At the Author Forum I participated in at the St. Mary’s County Library, one of the questions I fielded threw me for a loop. Another author asked about the kind of research I did while writing. I thought for only a second or two before saying something lame like: “well, I watch a lot of TV.” People laughed, and that was okay, but I realized shortly thereafter that just watching TV isn’t the best research. That was compounded when the last speaker of the day was an actual Forensic Psychologist who had written a book featuring his profession. My answer seemed even lamer by comparison, if that was possible.
When I arrived home however, I reflected on my answer. Had I really done almost no research while writing Twin Worlds, Take Hart or Diaspora? The simple answer is no, but I clearly had forgotten the research because it was so integral to the planning process. Here’s what I mean.
For the short story “Saving Sky” featuring Stephanie Hart, I originally had her handcuff a suspect by placing her knee in his back to keep him subdued. A number of clicks on the internet showed me that while that technique might work, describing how to cuff a prisoner laying on the ground properly was just too complicated, so I simply deleted the description. I did retain the fact that she holstered her weapon before handcuffing the suspect, which is standard police procedure.
In Diaspora, the first in the Mitchell Street novel series, I spent time on the internet researching the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. State Department. This was because a major character in the book is a former president of an African country, and I wanted to ensure that any standard procedures for former world leaders was portrayed accurately in the book. As part of my research, I called up the Diplomatic Security Service office in Baltimore, and what I learned during that phone call caused me to change how the Mitchell Street character worked with the Diplomatic Security Service and changed parts of the book significantly.
Good research is a major part of planning a novel. Knowing what’s possible and what demonstrates accuracy and consistency can make any book more readable and less prone to unwarranted criticism. I suppose it would have been better to remember that during the Author forum, and not after, however.
