript, I knew I wanted to continue to explore nature and solitude, as I had done in May B. All I knew was it would be a “girl in a tower” book. I wasn’t sure if it would have fairy tale elements (update: it doesn’t), but I wanted that separate from the world feel. I wanted this child to grow up away from society. I just wasn’t sure what would have placed her there and what her purpose might be.

At first, I thought she’d live in a lighthouse. That felt mysterious and enchanting…but I’d seen a handful of books with lighthouse settings. It didn’t seem especially unique. Then I read about fire towers in Sunset Magazine (see the picture above that I tore out and glued in a journal), and I knew this was it. This would be my character’s world.

I cannot tell you how fascinating this research was! I was so fired up (pun totally intended) at my writing retreat in 2020, that one member took to calling me Fire Girl. I devoured Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout (see my review here) that was set in the world’s first designated wilderness area — the Gila — right here in my beloved New Mexico. THIS WAS IT! MY SETTING!

There were once thousands of towers across the US, set up after the Big Blowup in 1910 as an early warning system to alert communities to signs of nearby fire. Now only a few hundred are still in operation, mainly in remote areas in the western United States.

It’s no secret in the last thirty years western wildfires have increased in size and frequency. Climate change has played a part. Building in the urban wilderness interface has heightened fires’ effect on humans. But fire is also a natural part of forest renewal. The topic of fire is fraught and complicated, but as difficult as it is, fire is here to stay. How can we learn to live with it?

I love this book, maybe more than anything I’ve ever written. Stay tuned for more!

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Filed Under: books and reading, publication, The Burning Season, the writing life

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