Friday, December 09, 2005

Research: Important and Entertaining

This morning I was working on my latest opening for Liv Leigh, and I have Liv stumbling into her office after a sleepless night. She's holding a very large cup of coffee. Now, I can't just say "a very large cup of coffee". First of all, the use of "very" is a no-no. Find a stronger word! Don't modify the one you have! Kill your babies!

Since the last time I ordered a cuppa prepared anywhere fancy (Dunkin' Donuts ain't fancy, but I'll have a small regular, please) has been years, and accuracy in your writing is a wonderful way to draw someone in to your story, I decided to see what the heck the big un's are called at Starbucks.

Google led me to this page where the author despairs of the ridiculous and inaccurate names for coffee sizes at Starbucks. Very entertaining! From this site, I discovered that Starbucks actually has something called Latte Lingo. Can you believe this??

I guess I'll have Liv drinking a Grande Mocha Latte, unless someone out there who knows better than I do can suggest something even stronger. Maybe I should go to Starbucks and order something as additional research. Can I deduct that from my taxes?

I can't believe there's a latte lingo. I am so behind the times.

3 comments:

Judy said...

Go to Starbucks and tell them you are doing research for a story and you want to know what the strongest coffee mixture they have. I've found that most places around here are more than glad to help you with research like that (and then you don't have to actually order something you don't need to drink!) They have some great coffees, lattes, and chais that you might actually like ..lol

Charity Tahmaseb said...

You haven't lived until you've had an eggnog chai tea latte--but it's seasonal so not a great choice for Liv. Judy's right. The Starbucks folks are generally pretty friendly and would be glad to help, I think.

Marianne Arkins said...

eggnog chai tea latte? I think I'd get stage fright and freeze up if I tried to order it. I feel silly enough asking for a tall mocha latte, which is the last thing I ordered at Starbuck's a couple years back.

I do think a research trip is in order -- and it has nothing to do with the fact that the only Starbuck's out here is located inside Barnes and Noble.

Really.