Author Guest Post: A Lighthearted Look at Author Research Challenges

By Avery Daniels

Hello and thank you, Jeri, for inviting me on your blog.

Writing a novel is challenging. Not only do you need a compelling plot that moves along, keeping the reader’s interest, but you must bring characters alive that engage the reader’s emotions without dumping all the individual back stories at once. There is the setting that needs to sweep you away from your life and troubles, all while keeping the pace rolling along.

But what about the research that goes into a novel? We don’t think about that critical piece until something obvious yanks you out of the carefully written story elements, like a Post-it appearing years before it was invented.  Such a small detail can not only yank you back to reality and out of the carefully constructed illusion of the story narrative, but some readers get angry at the details not being correct, just as they would at obvious modern guns used in an ancient Egyptian story.  I’ve even seen a World War II novelist get yelled at in a review for a volunteer uniform inaccuracy.

My stories are contemporary, which makes research substantially easier than a regency romance or a medieval mystery, but there are still a lot of details to cover. Modern crime fiction involves legalities and police procedures that vary from state to state. My suspense thriller features an FBI agent, compounding the details to research, plus a freelance journalist with reporting ethics and the writing and pitching of stories on “spec”, plus how interviewing an informant works. Then, I added in a high-tech hacker because my Google searches weren’t suspicious enough already. I’m pretty sure I’m on some watch list somewhere after a few of my online searches, which I won’t even hint at here in fear of making you all accessories.

Obviously, I rely on reference books whenever possible. I have a textbook on resort management (for my cozy mystery series with the sleuth working in luxury resorts), and more books on modern forensics and the FBI.  But those don’t cover everything. They don’t cover an off-duty FBI agent investigating a relative’s suspicious death on his own and what resources he could access without an official case. Or if that FBI agent feels he can’t trust his superior, how does the hierarchy work? Who would he go to if he couldn’t trust anybody at the bureau?

Those are the questions that authors come up with that aren’t easily found. Even with forensic books written with the author in mind, they can’t conceive of every off-the-wall situation that the legions of writers and their fertile imaginations generate.

I am very grateful for an online community that has many law enforcement and other first responders who will answer questions from authors to help with details and authenticity as much as possible. That helps a good bit, but sometimes you can’t pester them with every small detail that changes as your plot develops or morphs. They would just stop answering your information requests, no matter how many bottles of scotch you offered to ship them. Not that I would know anything about that.

That is when you turn to local expertise. Talk with an officer through public relations at your local cop shop, or even your nearest state Bureau of Investigation. Sometimes they are overwhelmed with funding shortages and personnel cuts and can’t help. But they may provide a retiree who can work with you. I was lucky to have a former deputy sheriff live next door for a while that had mercy on me. (Ken, have you finished with that bottle of Grand Marnier yet?)

Some police even arrange visits for local author groups to get a feel for how the work is done in the real world. For example, most police departments don’t have the forensic lab capability we all take for granted after shows like CSI and the spinoffs that made forensic science everyday talking points. “It’s blood spatter, not splatter” a ten-year-old informs their play mate with glee.

That is just the law enforcement side. There are weapons and poisons that books can’t completely cover either.  I found out that a handgun that seemed exactly what I needed from a reference book was laughable when the aforementioned former deputy sheriff Ken pointed out that the handgun was more suited to a safari since it was intended for literally stopping an elephant. (I’ll deliver your next bottle this weekend, Ken.)

Then there is my high-tech hacker character. I’m no slouch with computers since I worked for GPS satellite systems as Quality Assurance for the Dept of Defense. But I don’t know the first thing about hacking or even the lingo. That isn’t something you can find in a book at your local library or bookstore. Good luck researching that online and not getting a black SUV pulling up in your driveway with “men in black” knocking on your door. Thank the stars above that there was a computer science professor with a PhD in my writer’s critique group. She understood I needed just enough to sound right without giving a how-to guide. Dr. Cynthia has a lifetime supply of Chicken Chili and cornbread on demand, anytime.

Then there is research for the settings. During Covid, I used street views online a lot, but it isn’t like being there in person.  Sometimes it wasn’t feasible to travel to the multiple locations I was using, and again, talking to people from those towns helped tremendously.  An example is how would you realistically break a man out of prison? I was fortunate to meet with two former prison guards who gave me an insider’s viewpoint of working in a prison and what a difficult undertaking a prison-break would be in my fictional scenario.

When they say many people aid an author in writing each book, it’s true.  I am forever grateful to those people who have assisted me with the details for my books along the way.

Check out my book THE SOCIETY: ELIZABETH GRANT THRILLER #1 before the second in the series, THE LEGACY is released this summer.

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Avery Daniels writes under the pen name of C.G. Abbot for thrillers. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a management emphasis. She is a Colorado gal born and raised. Loves the low bug population, but she never got used the winter temperatures. She considers it a fair trade, though. She has worked in Fortune 500 companies or Department of Defense contracting her entire adult life, but she is now doing what she always wanted to do all along, write fiction stories. She has volunteered for a cat shelter, enjoys scrapbooking and card making, amateur photography, and painting in watercolor and acrylic. She inherited a love for reading from her mother and grandmother and grew up talking about books at the dinner table. Find her at avery-daniels.com

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