Researching Novel Details

 

 As a writer, I need to research details to make sure my work is believable. Sometimes the information is easily available. Other times it can involve travel or delving into archives. The internet has been a huge help.

Here's some examples.

Murder in Paris

The historical part was from Heretics and Lovers, the first novel I wrote. It won an award for an unpublished novel. The idea came from Montaillou by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. I found myself in a tiny village in the French Pyrenees. I stayed too long soaking up the atmosphere for the real characters who lived in the 1300s. After dark I was afraid to drive down the twisty mountain road. I slept in my car after discovering the fields had too many sheep droppings. 

I used the section in Heretics about Jacques Fournier (Pope Benedict XII) when he was a student in Paris for my historical section.

The skeleton, a soldier who lived 700+ years ago. shown on the bottom of the cover, was from an excavation of a Corsier CH church. 

Murder in Caleb's Landing

 

 

 

It was luck. When visiting my beloved stepmom in Florida I found a used book by an English actress who married a U.S. southern plantation slave owner. I learned, instead of mattresses, slaves on some plantations slept on moss. It was a surprise to me that I ended up with two stories about underground railroads: runaway slaves (historic) and runaway abused wives (modern). I'm not a writer that plots out everything before I start to write. This book held many surprises for me, including characters that suddenly arrived in my laptop and insisted on a major role. 

 

Murder on Insel Poel

The plot came to me when my friend and I went to Insel Poel to retrieve a painting. The museum had a model of a ship, Cap Arcona, which was sunk by a British plane with concentration prisoners on board. The model was an accurate description of the ship. There was my historical part.

My friend, whose German was fluent unlike my shopping German, was a God send. 

Spending almost a day listening to recordings from the Neuengamme concentration camp survivors who survived the sinking of the Cap Arcona was gut wrenchingly painful as was seeing where so many suffered and died. 

A positive memory was sitting with museum staff members making paper Christmas Decorations for the museum and drinking coffee.

Family Value

 

Having to write a scene where an unwed mother had to give up her baby for adoption might be easy to imagine, but my scene was lacking something. Then I talked to a Salvation Army Officer who headed a home for unwed mothers. Her description of the turnover left me crying when I rewrote the scene.

My main male character needed a vasectomy, something I could never experience obviously. Asking male friends "Have you had a vasectomy?" was a bit embarrassing but what the hell, anything for my art. Right? After I wrote the scene with their details, I gave them the scene to read. I was pleased they found it accurate.

These are just a few examples of wanting knowledge that I don't have. I've made mistakes because I thought I knew something and didn't know that I didn't know. I had TWA flying out of Miami in Chickpea Lover: Not a Cookbook. TWA never flew out of Miami. 

That's why in the acknowledgement of many books the author says any mistakes are theirs and not the people who helped.