Gotta Love That Writing Research

Writers of all stripes know the fine line between hyperbole and solid facts. (No, I'm not going to go there in this post.) From writing a term paper in high school to creating good fiction, writers need to know the solid facts before they put their spin into the words.

To write great suspense, authors know they have to play with their readers' trust. Readers must believe we are writing about the world just outside of their door, one they could walk into at any moment if they were as brave or as foolish as our main characters. I often say that we cajole readers into walking the plank with us, and at a certain point we pull the plank away, leaving them suspended in our fictional bubble. If we've done our research right, time will slip away and the only reality readers will experience will be the one we've recreated. 

Great research can structure an entire story. Whole plots of traditional mysteries with amateur sleuths or crime procedurals hang on sound investigative techniques. The sleuth or cop may decide to throw protocol out the window, but the reader and the character know what the price could be for going rogue. 

Other research can be on a point that might seem inconsequential. Maybe the character enjoyed a meal at a Five Star restaurant. The meal is not the point, but the texture added to the story of describing a mouth-watering Indian curry adds to the reader's enjoyment while deepening the understanding of who our character is.

I've often heard authors talk about hours spent researching a certain point only to have the result be a sentence or two of text or dialog. Details matter when it comes to getting and keeping our readers' trust. After our bond is sealed, our story grows in our readers' imaginations.

So, when my WIP needed an American oligarch enjoying a scotch, what kind of scotch would he imbibe? What booze would he stock in the bar of his mega yacht? Oh, yes. You want to know. I gotta say, this is the kind of research I love.

And a bottle of Macallan won. Never heard of it? Me neither, but when I learned that a bottle of 1946 Macallan sold at auction for $460,000, I knew I had a winner. As for stocking the bar? First off, only a Luddite would call crystal bottles of fine spirits booze. Secondly, the showier the better, and a swarovski crystal-encrusted bottle of Oval vodka (at about $6K per bottle) would definitely be on the shelf.

As for making sure I fully understood the difference between my usual plonk and a finer quality spirit? Hmm. Maybe this is where I let your imagination roam.