Getting Our Facts Right...

Recently, I received some really amazing feedback for one of my historicals A Promise Forged. How does this tie in to a suspense blog? Hang with me a minute and you'll see.

First, you need to know a little about the story, set in 1943:

When Kat Miller makes All-American Girls Professional Softball League, she struggles with long road trips, grueling practices, and the challenge of making time for God. Not only that, but older teammates are jealous of her success and an irritating reporter, Jack Raymond, has a knack for getting under Kat’s skin.

I received a package from my editor a few weeks ago. When I opened up this package, I was instantly intrigued by its contents, especially the black and white baseball card autographed to me and the autobiography with a photo of a female softball player on the cover. The card is about to get put in a shadowbox frame -- it's an amazing gift.

It also came with a letter: "...A friend gave me the book because she knew I had played in the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League in 1954 for the Grand Rapids Chicks. As I read the book, it was like I was walking in Kat's shoes, reliving my life again.I am enclosing a book I wrote about my ball playing days, and a signed baseball card....Thank you for the great story!"

This type of feedback is a dream come true for a writer. It lets us know all our research paid off and we got the details right. How often have you read a book that's moving along and then the author gets one fact wrong. While you were going with the characters before, now you can't. The error (no matter how small) is a glaring problem. It makes you doubt everything else. 

So for a historical, I spend time in archives and talking to historians and people who lived it. For a suspense I talk to arson investigators, police detectives, etc. But as a writer, we have to get the details right. 

And when we do? Serendipity!

Research at the FBI Citizens' Academy

So I'm in the Indianapolis FBI Citizens' Academy and loving it. But I'm sure those who know me are far from surprised :-)

The evenings are often filled with lectures about different efforts of the local office from gangs to white collar crime to terrorism and violent crimes. This week's session was very interesting. The first hour focused on the application of the use of deadly force policy. As an attorney, I loved the parsing of phrases and figuring out how to apply that to real life situations. It really was an eye-opening session.


But the best part was when they walked us across the street to a conference room where they'd set up a training simulator that they use with FBI agents. One at a time we were handed a modified Sig 228, which was hooked into a machine that somehow read where we shot and told us if we'd hit, nicked or missed the moving target. There were approximately 20 different scenarios that they ran us through. In each case the student was supposed to decide whether to use deadly force and then attempt to shoot.


I bracketed my guy and probably winged him -- not terrible considering I've never held anything more than a paint ball gun. But it was interesting to watch my response and the response of my classmates. One gal nailed her bad guy. This guy was not getting back up. But the rest of us gals for the most part bracketed and nicked them.


While an interesting exercise, it also reinforced how much is affected by how someone responds. In these video scenarios, the bad guys weren't actually responding to our shots. I would think that would change in real life.


Anyway, I continue to love this experience. I've decided I fall firmly into the geek category as I take detailed notes about everything. I just never know when I'll get to use some tidbit or other in a book.

Research and Development--Lenora Worth

I'm working hard on a suspense but I keep stopping to do fascinating research. This book involves a lot of things--animals (including two alligators named Boudreaux and Bobby Wayne), Texas Rangers and all the duties and protocol and procedure of these larger than life heroes, an animal rescue/rehabilation expert (my heroine) and a whole slew of really bad guys out to take over the world--or at least Texas.

This had made my writing slow going, but once I get a good piece of detailed research out of the way, I get right back into the story and become involved with my characters--especially their developing love story which had taken on a life of its own. This is way too much fun and I get paid to do this! What more could a girl ask for? More time to research, of course!

But that did get me wondering--do writers love research? Do readers even notice the research (the details, the description, the layers of story and place that we try to put in there to make everything seem so real?)So what do you say, people? Love it or hate it or just tolerate it but research and its friend development both have a place in a suspenseful story. It's one thing to explain how an alligator can run at about forty miles per hour. It's quite another to name that gator Broudreaux and give him a personality. That's research and development. And that's one of the fun parts of this job. Tell us what you think. We also like to take polls now and then.