Digging Deep into Research
I’m days, maybe hours, from starting the writing of book three in my current series. I’ve had the fun of brainstorming how the crimes all happened. I’m excited to dig into the plot, because it feels like there will be so many twists maybe the most that I’ve ever written.
I’ve spent the last week digging into the research on one of the threads. It’s been a hard slog. My legal suspense tends to be ripped from the headlines, and this one is a book I’ve known was coming since the proposal. This can be one of the fun parts of writing, but it can also be pretty intense when the threads have a heavy layer to them.
For example in Beyond Justice, the novel’s external thread had a heavy focus on unaccompanied minors crossing the border, an issue that was active in 2016 when I wrote the book, and one that was in the Wall Street Journal again this week. Flight Risk involved the weaving of a real plane crash, pulled forward and replicated thirty years in the future, with a human trafficking thread I didn’t even recognize was in there, and a cool twist with a professional baseball player braided together to ask how we find truth in a fake news world. A real issue when the book released in April 2020, and still an issue we wrestle with today, no? Then in The Vanished I pulled in threads of what happened to art during WWII with The Woman in Gold, Monuments Men post WWII, and law to think about who owns art, an issue that is very relevant for museums and art lovers everywhere.
The challenge for me is to not get lost in all the threads and trails that my research takes me down. I can lose hours learning all the nuances, because I’m fascinated with them. I’ve learned through Book Talk that I am not alone in this. Many of us who write love the process of digging in and learning about the settings, history and so much more.
As readers, though, do you like knowing we invest so much time in the details? In getting the nuances and aspects of our books nailed down as accurately as we can? Does it matter to you? Do you enjoy reading author notes and information like that? I’m curious. 🙂
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I love knowing all the details and especially reading the Author’s Note at the end! Reading fiction is one of the ways I continue to learn things I didn’t know!
Yes, I love reading author’s notes about what led them to write their novel and what parts were based on true events.
Yes to author’s notes and historical accuracy! It makes me nuts when an author touts as fact some historical inaccuracy that could have been easily verified during the writing or editing process. While it’s true many readers won’t notice and don’t have a clue, there are many others who are knowledgeable enough to be disappointed.
Yes! It does matter!!! 🙂
It is so very interesting to read about real facts and history in a story. I thank all of you for doing that research!
I agree, it matters!!! I always check for Author Notes when I am buying a new to me Historical Fiction Author. If they are there and it looks like the author has done the work, then I will buy the book. I am always interested in the facts, but also the subtle and talented way good authors weave in the plausible fictional elements to make the mesh of fact and fiction seamless and interesting. This applies to Biblical Fiction too. I have read in some Author Notes some fascinating, obscure nugget of Scripture and how that led to further research which then fleshed out the story. I am intrigued by the research and thought processes that the Author Notes describe.