Write Bytes

September 8, 2023 - #52 – DOING RESEARCH FOR YOUR BOOK

Enjoy!  And CHEERS. See all blog posts at www.lindasgunther.com
This week’s post available in its entirety below.

For many authors, the word ‘research’ may carry a negative connotation, and evoke this kind of reaction:

“Damn, now I need to stop writing, interrupt my flow and spend my precious time foraging for information on some topic I know little to nothing about.”

Luckily that thought doesn’t fracture my mind anymore. When I start drafting a work of fiction, I get excited about pulling up Google or Wikipedia or ordering a book that will help me with facts and details about locations, time periods, culture, food, related to the story/world I am developing. I seek out friends or acquaintances that are experts on the topic or time period. I become a private investigator.

One of my suspense novels, DREAM BEACH, was set on the Tahitian island of Moorea, and partly in Northern Scotland. Fortunately, I’d been to Tahiti twice before and my favorite island to visit was Moorea. I’d also traveled to Scotland a few times around the area of Edinburgh and up the Northern coast. But I still had plenty of research to do regarding the history of the Scottish seaside town I was specifically writing about, as well as the precise location of the abandoned, yet still standing hospital and surrounding grounds, where my lead character Peyton McClintock used to hang out with her childhood chums. That abandoned hospital was a real place that I hadn’t visited. Fortunately, on-line research provided me with scads of information and historic photographs so I could vividly portray it in my novel.

One of my secondary characters in DREAM BEACH was a Scotsman named Finn Mathews, a distinguished boat designer, company CEO, dedicated to a life and career centered around sailboats. Sure, I’ve been sailing over the years but had little clue as to the obstacles and challenges faced by sailboat racers who excel at the sport. Fortunately, one of my good friends, Rick, is a qualified expert, has sailed for many years both for fun and in racing competitions.

While in the middle of outlining my novel, Rick took me out on his boat for a day on the San Francisco Bay, and we sailed over to Tiburon. As we crossed the Bay, with Rick at the helm, he described each part of the boat, how the various devices and sails work, including the boat’s electronic features. He talked a lot about what the larger, more exotic luxury sailboats out there today are like in terms of their state-of-the-art accoutrements, and about the direction of sailboat technology for the future. Even with the wind blowing through my hair, I took notes and pics on my iPhone. When we docked, we had a nice lunch, while I asked more questions and took plenty of notes.

That day out on the bay turned into a bit of a frightening ‘boat taking on water down below’ experience on the way back from Tiburon headed to San Francisco.  Fortunately, the situation was temporarily resolved “on the spot” because of Rick’s ability to employ his crackerjack skillset. Needless to say, it was intense for several minutes. Once docked, he did a more detailed analysis of the problem and planned to come back with tools and parts. He was impressive and for me, it was experiential learning. I realized that anything can happen when things go wrong on a boat. Perfect fodder for my suspense novel!

Two weeks later, I met with Rick again for another two-hour conversation about sailing. I had saved up at least a dozen more questions to ask. The answers he gave me triggered me to do even more research involving hours on Google and on websites suggested by Rick.

This research thing sounds like an overwhelming task, right? Well, at first it was no picnic but I found that the more research I did, the more I wanted to know. I was hungry for facts, phrases, verbal expressions and descriptions. For DREAM BEACH I looked for what I could use that would help make Finn, my character, come alive and be authentic as a sailboat aficionado! I collected information about sailboat maintenance routines, methods, boat designs and models, types of sails, specific annual race competitions held in the South Pacific, challenges faced sailing across oceans on mega-long sails and much more.  Then, having Rick as a beta reader, as I wrote chapter after chapter, was, for me as writer, the icing on the cake.

Doing research has become a way of life for me.  And doing a good amount of it ‘up front’ helps me set the stage, and may actually be relevant to the beginning of my story, with nuggets of information placed in my first chapter. Trying to go back later, after I’ve written half the book and attempting to insert “factual information” would be grueling; and I’d likely miss some opportunities for detail and have to do even more re-write.

In my latest suspense novel, DEATH IS A GREAT DISGUISER, one of my lead characters, Savannah Romeo, is a COVID-19 Contact Tracer. Once I made notes about Savannah’s personality traits and characteristics, I realized how important details about her job would be in this story. So, I enrolled myself in a Contact Tracing certification program through John Hopkins University. Yes, I got certified, aced the final exams and became a full-fledged qualified Contact Tracer. I didn’t actually pursue that as a career move but I was able to use tons of what I learned in my writing. Most important, I was able to fully develop Savannah’s character, and specifically craft her dialogue. Ok, did I go too far by getting certified? Maybe but I was curious and it was not only fun, but a worthwhile learning experience during COVID times.

One thing to keep in mind as a writer is that your research will produce an overwhelming amount of information, whatever the subject. You will have volumes of data at your fingertips which is a good thing. The trick is to distill that research, squeeze out the choice snippets of information that will add authenticity to your story without bogging it down, without going off into a miasma of swampy detail and without losing the reader. Keep in mind that sprinkling in data and facts is more desirable than dumping a boatload (excuse the pun) of facts into one chapter. This is a ‘red flag’ danger zone for the writer.

Here are some tips on the topic of RESEARCH FOR WRITING FICTION:

- Make a research plan (who to talk to, webinars, network, friends, books, articles, etc.)

- Connect with experts in that topic/field (conversations, emails, on-line, Zoom, lunch dates). Prepare ahead with questions, identifying specific things you want to know about. Make notes as you hear from experts.

- Dig deep into the details and data while interviewing to derive what you need to achieve authenticity in your character(s).

- Keep your acquired data organized. This is not a trivial activity. Decide how you will store and track data received (maybe by character or sub-topic).

- Don’t forget to research exact locations included in your story. Google Street View is a resource.
Set yourself a deadline for ending that first big round of research.

- Having a balance between time spent researching and time writing is important. It’s easy to go down a rathole on the research side.

- Make a list of questions you have, in preparation for a second round of deeper, follow-up research BUT after you’ve done a good deal of writing.

- Read other novels as well as nonfiction dealing with similar subject areas.

- Appreciate the experts who shared their wisdom with you. Take them out for dinner. Include them in your Acknowledgements section. Let them know how their eagerness to share positively impacted your writing. If they are willing, ask them to read relevant chapters.

- AVOID data-dumping when you write. SPRINKLE! SPRINKLE! SPRINKLE!

Doing research for fiction is indeed a fine art.  Take it seriously.

I hope you enjoyed these 52 weeks of Write-Bytes blog posts!
I certainly learned a lot from research and from the feedback received from readers.