Topic 5 Research

Greetings,
The past two weeks while selling novels at a market in Florida, I've had the opportunity to speak with wonderful published authors, newbies, and many readers who support writers. One of the most interesting discussions I had was with a retired police officer from New York, a newbie writer, unpublished as yet. He had many questions regarding the writing process, including research for a project. Interestingly, my topic on research for this blog was planned way before I met him.

Regardless if you're a fiction or non fiction writer, research is imperative for a writing project. Writers, like most humans, aren't walking encyclopedia's. We can't possibly know everything. That's why we rely on resources. The retired cop I spoke with said his story included police procedures, but what he was writing about didn't cover what he knew as a cop. So what did he do? He sought out fellow officers who worked in the field of expertise he wanted to use in his writing. Why? Because he wanted his book to be as accurate as possible for his readers. "I don't want to let my readers down," he said.

I told my new writer friend I felt the same way. Yes, I'm a fiction writer but I want my books to be as accurate as possible for my readers. My first novel covered a lot of ground--pop bottling company, a virus, messages received on computers and travel.

Research on a pop bottling company found me requesting information from Pepsi, taking a private tour of a Pepsi bottling company and touring Coor's  Brewery. To decide on a realistic virus for the story I borrowed books from the library and also sat down with a person who had a degree in biochemistry. Since I didn't know much about computers other than writing with them, I spoke with a computer science engineer. And even though I never traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of the locations in the book, it didn't stop me from writing about the place. I just borrowed more books from the library.    

My fourth novel, Death at the Bar X Ranch pertained to horses. I've never owned a horse, but I spoke with individual horse owners, several people who boarded horses for others, took a riding class and borrowed an excellent book on horses. Warning: riding a horse may leave you with sore legs.

Many  people don't like research, too boring. Don't be afraid to include it in your writing whether your a newbie writer or an established one. Your readers deserve the best you can give and that includes accuracy Make use of the resources at your disposal: doctors professors, scientists, nurses, those skilled in a particular job, librarians, businesses, museums, and books.

This week pick a topic of interest and do a little research.

Until Next Time
This is Marlene Chabot