Please welcome guest blogger Pepper O'Neal today, sharing on the challenges -- and rewards -- of research. You can read more about her book Dead Men Don't on her website or buy it at Black Opal Books.
I’m
often asked why I base so many of my characters on real people. And my answer
is two-fold. First, I’ve met some extremely interesting people in my
travels—people with amazing stories to tell. They’ve been there, done that, and
have the scars to prove it. So, while my imagination is pretty good, I doubt I
could create characters as interesting and complicated as the people I actually
know. It’s the little things about those people that make them so special. And
secondly, because I know them so well, and because of the stories they’ve told
me, it saves me tons of time on research. They’ve also been most of the places
I want to write about, so if I haven’t been there myself, I can ask them. Most
of them are honored that I’m impressed enough by them to put them in my books,
even when I make them villains. When my first book in the Black Ops Chronicle series, Black
Ops Chronicles: Dead Run, started winning contests, Levi, who was an
important secondary character, was delighted. “You’re an award-winning author
now, luv,” he told me, “so I guess that makes me an award-winning character. So
when do I get my own book?” How could I resist? When I wrote the second book in
that series, Black Ops Chronicles: Dead
Men Don’t, which came out in June, Levi had a starring role.
Characters
and dialogue come easy for me because I know the real-life counterparts of my characters
very well, good points and character flaws, and can guess what they would most
likely say in any given situation, which gives my books a ring of truth they
wouldn’t otherwise have. But unless you are fortunate enough to have friends
like mine who’ve led some extremely interesting lives, you’re going to have to
do a lot of research on whatever subject or character trait you want to portray
in your fiction. How can you tell the difference between a writer who’s done
his/her homework with some good solid research and one who hasn’t? Easy. The
writer who’s done the homework makes you feel like you’re actually there with
the characters, experiencing what they are. They also have all their facts are
correct and accurate.
So
how do you do it? The answer to that is complicated. First you have to do hours
of research, on the internet, or contact organizations in the target country
that deal with tourism, or—if you’re lucky enough to have them—ask friends who
have been there. And secondly, you have to know what questions to ask.
Think
about what you might know about a place after you’ve been there that you
wouldn’t know before. For example, if you are writing about a place in a
third-world country, what might you learn by traveling to that country that you
wouldn’t know if you hadn’t been there? Some examples of this might be what the
sanitation systems are like, how garbage is collected, what the markets and
stores are like, how the people in the cities get their water—does it come from
a central water supply reservoir like in the US or is it perhaps delivered by
truck to a cistern on the roof of the house and then gravity-fed through the pipes
when someone opens a faucet. What are the rural areas of said country like? How
do the people dress, get to and from work, secure their homes, etc.? For
example, I was amazed when I first when to work in Mexico that many houses
didn’t have closets in the bedrooms like we have in the US. Many people who
live there, at least in the more rural areas or in older homes, used armoires,
giant chests that you hang clothes in. And I was shocked to discover that, at
least in the small town where I first lived while I was there, the garbage
truck didn’t pick up at a person’s house. The bags of garbage had to be carted
to the corner of a designated street on garbage day and handed to the man on
the back of the truck. Little things like this are what make you remember a
place when other memories about the trip have faded. Those little things are
also what make your readers feel like they’re right there in the scene with the
characters. The same is true of your characters. If you’re writing about an
ex-CIA officer, like I was, and don’t know one, you need to research not only
the type of person you want to portray, but also the “shop-talk” or trade words
that would be common in their everyday speech. For example, did you know that
CIA employees are never called agents by those in the know? CIA personnel in
the field are called officers or field officers not agents. Authors who call
them agents haven’t done their homework. Facts like this are crucial to
authenticity.
So
do yourself and your career a big favor and check your facts. There is no
quicker way for a writer to lose credibility than to use incorrect data or
facts. Whether it is a novel or a blog, if you put it out there, make sure you
do your research and that your facts are accurate. Let me give you an example
of what I mean. I am not going to mention any names because some of you may
have read this author, enjoyed her work, and never realized her facts were
wrong. And I don’t want to spoil anyone’s enjoyment of an author. But…
First
let me say that I’ve had a number of jobs in my life—it took me a while to find
my niche—and once upon a time, I trained racehorses. So when I saw a new novel
about horse racing from a well-known author, whose work I had read and enjoyed
before, I bought it. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Not
because the plot or the characters were not up to this author’s normal quality.
They were. But her racing terms were incorrect. Her term for young horses
versus older ones, male versus female horses, etc. were also incorrect. For
example, a female horse, no matter the age, should never be called a colt. A colt is a male, un-neutered horse under
the age of four. After the age of four, he’s a horse or a stud if he’s breeding
mares. If he’s neutered, he’s a gelding, regardless of the age. A female horse
under the age of four is a filly. Over the age of four, she’s a mare. This
author seemed unaware of facts that anyone who’s spent any time around horses
would automatically know. And as someone who does, this bothered me to the
point that I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I otherwise might have. It
wouldn’t have taken this author that much more time and/or effort to check her
facts and make sure they were correct.
The
next book I read from this same author was set in my home state of Oregon, and
I can only assume that she has never been there. Imagine my dismay when the heroine
stopped for gas at an Oregon gas station, got out of the car, and filled up her
own tank. Why? Because Oregon does not and never has allowed self-service gas
stations. Period. Pumping your own gas in Oregon is against the law. Had her
character done this in real life, she would have had to pay a $10,000 fine.
Needless to say, that was the last time I bought one of this author’s books.
If
you are unsure of your facts, do the research and find out the correct terms
and facts, or else keep your terms and facts vague and generic. These kinds of
mistakes may not hurt you too much if you are a best-selling author (and not
everyone is as picky about proper terms and correct facts in fiction as I
am—probably comes from being a researcher), but if you are just starting out,
this can scuttle your career. So why chance it? If you’re going to take the
time to do research for a novel and aren’t writing about something you know
inside and out, go the extra mile and make sure that the facts you put in your
books are right.
When
I wrote the first book in the Black Ops
Chronicle series Black Ops
Chronicles: Dead Run, I had a
scene in it where the hero stopped breathing but still had a faint pulse. So my
heroine, who was pretty clueless about medicine, was going to try to do CPR.
Well, my critique group at the time had a registered nurse in it and she
objected to the scene because you don’t perform CPR on someone who has a pulse.
She pointed out, and rightly so, that someone reading my book might, however
unlikely, take that scene as fact and do harm to someone in an emergency
situation. I had never thought of that, but once she pointed it out, it made
sense. So I changed the scene to where the heroine gives him artificial
respiration and bypasses the CPR. Not that I think I would have gotten sued had
I left it in, but the book was better because I changed it. It was not only
more accurate and, therefore, more believable, but I also wouldn’t have readers
who were registered nurses, EMTs, or other medical professionals throwing the
book against the wall because I didn’t have my facts right.
And
it taught me a valuable lesson. Check your facts! If you’re writing about
something you are unfamiliar with and are not 100% sure of your facts, check,
check, and recheck. Believe me, your readers will thank you for it.
* * * * *
A strange man
has come to save her...but is he friend or foe?
Anderson
Merritt’s been kidnapped, but when a stranger comes to rescue her, she isn’t
sure he is who he says he is. He claims to work her father’s boss. But someone
close to Andi set her up, and now she doesn’t know who to trust. Every man
she’s ever known has seen her only as a tool to get to her father or his money,
so why should this one be any different? As the sparks between them ignite, and
the danger escalates, Andi has to choose—go off on her own, or trust that some
men really are what they seem.
He doesn’t want
to hurt her…but he may have to if she doesn’t come willingly.
Ex-CIA
black ops specialist Levi Komakov doesn’t believe in hurting women, but when
the place is set to blow and Andi won’t cooperate, he has no choice to but toss
her over his shoulder and carry her out of danger, determined to keep her safe
in spite of herself. But the beautiful little spitfire doesn’t make it easy for
him. With her abductors seemingly always one step ahead of him, Levi suspects
there’s a rat in the woodpile, but who? Could it be someone close to Andi’s father,
someone in the FBI, or someone in the family Levi works for? When a new threat
appears, and even the CIA can’t help him keep Andi safe, Levi puts everything
on the line—but will it be enough?
* * * * *
Award-winning author, Pepper O’Neal is a researcher, a writer, and an adrenalin junkie. She has a doctorate in education and spent several years in Mexico and the Caribbean working as researcher for an educational resource firm based out of Mexico City. During that time, she met and befriended many adventurers like herself, including former CIA officers and members of organized crime. Her fiction is heavily influenced by the stories they shared with her, as well her own experiences abroad.
O’Neal attributes both her love of adventure and her compulsion to write fiction to her Irish and Cherokee ancestors. When she’s not at her computer, O’Neal spends her time taking long walks in the forests near her home or playing with her three cats. And of course, planning the next adventure.
You can find the author on her website: http://www.pepperoneal.com
