Feb 10, 2025
Kelly’s daughter asks: How did you find the facts (that inform your book)?
We’ve talked about research before.
For my recent book, The Rimer File, my normal sources of research didn’t work. The time frame the story was set in was not quite historical, but at the same time, pre-internet. Sure, the songs of from those years are well documented, but it surprised me how much information I tried to discover but couldn’t find.
For example, I wanted to know what color the uniforms of Pittsburgh police were in 1985. I couldn’t find it on-line. It has been suggested I call the police museum, but there doesn’t seem to be one. But if I called the main police station, they might be able to direct me to someone who knew. Instead, I wrote around it. (It was a minor reference and didn’t make a difference to the plot.)
I also put a lot of effort into trying to find a walkthrough of the old Civic Center of Pittsburgh. I found snippets, but none of them covered what I what I was looking for. There is a recording of a walk up the stairs to an upper level, but no peek into the skyboxes, where I was hoping to set a scene. So, I reached out to family who lived in the area, and they reached out to friends. But none of them had ever been to the skyboxes. I ended up ‘fudging’ the background for the scene based on other arenas.. No one has complained. (yet!)
There are other places to dig for information.
There are these things called books with a subset known as encyclopedias. (Do they exist anymore?) They were filled with all kinds of facts. The trouble with them is that they were hard to keep up-to-date. I can’t tell you the last time I opened one, but I used to spend hours browsing the articles in the set we had at home. Then there are also non-fiction books of all sorts.
But especially in the area of firearms, I always end up depending on the internet for basic information and then on knowledgeable people for details. (Guns of various sorts show up in all of my books, and I’m no expert.)
One source of research that isn’t usually considered is personal experience. Writers are often told to write what they know. And I’m old, y’all, and have seen and done lots of things in my life. That information finds its way into my stories.
Do any of the authors on this hop have other sources of information? Find out by following the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Feb 10, 2025
Kelly’s daughter asks: How did you find the facts (that inform your book)?
My sea-going career has provided me with a wealth of knowledge and experience (especially of human behaviour). A lot of it can be applied to Science fiction. The rest comes from the internet.
I can imagine how much you learned while while sailing the seas.
Life experience is pretty darn useful and you end up knowing a lot of disparate things if you’re able to stick around planet Earth for a bit. @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
It’s the small facts that can add a world of depth to your writing.
Addicted, still, to Mass Observation diaries, packed with answers to the questions never asked of grandparents, until it was too late.
And Measuring Worth, to make sense of money values…
That’s incredible that you couldn’t find police uniforms from the time. I wonder if you looked through photos from the location and period if you could spot a uniform?