Today my partner in life and in crime—novels, that is—Larry K. Collins is my guest. See how we create reality in our fiction.
During a conference presentation, I
was asked this question: “I write fiction. What kind of research should I do?
And how much?”
My answer was: “As much as you can.
The more reality you put into your fiction, the more believable it becomes. As
a rule of thumb, I put in a true fact, a fact, a fact, a fact, and make up a
fact. If I do it well, my readers won’t be able to tell which one is made up.”
WRITING A
REAL LOCATION
In our second mystery, Murder
in Paradise, our protagonist, Agapé Jones, retired NYPD detective, was
supposed to drive from Honolulu to Hale’iwa. While doing research on Oahu, I
drove the same route, noticed the outrigger canoes parked along the Ala Wai
Canal, and shopped at the Foodland in Hale’iwa. Then Agapé did the same things
in the book. We know our readers will never forgive us if we mess up their
town. And if our hero drives the wrong way on a one-way street, we’ll never
hear the end of it.
While writing a story in a real place,
I surround myself with photos, clippings, and maps of the area I intend to
write about. Anything to keep me grounded in reality.
Sometimes a picture will inspire a
scene. In Murder in Paradise, I had the grandmother character tell the
story of growing up as a child on the North Shore and visiting the Hale’iwa
Hotel, a beautiful Victorian-style inn featuring a two-story lanai and
luxurious dining room. Opened in 1898, the building was torn down in 1952. As
inspiration, I purchased several early photos of the old hotel from North Shore Photo Hawaii and hung them
on the wall over my computer. The pictures themselves never appeared in the
book, but my descriptions became more accurate because I could visualize being
there. Hopefully I passed my vision on to the reader.
WRITING A
FICTITIOUS LOCATION
Lorna and four friends created the
fictitious town of Aspen Grove, Colorado, as the location for their
anthologies, Snowflake Secrets, Seasons of Love, Directions of Love, and An
Aspen Grove Christmas. This allows the authors to invent shops,
restaurants, churches, B&Bs, etc. to fit the various novellas. They placed Aspen
Grove in the mountains west of Denver on the road leading to the ski resorts. Even
though it is fictitious, it needed to have the real look and character of the
area. Aspen Grove became a composite of several real towns.
Walk down the main street of Idaho
Springs and you expect to see Daisy’s Diner and the Book Nook. Wander along the
lakefront in Georgetown to find Drew’s log cabin and on through town to the
stone building housing the Presbyterian Church. Several readers have remarked
they would love to visit Aspen Grove. So would we.
WRITING
HISTORICAL FICTION
Not only do the locations need to be
correct, but also the specific time period. The events, language, customs, clothing,
and props must all fit the era.
In historical fiction, it is even
more important to do accurate research. Our latest endeavor, The Memory
Keeper, concerns life at the San Juan Capistrano Mission between 1820
and 1890 as seen through the eyes of a Juaneño
Indian.
For inspiration, an original etching
by Rob Shaw, published in 1890 by H L Everett, showing the mission grounds,
currently hangs over my computer.
Our bibliography is running about
five or six pages and growing. We have also enlisted the aid of the local San
Juan historian and a Juaneño native
storyteller as beta readers for historical information. We won’t be satisfied
until they are satisfied with the accuracy of our details.
Now that I’ve said all that, I have to
remind myself. Never let the facts get
in the way of the story. Too many details can turn a good story into a
boring history lesson. In the end, the research should support and enhance, but
not overwhelm. We must choose carefully which facts to include, leave out, and
make up. If we’ve done our job, our readers will become so involved with the
plot and compelling characters, that the facts just blend in. They’ll never
know how much research went into it. But we will.
