Research: Too Much or Too Little

What I'm reading: No More Bull, by John Sharpe

First – after many delays, DECEPTION, a mystery anthology including one of my short stories, is available for sale at Amazon, Books a Million, and Barnes & Noble.

Format: trade paperback.


You can read more of my contribution here


We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post:


I've been reading manuscripts for a contest recently, submitted by unpublished authors. I've noticed a problem that I think is worth sharing. Research. Too much or too little.

Everyone's heard it: Write What You Know. But what does that really mean? Do you have to be a cop or PI to write a detective story? Can you write about a chef if you can barely boil water? If you're a firefighter, is that all you can write about?

Now, having the inside skinny on the workings of any profession, craft, or lifestyle will add depth and color to your work. Most of the time, agents and editors will want to know why you're the one who can write the book. They love platforms.

But it's not a hard and fast requirement. It's a matter of learning enough to keep things on the page accurate within the realm of fiction. And sometimes knowing too much can hurt your writing more than it helps. Two things to remember:

Research the Details—But…

What I'm reading: Rogue Warrior by Richard Marcinko; One True Love, by Barbara Freethy.

I recently read a book where a character was learning to fly a small jet. The character was already an experienced pilot, but hadn't been trained on this type of aircraft. The author is also a pilot, and as I read the scene—pages and pages of it—it was clear enough to me that the author was simply showing his readers how much he knew about the topic.


To me, it was a hair-pulling couple of chapters. Maybe pilots enjoy it, but to me, it would be like showing a person learning how to drive a car, and following the along as they learned where to put the key, how to turn it, where the brakes were, and then followed along every inch of driveway and road on their first excursion. Had absolutely nothing to do with the story other than getting the character qualified so he could drive the company plane.

The trick to showing details is not to show the reader how much research you've done, but to use only what the POV character needs to show in the scene. If it's a naïve character, then they're likely to be thinking more about the details, either a how-to, or a more detailed description as they absorb new surroundings. But if they're experienced, then they're probably barely going to think about things. How often do you walk into your bedroom and notice the color of paint on the wall, or the precise shade of blue of your bedspread?

Teller County Ride Along 2

If you haven't read yesterday's post, which is Part 1, scroll down. I'll wait.

One observation I forgot to stick in with traffic stops yesterday. The deputies have radar gizmos that they can point either in front or behind their vehicles, so they know how fast other cars are going. In most cases, it was a car going the other direction, which meant turning around to go after them. Now, we're riding on two lane mountain roads, and in a Ford Expedition, you're not going to be hanging any quick U-turns! Deputy Kennedy was adroit at 3 point turns, but now that he's assigned to that F-150, it'll take a bit more maneuvering for that pursuit.

Our day was quiet, which is a good thing, although I can understand the cops wanting a little more action. However, it gave me plenty of time to ask questions, and he was very good about answering them. He's part of the Emergency Response Team (think SWAT) and they practice 6 hours twice a month on top of their duties. Plus he does another practice as a patrol office, so skills are kept honed. Deputies work 4 days one week, then 5 the next. Shifts are about 11 hours each.

Most of his calls are either DUI or domestic violence. He says they might get one homicide a year in the county. They also respond to fire scenes. There's not much in the way of major drug problems like meth. It dropped down to almost zilch with the advent of medical marijuana.

Because things were quiet on the road, we stopped back at the office to check for "papers" to serve. (Not warrants; those are never done solo). When we got there, a woman was waiting to file a trespassing complaint, so Deputy Kennedy took her report. I was impressed by his patience and understanding attitude, and that he let her tell her entire story, which started 10 years ago. I'm not sure I have that kind of patience! But listening to him—more like watching him listen to her—is something that can be used as what I consider "flavor." Little details, things mentioned in passing, getting the terminology right.

Revisiting a Ride Along

Don't forget my grab bag contest and my 'leave a comment' drawing from Wednesday's post! Or to check back Sunday to see if you're a winner.

Today, I'm going to be on a ride along with a Teller County Deputy Sheriff. I thought it might be interesting to compare the rural setting with the more urban one in Orlando, where I did a ride along several years ago.

To make the comparison easier, I'm going to rerun that post today (from June 2007), and then I'll write up my experiences on today's journey for next week.

I had the pleasure of doing a ride along with a deputy sheriff on Friday. I opted for the mid shift which gave me a chance to see both day and night. I also chose the sector in which I live, even though it might not have as much "action" as some of the other ones. I thought by doing this, I would learn more, as I might have more time to chat with the deputy. After all, I was doing this to learn about the 'little things' that will add realism to my books, as much as for the fun.

Their day begins at 3:00 pm with a briefing and runs until 2:30 am. As a rider, I was free to decide how long I wanted to stay. Since two days earlier, two deputies had been shot in a hotel parking lot, their briefing ran long, and it was close to 4:00 (I still think in am/pm time, although everything was done on a 24 hour clock system) before I met Chris, who would more or less be responsible for my life for the next few hours. I asked if he drew the short straw when he got the assignment, but he said he normally does the ride alongs in the sector because he enjoys showing the general public what they really do on the job. I was also a tad surprised that I was doing more than 'riding' because for most of the calls, he brought me along and introduced me as a 'colleague.'

Writers' Police Academy, Part 1

First, thanks to Tia Dani for their haunting post yesterday. There's still time to leave a comment there for a chance to win their prize!

What I've been reading: Get Lucky, by Suzanne Brockmann, McKettricks of Texas: Austin, by Linda Lael Miller, Highland Moonlight by Teresa J. Reasor

The first official Writers' Police Academy, organized by Lee Lofland (if you don't know him from his blog, The Graveyard Shift, he's a retired cop who helps authors get the 'cop stuff' right' in their books). We squeezed into shuttle vans on Friday morning and arrived at the Guilford Technical Community College. One of the exciting things about this conference was that the venue was the actual campus that trains law enforcement officer, firefighters, and EMS personnel. Many of our workshops were taught by the same instructors who train cadets. I can't begin to imagine the combined years of experience we had access to.


First on the schedule after registration was an overview of every imaginable facet of public service. The campus is in High Point, and we had representatives from both Greensboro and High Point. We had police, highway patrol, deputy sheriffs as well as firefighters and paramedics. They had vehicles, from ambulance to ATV to mobile command centers, all giving us full access to the equipment they used, as well as an amazing willingness to answer every possible question a group of writers could come up with. Dive teams, S.E.R.T. (their version of SWAT), Hazardous Devices (what we used to call the bomb squad). A group of cadet firefighters showed up in turnout gear as part of their classwork—they were going to be practicing live fires that day.

And to let you know how interesting it was, I didn't mind being outside in a huge parking lot in the southern heat and humidity for several hours! And, even more impressive was the fact that all these officers also came out to stand in the heat, in uniform, on their own time.

Roadblocks to Research

Thanks to Mary for that peek at the Dark Side yesterday. Getting into the heads of those bad guys can be scary.

As I attempt to comprehend what it's going to mean when we have to disconnect from the Internet and pack my PC, I realize my laptop isn't a duplicate of my PC. I use Dropbox (which I raved about in a post a few months ago) but only move files I'm working on, or plan to be working on into the box. So, just as I have to decide which of our possessions I will have to have with me and which I can leave in storage until we find a home, I'm trying to determine which files I'll need. I realize my laptop bookmarks for my browser are very minimal. I wanted to copy all the bookmarks from my PC to my laptop, but wasn't sure how to find them.

I went to the Firefox Help files, but still couldn't figure it out. "Find" bookmarks wasn't getting me anywhere. So, I asked my in-house IT guy, and he (with that undertone of, "how stupid can you be?") directed me to the right places to click. Which, it turns out, are under "Organize". I got them onto my flash drive and went to put them on my laptop. However, the "logical" option for me was "Import." I mean, "Import" means move something from one place to another, right? Nope. Hubster stomped in, comandeered the laptop, and moved them, telling me it was simple. Just click "Restore." Well, that wasn't intuitive.

Keep Reading...

As writers, doing research is part of the game. And it's not only writers who use the internet to look for things. Could be a restaurant, a map, or a recipe. But, as I learned long ago, it means asking the right questions.

Today, I'm revisiting a post from June of 2008. Did Your Search Engine Run out of Gas?

I got curious about how people found this blog. I'm not exactly a 'big name'. So, for the month of May, I tracked all the search engine words that brought people to this site. After eliminating those who were actually looking for me specifically, this is what I ended up with:

behind the scene sex scene
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jonathan odell the last safe place
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severe back pain, begged for backrub
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spoilers: into the fire by suzanne brockmann
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suzanne brockmann ebook - over the edge
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terry's place hair Chicago
the dreaded synopsis
the waiter slipped his hand under the table up her leg her date opened her playing with her nipples
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I wonder -- were you looking for me when you came here? How did you find me?

And again, if you enjoy my posts, please share them via the links below.

You Know What They Say About Assumptions

What I'm reading: Sleepless in Scotland, by Karen Hawkins

Thanks, Marvin for holding down the fort while I was running around all day yesterday.

In prep for moving, we've been getting estimates on moving our worldly goods from Florida to Colorado – eventually. Since we need the money from the sale of the house before we can buy, we don't have anywhere to live out there (aside from some imposition on the kidlets). Movers are happy to store your stuff until you're ready for it.


Since we don't know where we'll live, we don't really know which furniture will fit in a new place. Plus, the décor aspects of Florida vs. Colorado have to be considered. That which works here isn't going to look right in a mountain home. Our prospective buyers want to keep a lot of our existing furniture, which is fine with us.

But movers charge by the pound. While we're happy to ditch the bedroom set, dining room, wall units, and lots of kitchen accoutrements, parting with books is much harder. And books are heavy. I checked the USPS website, looking to see what the options were. I discovered that you can send books and other media, as long as that's all that's in the box, at a price of about 1/3 of what the movers charge per pound. Our daughter and son-in-law in Colorado said they'd be willing to store boxes of books until we find a place.

Getting It Right

A question frequently asked of authors is how they do their research for their books. Answers are as varied as the books they write. Some might spend months doing research. Some have budgets that permit travel to research exotic locales. While I take advantage of any travel I do, I've yet to reach the point where I can write it off as a legitimate business expense, since I'm pretty sure the IRS expects you to have a contract, or at least expressed interest, for the book in question.

I don't plot very far in advance, so for me, research is an ongoing project. I want the details to be right. At the very least, I want to be the one deciding if I can stretch the truth for the sake of the story.

Sources? I tend to start with Google if it's a topic about which I know nothing, or very little. Their map feature helps me verify things like terrain, routes to and from locations, and local landmarks.


View Larger Map

Using a site such as the Farmer's Almanac, I can check sunrise, sunset, and phases of the moon for the time of year in my book. Even what stars will be visible to my characters as they stand on the porch and gaze heavenward.

I also rely on people I know, whether for their professional expertise or because they live where I've set my books. My sister-in-law will attest to countless emails from me with questions like, "What street trees are blooming in Salem in May?" My daughters provide the music my characters listen to, since they're closer in age than I am.

Since many of my books involve law enforcement officers, I've cultivated sources to make sure the information is accurate. (No, CSI is NOT a reference – more on that later)

Keep Reading...

I belong to several Yahoo groups made up of professionals who will answer questions. A favorite is Crimescenewriters. Another invaluable site is "The Graveyard Shift" hosted by retired detective Lee Lofland. When my agencies are fictional, I still try to adhere to proper procedure for that state/county. When writing Nowhere to Hide, my hero was an Orange County deputy. I felt obligated to be as accurate as possible, because these were facts that could be checked. Things like uniform color, and the different uniforms worn by patrol officers versus the motorcycle cops. The fact that nametags show both first and last names. That the department issued weapon is a Glock. And I know that one does NOT thumb a safety off a Glock.

Most agencies have a Public Information Officer who will answer questions. Sometimes whoever answers the phone is intrigued when you introduce yourself as an author, and they'll direct you to someone who can help. I also enrolled in the Civilian Police Academy and made some wonderful contacts there (including Detective Hussey, whom you've probably met on this blog).

I went to a firing range and had hands-on experience firing a variety of weapons. I did a ride-along with a patrol officer (note: I deliberately picked a relatively quiet sector and shift, hoping I'd have time to ask lots of questions. Which I did.)

Details keep the reader on the page. Even the little ones. I read a book not long ago where the character was on the South Beach diet. A scene showed him going to the vending machine for a packet of almonds and then counting out fifteen of them. Seems like a minor detail, but if it had been a different number, anyone familiar with the diet would have been pulled out of the story.

Sometimes you can't help the 'mistakes.' I set a scene in a local restaurant, but by the time the book was accepted, the restaurant had gone defunct. Or, sometimes your publisher's legal department doesn't want you to use real places or people to avoid possible litigation. You've got no control over that. (Other than finding another publisher.)

Sometimes you stretch the truth because it is, in the end, fiction. And nobody should be using fiction as a research source. Which brings me back to CSI and The Graveyard Shift. There's a very real phenomenon, the "CSI Effect" that creates all sorts of problems in the judicial system. People see what the actors do on television and assume it's that way in real life. Lee Lofland has been having fun analyzing the hit television show, "Castle" for police accuracy. He will review each week's show, but his commentary is strictly about the police work and forensics. It has nothing to do with whether or not he likes the show (he does). He provides these insights so authors won't take something they see on the show and assume it's how things work and include it in their books, thus perpetuating the error.

Sometimes the hardest part of research is knowing what to look up. In Finding Sarah, I wanted to make it impossible for her to escape, even though she eluded her captor. Fine. She's found his car keys. But he drives a stick shift, and she doesn't know how to use a manual transmission. To make sure, I had the vehicle parked facing a tree, so she'd also have to back up to get it moving. Reality: you can't start a modern manual transmission vehicle unless you depress the clutch. She wouldn't know this, so the car wouldn't start at all. BUT. I had no clue that the make and model of the car I'd chosen didn't come with a manual transmission. Lucky for me, a crit partner pointed this out, so I was able to save that embarrassing error from appearing on the page.

And at the moment, I'm awaiting an answer to my current plot question about what my cop should do when one of his officers thinks "something isn't quite right" when she checks a local residence. Is the bad guy inside? Does he have hostages? Or did the residents simply not answer the door because they were asleep? Does he go in guns blazing? Knock on the door? Wait for enough backup to surround the house? I don't want a reader to say, "No cop on earth would ever do that" when they read my books. I don't mind, "Well, not the BEST choice, but I can buy it."

How Real Should It Be?

What I'm reading: Contest Entry 3/5

What I'm writing: Chapter 25

I hit a snag in my plot a few days ago. My heroine and her savvy hero had escaped their captors, and were on the run. Now, too many of us get our information from watching television, or maybe from reading novels written by authors who get their information watching television. We've grown to believe that DNA and fingerprint records come back in minutes, complete with pictures of the suspects, their entire life history, and what they ate for breakfast. In reality, that doesn't happen.

Can you be found by using your credit card or ATM? Calling someone on your cell phone? Maybe--but be honest. Do YOU know how to do that? In reality, most of this information goes only to law enforcement, and only with a lot of paperwork. John Q. Public can't simply call up the AmEx office and ask where Joe Hero last used his credit card.

But -- if a reader thinks something is real, then is writing it right going to make them stop reading because they think it's wrong? One RWA speaker, Julia Hunter with the FBI said that even she writes things wrong if it's reader perception.

I've tried to have my savvy hero explain to my heroine why he feels safe using his credit card--because he knows the system, and he's sure the guys who found them earlier are penny-ante thugs who could never get the requisite warrants, since they're not law enforcement by any means. However I also created a special perk for his account which would alert him if anyone tried to trace his charges. Is that real? Maybe. I know you can get alerts if someone tries to access your credit rating. And I know that AmEx called me once when someone was trying to charge a plane ticket from Japan to Ireland. And, I created a fictional company that my hero works for, which allows some more of the fudge factor.

So--my hero and heroine managed to elude the bad guys, and are on the road again. I followed all the normal precautions for them, and was convinced they could get away clean. Only problem--I need the bad guys to find them for another action-high tension scene. I decided that the heroine will send a couple of emails to someone she's unaware is working with the bad guys, and he'd use the header information in the emails to trace where the messages came from.

But--I wasn't 100% sure it would work. I tried plugging my own ISP into WHOIS and it took me to my Internet Provider's corporate office. I questioned my crimescenewriters Yahoo group and my fears were confirmed. Without a subpoena, the ISPs won't reveal exactly where the emails come from. So... do I fudge here and hope readers think that every time they log onto their computers, anyone can find them? Or do I try to keep it real.

I've always opted for real. So...back to the plotting board for another way to get that hero/heroine confrontation with the bad guy.

Does it bother you when an author bases an important plot point on something you know can't really happen?