Research For Suspense Writing— Part IV

A suspense novel needs the same research as any novel when creating characters, bringing setting to life, and provide story details. The additional element that needs tremendous research revolve understand the elements of suspense that make it real—police lingo and procedures, investigation and investigative research, forensic details, psychology of criminals, trail procedures, and so much more.

Here are some research tips that might help you as you research your suspense, mystery or thriller.

Internet Sites: The Internet has many helpful website operated by lawyers, detectives, police officers, and forensic details that will help you. One site that is helpful is http://www.copseek.com/ , providing real life information. Another is http://www.scanners.com/http://www.police-scanner.info/live-police-scanners.htm that allows you to listen to real police scanners and firefighters in various areas of the US. You can use this for lingo and dialogue.

Citizens Police Academy: Many cities have Citizen Police Academies available for anyone who has interest. They’re usually 8 week courses which teach tremendous information, including offering ride-a-longs, finger printing and so much more. Check these out in your local area.

Classes and Workshops: Community colleges and various organizations teach classes on topics like guns, self-defense, and other courses that will provide you with details to make your novels more real.

Speak with Detectives/Police: Most police departments of any size have a community promotion person who is willing to give workshops and answer questions a that will help you in bringing real life to your novels. A telephone call works, but making an appointment and visiting the police stations is even better. I had a wonderful experience working with a detective for my novel Finding Christmas. I even used his name as a detective in my novel, and he came to my booksigning and his wife bought 30 books to give to friends and family for Christmas.

Crime Encyclopedias: You can find many encyclopedias that are useful for suspense, mysteries or thrillers. Here are a topics: Crime and Justice, Criminology and Deviant Behavior, Forensic Science, Psychology, Applied Ethics

Writers Digest Books: You will not find a finer resource for books on crime than from this publisher. I have shelves of books that I’ve used. D. P. Lyle MD has authored a book called Murder and Mayhem which you will find helpful and he also has a website that provides links to an amazing amount of solid information on crime and solving it.
http://www.dplylemd.com/

Attend trials: Most trials are open to anyone who wants to sit in and learn. You might want to call your local judicial facility and learn what cases are going up for trial so you find something worthwhile for your novel

Ride-A-Longs : While ride-a-longs are part of the Citizen’s Police Academy, you can contact your local police department and ask about riding along for an evening. Check with your local EMT and firefighters to see if they allow ride-a-longs if you need that for your novels. This provides you with first hand information.

Be creative. You can learn a lot of things and open doors for great research by making telephone calls, asking people in the know and being presistent.

Researching Characterization for Contemporary Fiction - Part IIIB

Researching contemporary fictions seems as if it could be an easy task, but I’ve found the more I search for accuracy in my work, the harder research becomes. In part A of this category, I covered a variety of research for setting, story and career details and sites on how to do most everything. This part will focus on creating characters.

Characterization: The Internet is an excellent source of information on appearance, manners, character names, body language, personalities and psychological influences, but magazines and catalogues also provide help along this line.

• Physical Appearance: Deciding the appearance of a major character means, defining his physical appearance to validate the individual’s personality. Physical appearance refers to hairstyle (color and cut), facial hair, face shape, eyes shape and color, build, height, and any physical uniqueness. The internet can be a source, but magazines of hairstyles, grooming and fashion can also add to your description. I often use clothing catalogues to
gather photographs of the same model in different poses, hairstyles, moods, and attire, then cut them out and glue them to sheets of paper for my files. I end up with a large resource of different body and facial styles to work with.

• Body language: Body movement and physical reaction refers to body language. Our moods and emotions are triggered by our response to outside stimuli. Though I covered this in another blog, remember that we say a lot without using words. You can read more about this on the Internet.

• Speech Patterns: People speak differently depending on the region of the US in which they live and also the time frame. Slang and lingo change with the passing of time, so search for the correct fad language and speaking style will help brining your characters to life.

• Character Names: Names reflect personality and add to the “flavor” of a character. I’ve written about this already, but use the resources I will send you in my next blog to understand how names influence the character and others attitude toward the character.

• Personality and Psychological Influences: In my next entry I will be providing some links to psychological tests and information that you can apply to your characters. These are things I use and have found helpful. Birth order and family dysfunctional falls under this category as well.

• Alpha/Beta characters: Alpha and beta character styles have been presented through the years. If you use a search engine to locate information about the difference between the alpha and beta character, it will provide you with good information in creating characters who appeal to the reader.

Research For Contemporary Fiction — Part IIIA

Though it might seem that contemporary fiction is not as complex to research as historical, it is still important and can take much time depending on the novel's plot. While some elements are commonplace and easy to research, the novel's setting can still require time-consuming research.

Because I believe that setting influences a novel’s plot as well as the mind-set of characters (such as small town/metropolis or northern states/southern states), I tend to do extensive research on setting. Here are the methods I use that will help define setting and often plot details in contemporary fiction.

1. Visit the location. When possible, I visit locations of my novel, and while there, I pick up
materials at the Visitor’s Center. Besides brochures and maps of the area, I like the activity magazines that shows sites and places of interest, restaurants, community and seasonal events, anything that will help me make the story more real. Visiting the location allows me to take photographs which later help me describe and recall what I saw. Being there allows me to experience the sensory elements and take notes. The local newspaper is also a worthwhile resources.

2. Chamber of Commerce. When visiting isn’t possible, I write or call the Chamber of Commerce of cities or geographical areas. I ask for the same things that I would obtain by visiting there — maps, events, celebrations, attractions, topography, sections of town, street names, businesses, and fliers. Once wen I researched a city by telephone, the woman at the Chamber of Commerce tore pages from the local telephone book that had detailed maps of the city. They can be very helpful.

3. Town’s Library: Libraries in the town you're researching often have local events boards that list activities and events in the area. Make sure to talk to the librarian. They often prove to be a great resource of town history and current information.

4. Email contacts: Friends and acquaintance are often a great resource. I often use email to request information. This works especially well if you belong to organizations that have loops or group contacts. Many social networks offer opportunities to send out bulletins or notices, and you can use those to ask questions about setting, careers or any kid of information. I’ve used loop contacts looking for someone who knew a Hispanic migrant worker who could help with the everyday Spanish language. A woman came through, and I had small amounts of authentic language in my novel.

5. Travel guides can be purchased in libraries or obtained through AAA or other auto clubs. I keep all my travel information. It provides excellent information about important sites and events as well as hotels and even restaurants in the area.

6. Internet - For your novel’s setting, use the Internet to check out city information , the local real estate with photographs, restaurant menus, newspaper name, the flora and fauna, town details, and its environs They often provide a calendar of year-round events which can add authenticity to your novel.

7. House plans and style: I purchase magazines like Home Plans and other architectural magazines that provide blueprints and drawings of homes. I make a copy of the houses I select for the characters in my books, and then I can visual them as they move through their home. It provides me with realistic details and layout.

8 Nature Information. Details about weather in various seasons, stages of the moon are available on the Internet. Also the flora and fauna of an area can be more realistic.

9. How To: You can find websites on how to do most anything. I’ve learned how to saddle a horse, ride a snowmobile, and do so many things by going the an Internet search engine and type in How to . . . ? (whatever you want to know) or check out these websites: http://www.howtodothings.com/ , http://www.howstuffworks.com/ , or http://www.ehow.com/

10. Ask people: As I mentioned earlier, ask people you know or contacts you have through the Internet loops or social networks. Having knowledgeable sources provide you with information is the best.

11. Telephone: The telephone is my friend. I call hospitals set in the location of my novels to ask many questions—nurses and doctor’s shifts (12 hours on or 8 hours?), information about the maternity ward procedures. I call clothing stores to make sure they sell the items I want to purchase in my books. Restaurants will describe their decor (if you can’t find it on line) or a popular entree, and the Chamber of Commerce set in the locale of your novel, as I already mentioned.

12. Tours: Visit a museum and experience life in another century, business, farms, coal mining, and so many other venues offer tours to help you use your senses to make your book come to life. I hired a fishing boat captain to give me a tour of the Les Cheneaux Islands, the setting for my January 2008 novel, Family In His Heart. Not only did I see the area close up, but he provided me with historical and current information that was invaluable to making my story real.

13. Experience It: I went on a hot air balloon ride this summer, because I wanted to know what it was like to be a mile above the earth in a wicker basket attached to a balloon. I’m afraid of heights, but it was worth the trip, and our landing added so much excitement that the event will broaden my novel. Obviously we don’t want to experience murder, but you will have so many things in your books that you can experience. You can sit in on a court trial. If you go to San Francisco, you can tour Alcatraz and find out what it feels like to be in a cell or in solitary. Going out with the police a ride, sky diving, roller skating, looking at dinosaur bones being excavated, and on and on.

14: Interviewing professionals: Writing suspense (which I’ll cover in more detail later), I contacted a detective and learned much about him as well as researched numerous pieces of detailed information I needed for my novel, Finding Christmas. When interviewing, respect the person's time. Have your questions listed and make sure to say thank you and ask if you can call again if necessary.

Respecting people's time and effort is always important in whatever way they provide it. Be sure to thank them personally and if they permit, you can thank them in the acknowledgements of your novel.


Next: Researching Characterization and Plots for Contemporary Fiction

Research For Historical Fiction - Part II

Although I have written no historical novels, I have tackled a few historical novellas. In doing so, I learned the difficulty of writing in a historical setting. Time has influenced our world in so many areas—political, manners, language, dress, and technology, and writing about another era can take a tremendous amount of time.

Accuracy is vital as I said in the introduction to researching. One mistake and readers distrust your hard work and attempts to write a realistic book. They question your information throughout the reading so rechecking all information is necessary.

You can find many resources to help you with your research, but remember that research you use is only as good as the researcher who wrote the book. Again double and triple check all information. Typical resources for historical fiction is: encyclopedias, books on the time period by noted historians, websites, real journals, libraries, museums, tours and other novels in that setting. One of my favorite resources is the real journals. I’ve found some on the Internet, but books are published as well that will be immeasurable help. You will not only get facts the typical language of that day.

Peculiarities of Historical Fiction
1. Manners & customs change with the times. Writers Digest has books on this subject, but you can find a variety of resources to help you visualize the manners and customs of the time. Social life, dating, courtship and marriage, protocol in meeting various peerage is available. Methods of celebration and holidays traditions, even holidays we no longer celebrate (or name changes of holidays) is information you can find.

2. Lifestyles change from decade to decade so it’s obvious that it changes radically in eras. Home life and family, the importance of neighbors, church, status in the community makes a novel come to life. Read books set in those time periods to give you a feel for the times. The expectations in family relationships—the wife to the husband, children to parents and siblings and the importance of the extended family varies. How do they spend their leisure? What games were popular during that time? What sports were popular? What employment opportunities were common and what status did it carry? What did women do outside the home?

3. Language/speaking style changes rapidly. It is necessary to learn the language of the day and the location. Even today southerners use different words and phrases than northerns and sometimes the phrase they use means something different than what we use. Study slang words, career lingo, formality of language, use of proper name, proper titles (Ma’am, Madam, Miss, etc.), and the etymology of words (knowing if the word was around at the time of your book) is important.

4. Dress/attire changes every couple of years, so knowing the styles, fabric, proper name for the piece of clothing (that changes too), the fads, appropriateness of attire in various situations. How accessories were used and styles is another issue.

5. Political climate varies from era to era. Who ran the country and what important events were happening in that locality and time period. This might not be important to your novel, but politics can influence how people behave, and certain political climates add problems to everyday life, so you should be aware. For example, FDR’s presidency brought in the WPA, social security, labor unions, relief support, and farm bills.

6. Particular events in history have made a tremendous impact on people and their mind set. It has changed the lives of many. Examples are the gold rush, slavery, temperance movement, the depression, prohibition, the stock market crash, and 9/11. All of these political problems affected the lives of the people.

7. War details are important if this is part of your plot. Books written in certain eras might not be about a war, but again the war affects the way the people think, behave, and live.

8. Modes of transportation change radically. Today we fly more than take a train, but trains are still a mode of getting around. Buses were popular when I was growing up. Buses no longer stop every fifteen minutes in many smaller towns as they did. Taxis are popular in metropolises but not in other locations. Different countries use different modes of getting around. London uses the Tube or subway. Paris calls it the Metro. Detroit has the People Mover. Germany and mountainous areas use Seilbahn, also called funicular or cable railway.

9. Houses, household furnishings, and implements change in style. The toaster has gone through a multitude of models as does the range/stove. The icehouse became an icebox to a refrigerator and even that has changed to dispense water and ice from the door.

10. Appropriate careers for the day is something to consider. A blacksmith is not a common career anymore. As our industries and technologies change so does the workforce. Keypunch is out as computers changed. Make sure you select careers appropriate to the location and time period of your novel.

I have only scraped the surface of the need to do thorough research when writing a historical novel. This will give you an idea of some of the areas that must be researched before you begin writing your novel. As you write, new needs will arise but you’ll have a head start by doing much of your research early.

Research For Fiction Writing — Part I

Novels require research. When I plot a novel, I also being to do research on the areas that I will need more expertise than I already have. This can be on setting, events in that setting, careers, hobbies of characters, medical information, and a multitude of areas. As you begin your novel, review your needs and begin your research early. Often things you learn can add a different spin or an exciting subplot to your work. Once the novel is underway, you will continue to find areas that need research. Here are some tips to help in your research.

Any research you do must be accurate, purposeful, authentic and relevant. Readers know when you make a mistake and you’ll hear about it. When readers find one error in your research, they tend to doubt all of your facts, statistics and details.

• Accuracy: Being accurate is a necessity. Don’t find an Internet statement and accept it as
correct. Look for other sources to validate the information. When using books, check the copyright date. Books are already a year or more old when they’re published and things change quickly.

• Purposeful: Make sure that the information is meaningful to your story. Sometimes
authors are intrigued by all the details they find on a subject and want to “squeeze” it into their story. Only use information required to make your story believable. Readers don’t want to know how to be a brain surgeon. They only need enough details to make the career realistic. Learn some terminology and a few details to add reality.

• Authentic: When you use facts, statistics and details make sure they come from a reliable
source. They should be documented by people of authority who will provide solid information. If you’re using medical information, make sure it comes form a reliable website and check it against other reliable sites. Wikpedia provides good information, but remember it’s written by people not be authorities.

• Relevance: Any details you provide from research should essential to understand the
storyline and move the plot forward. Even though your hero might be an excellent scuba diver, do no provide detailed information on scuba diving unless it is important to the plot. How long his oxygen tank will last is vital if you have a scene where he’s trapped somewhere underwater and locating him and bringing him to the surface is a life and death situation. If he’s just diving for treasure or to find a body or whatever, the reader doesn’t need that information. The diver will have enough since to come to the surface.

Research is needed for fiction—both contemporary and historical. The research you do is for your information to understand the career, the health issue, the location and not necessarily for your reader to know. Only include relevant, need-to-know information in your novel. When you begin your research, save time by knowing what information you need and research that only. If you contact people, respect their time. Be prepared with what you need to know and have your questions written down. Take good notes so you don’t have to contact them again for the same information.