Tag Archive for: research

How Much Research?

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By Bethany Maines

So I was reading a book, which shall remain titleless to
protect the guilty, and the heroine tucked her revolver into the simple elastic
garter she was wearing under wedding dress, and I thought, “Well, that’s the
last straw.” I didn’t finish the book because I just couldn’t handle the
startling number inaccuracies that were in the first three chapters. I realize
that as a karate practioner and the sister of a certified gun enthusiast that
my opportunities for action scene research are rather broader than the average
writers, but the fact that this writer couldn’t even be bothered to test the
weight limits of an average wedding garter really bothered me.  The distance between research and creative
license is always a fine one. 
Researching until you can write an expert level on a subject results in
Michael Crichton style tomes.  And
I don’t know about you, but when I got to the “expert” section of those books,
I just skipped to the end.  It’s my
belief that there’s a level of detail that most readers don’t care about. Not
all readers of course; I’m sure there are a great many people that really care
about absolute accuracies of certain topics.  But in general, I think most readers just want a tale well
told with the fewest obvious blunders.  What do you think? What level of research and accuracy is
required from an author?
Bethany Maines is the author of
the Carrie Mae Mystery series and Tales from the City of Destiny. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube
video or catch up with her on Twitter and
Facebook.

Am I just crazy?

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

So last night my mother, grandmother and I had an unexpected adventure at the ER.  Okay, my grandmother probably wouldn’t refer to that particular trip in such positive terminology, but hey–I’m the one writing this so I get to label the trip to backless gowns and gurneys as I wish.  Right?  Technically, I can’t blame my grandmother for her lack of enthusiasm for the journey to the hospital.  She was sick.  So far, it looks like a pesky viral infection was causing her issues.  Here’s hoping that she’ll be on the mend and avoid any other ambulance trips in the near future.

But while we were waiting for doctors and nurses and admitting staff, CT scans, blood work and all sorts of other tests, I found myself looking at this concerning situation with rose colored glasses.  I mean, needles and vocally unhappy patients (and there were a great number of those when we first arrived) aren’t really my cup of tea but WOW was it all interesting.  I couldn’t help looking at the people around me and wondering what their stories were.  I also found myself taking note of all the interesting gadgets in the place.  Heck, I’ve been in ERs before, but this was the first time I saw the cool flat screen monitor that listed every room number and displayed icons next to that room to show the treatment the patient was undergoing.  My personal favorite was the purple spaceship with the word ZOOM! above it.  The teddy bear was also cute, but made my heart ache a little since it was the symbol for a pediatric patient.  There were symbols for blood draws, Fall risks, various types of doctors and a whole lot of other things that made zero sense to me, but helped the staff know exactly what patient needed what when.

I was impressed and desperately wanted to ask dozens of questions.  How was the system developed?  How often is it updated?  Is that the main way the staff communicates in the ER?  How easy would it be for someone to bribe a staff member to update the board with the wrong test in order to learn something incriminating about the patient?

Oops…the writer in me is showing.

The thing is, while the ER adventure wasn’t on my agenda tonight and clearly wasn’t what I was interested in doing with my time, I found myself engaged by that world and the energy within it.  I couldn’t help looking at it with fascination and instead of being irritated at the SLOW passage of time (and really–time does seem to pass at a turtle’s pace in that place) I chose to look for the interesting things happening in those hours.

Which makes me wonder…am I just nuts for thinking that way or are other people wired the way I am? When stuck in a less than desirable situation do you look for the interesting and quirky in the adventure?  Do you think about what makes the place you’re in tick and wonder at the personal stories of the real life characters that surround you?  If so, what’s the last place you remember doing unexpected research or finding yourself entertained when you probably should have been tearing out your hair?  And if not – feel free to tell me I’m crazy.  Trust me, I won’t be offended!

Guest blog Jeri Westerson

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Hi, it’s Linda here. Please welcome my friend and gifted writer of historical mysteries, Jeri Westerson. Jeri’s newest “medieval noir” Crispin Guest novel, Blood Lance, has just been published, and Jeri’s going to talk to us about the really extreme research she does in order to write about her disgraced medieval knight.


She’s Armed
By Jeri Westerson
When it comes to research, I’m a hands-on kind of gal. So
when I had an opportunity to put on some fourteenth century-style armor and get
a sword fighting lesson, I was all over it.

I have worn armor before, and have even sat on a
warhorse, a 2,000 pound Percheron while wearing light armor. My latest medieval
mystery BLOOD LANCE features a lot of sword craft and jousting, and in order to
give it the authenticity it needed, I’ve been venturing throughout southern
California eliciting the help of chivalrous knights far and wide. And no one
knows chivalry more than Scott Farrell. 



I met Scott Farrell some years ago when we did a podcast
interview on his site Chivalry Today. But this hot August day, I met him in
person, along with his wife April, and Scott’s fellow instructor Kyle
Lazzarevich at Team Touche, a fencing club in San Diego, where they agreed to
fit me with armor so I can get the feel of it.
Scott is an historical sword fighting coach and an author
and historical interpreter on knights, medieval history, and chivalry.He got
interested in the Middle Ages in high school and later got the re-enactor bug,
and then started doing demonstrations for kids, which led him to think about connecting
the code of chivalry into everyday life and to his podcasts. 

Medieval armor was crafted to fit the particular knight. You
didn’t just buy it off the rack at ye olde Walmart. So Scott had to cheat a bit
to fit it around my middle-aged frame and cheat some more to be able to
position the helm where I could half-way see. All in all, it’s unwieldy as you
can imagine, and heavy what with not being used to it and all. In reality, a
full set of armor or full harness weighs anywhere between 60 and 100 pounds,
but with the weight distributed all over the body it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Knights had to be able to move, fight, mount the horse, dismount. Though
because of the noise of mail and clanking plate, it wasn’t exactly build for
stealth. As a matter of fact, I’m betting that it was pretty intimidating hearing
that clanking sound approach and being confronted with a man in armor with a
sword, mace, flail, war hammer, ax, pole axe…well. You get the picture.
It was wonderful just closing my eyes and feeling the weight
of it, the smell, the sense of it on me, and imagining I am Crispin, my
medieval protagonist and detective, who lost his knighthood years before these
stories began.

Wearing armor is one thing—and a marvelous thing at
that!—but what was it like to fight with a sword?
In college I took fencing and was pretty darned good at it.
But fencing is a completely different style than medieval broad sword fighting.
Fencing is about style. Though it was utilitarian there was more in the way of
competition and style points than fighting and hacking away at an opponent. And
though medieval broad swords were also used in competition in tournaments, the
tournament was more for preparing for actual battle. Technique was important to
keep you alive, but it was more about what worked rather than panache. After
all, a broad sword is essentially a chopping and slashing weapon. It was your
shield in defense as much as it was used as an offensive weapon.
I learned about medieval weapons
through books and research. And I have my own cache of weapons I like to
demonstrate when I make appearances at libraries and bookstores. But there is
nothing like a hands-on approach. It’s not something that you can find readily
just anywhere.
Scott gave me a lesson in some medieval long sword
techniques. Keeping the blade edge toward your opponent and keeping it close to
your body were good tips. The use of the thumb on the leading hand on the hilt
can help balance but it is up to the student to decide to leave it vulnerable
above the cross guard. When using the sword two-handed, the leading hand
controls the vertical tilt of the sword, while the bottom hand controls the
horizontal. Flashy Hollywood-style fighting might look good on the screen, but
it leaves you wide open for a good gash to the torso. And who wants that?

After real training, could I take on an armored opponent?
Well, let’s just say, I’d rather leave the swordplay to experts, like Crispin.

Jeri Westerson wanted to create her
own brand of medieval mystery, and combined the concept of medieval mystery
with hard-boiled detective fiction into what she calls “Medieval Noir.”
Hard-boiled detective Crispin Guest, is a disgraced knight turned PI, solving
crimes on the mean streets of fourteenth century London. The critically
acclaimed series began with VEIL OF LIES, which garnered nominations
from the Mystery Reader’s Journal Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery
and the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel,
the first medieval mystery to be so honored. Each of the next three novels in the series garnered award nominations and critical praise, as well.

 

Publisher’s Weekly said of the fifth
in the series BLOOD LANCE; “Clever twists and convincing period detail make
Westerson’s fifth 14th-century historical featuring disgraced knight Crispin
Guest one of her best.” Kirkus Review said, “Guest’s fifth adventure
again provides a lively tale of historical interest smoothly combined with a
worthy mystery.”  The Richmond Times-Dispatch said, “Written with a
keen knowledge of medieval history, ‘Blood Lance’ is another riveting tale of
honor and heroism, grounded in period detail, a wealth of action and the
continued development of her characters.” Jeri looks forward to the sixth, SHADOW
OF THE ALCHEMIST in the fall of 2013.

Jeri has done talks around the
country about the Middle Ages, demonstrating her cache of medieval weaponry.
She has been a featured guest on the radio talk show Writers on Writing with
host Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, and a guest lecturer at the Bowers Museum in
Santa Ana. Jeri is vice president for the
southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America and is also vice
president of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime, and co-chair for the
California Crime Writer’s Conference for June 2013. She is also a member of
Private Eye Writers of America and the Historical Novel Society. Jeri is
married to a commercial photographer, has a screenwriter son, and herds two
cats, a tortoise, and the occasional tarantula at her home in southern
California.
Visit Jeri’s blog www.Getting-Medieval.com for
articles on history and mystery as well as author interviews. Or see what
Crispin has to say on his very own blog. She is
also part of the group blog Poe’s Deadly Daughters
and you can follow her on Twitter
and see what Crispin is up to on his Facebook page.

 

 

Research and the Muse

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by Nancy J. Cohen

A reader at one of my author talks recently said she was surprised by how much research I did for my books. She believed fiction writers made up their stories. I was appalled. No wonder some people (not YOU, of course) look down their noses at popular fiction writers. Any author would be dismayed by this observation because we put a lot of work into researching our tales.

As any reader of historical fiction knows, the writer must thoroughly research all details of the era in order to be accurate. Ditto for mysteries. I get people asking me all the time if I had been a hairdresser because my sleuth’s job details are so accurate. When I mention that my background is in nursing, they are astounded. How did you learn enough to write about a hairstylist who solves crimes for your Bad Hair Day series? Well, I interviewed my hairdresser and followed her around the salon. I visited a beauty school and checked out their curriculum. I attended a beauty trade show in Orlando. I subscribed to Modern Salon Magazine. And if I needed to know anything else about hair, I asked my hairstylist or had her read relevant passages in my manuscript for accuracy.

That’s just the beginning. Consider that I also consult a homicide detective for crime details and police procedure, even if forensics doesn’t play a heavy role in my books. Plus each story has its own topics to research. I’ve investigated such diverse subjects as medical waste disposal, tilapia farming, migrant labor smuggling, the dog and cat fur trade, vanilla bean cultivation, and more. Then there is on-site research, i.e. pounding the pavement in Mount Dora to get street details, skulking through a Turkish Bath in my swimsuit, getting a reading from a medium in Cassadaga. I take very detailed notes and photos to use in crafting my story.

Authors who use contemporary settings cannot make things up out of thin air. Besides the location, we may need to research pertinent issues to include in our stories. I always try to include a Florida based issue or something of universal interest (like Alzheimer’s Disease) to give my stories added depth. Newspapers, magazines, the Internet, personal interviews, and on-site visits are just some of the techniques we use. Probably the most fun I’ve had for research was going on a couple of cruises for Killer Knots. I challenge you to fault any of my minute details in that adventure.

But what about the vampire and werewolf fiction out there now, and other paranormal stories? Don’t those authors just make up their imaginary worlds? No, because these worlds must be consistent, and they’re often based on mythology or early Earth cultures.

For example, my proposed paranormal series is based on Norse myths. I have several texts on the subject and took extensive notes so I can understand their creation theory. I wrote down the different gods and goddesses, because they play a part in my story as well. For this tale as well as Silver Serenade, my upcoming futuristic romance, I needed to name spaceships, weapons, and/or military personnel. Using the Internet to look up ranks in our own military gave me a model. I also have a collection of Star Trek and Star Wars Sourcebooks which are great inspiration for weaponry, ships, propulsion and such. So even for fantasy, research is necessary. Science fiction is even more exacting because you’re extrapolating what might be plausible in the future or exaggerating a current issue from the news.

So please have more respect for fiction writers. We do extensive research, and a truly gifted writer will not let it show because you’ll be swept into the story. A good work of fiction is like a stage show, with all the blood and sweat and tears going on behind the scenes. All the audience sees is the fabulous performance.

Nancy J. Cohen
Killer Knots: A Bad Hair Day Mystery
Silver Serenade: Coming soon from The Wild Rose Press
Website: http://nancyjcohen.com/
Blog: http://mysterygal.bravejournal.com/