Research Sucks!

Who would have thought that getting a few files would be so difficult? I spent two entire afternoons talking on the phone to a D.A.'s office out-of-state. Between that office and the state police and their administration office, I was going crazy!

Finally, got it all resolved today!!!! I get allllll the records!!!!!! That includes the officer's notes and all trial transcripts. It is going to take a while for them to get them all copied. There are more than 1000 individual pieces of paper. They are going to wait until the interns come in the early summer and get one of them to make the copies. Good! I need the time for other things.

Has anyone else run into problems getting information for a book?

While I was researching A Myth in Action, I didn't really have many problems. It was as though I was working on a book that was meant to be written. I posted messages on Murphy's Biography board, and several fans/collectors responded, eager to be a part of the project. When I got stuck, the Audie Murphy Research Foundation came to my rescue, as did the president of the Audie Murphy Fan Club. I even got a brief handwritten note from Audie Murphy's oldest son, Terry. It gave me a false idea of what researching was like. I have been finding out the reality as I have researched the genealogical records for information about my maternal ancestors, the subjects of one of my current projects, Ailcy's Legacy, which uses a historical fiction approach to telling their story. I have never encountered so many dead ends and red herrings. The earliest had to do with Ailcy Foster's mother, and the the Foster line she married into. At the time I started, it was commonly accepted that her Fosters had lived in Wilson, County, TN. Every line I could find insisted that this was so, but these lines had been searched back though the males in the family. I was trying to do a matrilineal search, where the surnames change every generation. I noticed discrepancies that the other researchers missed. Eventually, I traced Ailcy's family to Bedford county, TN, and suddenly, everything fell into place. I shared my findings with the other genealogists tracing this line. One of them self-published an ebook based on the information I gave him, and claimed copyright. That source, put together with DNA testing and results, have set up a furor of researchers delving into that line, and they are coming up with so much information (kind of like Sue's 1000 pages) that I have had to hold off writing any more of the book until the dust settles, and I can sort it all out. Fortunately, I have other projects I can focus on in the meantime.

Good Luck, Sue - I wish you the best.

Ann

I had to give up on getting permission for the prologue to Arirang: The Bamboo Connection. Instead, I paraphrased and summarized, less effective than quotes. I needed permission from the newspaper. They never provided it.

I love research. Like Ann, I wrote a couple books based on family genealogy. It was like putting puzzle pieces together, my family not fighting, being democrats, what they were doing when the Civil War ended and Lincoln was assassinated. I researched battles and put my ancestor in the middle of a couple, even had him sit and talk to an enemy soldier.

After the eighth grade social studies teacher read my book to her class and I arrived for answers to questions, a boy told me. "You know that happened a lot. Confederate and Union soldiers shared food and even tobacco." A very wise young man.

I found a lot of slanted information. I ignored that and went with the facts and the implications they had for my family.

It was a great adventure and I plan another.

Carol

I love doing the research so much that I sometimes forget what I'm looking for and just read and follow links.

It can get exasperating though. While I was researching the Creek
Indian migration routes, I emailed the Muskogee Tribe people in Indian
Territory in Oklahoma. I told them I wanted their input, so I could
write my story to be as accurate as possible. When they finally did
reply, it was to let me know what they thought about another white man
writing Indian history.

I understand their feelings, but I was offering them a chance to get the real story out.

Like Brew, I love research. My biggest job was digging up the score of every high school football game played by an Akron school (14 of them over the years) from 1892 through 1999. Also All-City teams, league standings, coaches records and thousands of words of text. Took nearly three years of full-time work, most of it studying old newspapers on microfilm. As it is of local interest only there was no chance of making money. Strictly a labor of love, but I enjoyed it all, even driving to 27 libraries around the state.
As Brew discovered, it takes considerable discipline because you come upon countless unrelated stories of great interest.

It's when you find out those stories are related that things get exciting.

Sometimes I get to reading books and there comes that "aha" moment when I see how this relates to something else I've been working on.

Carol

I think research is part of most any novel that includes past or present events, places, or people, if real people are mentioned.
It's the quoting that can be hazardous. Most anything published in the news or said by public figures, is not so much a concern.
The important thing is to be accurate in what you write. If a reader finds a mistake, it places the entire work in question.
Paraphrasing is much safer if the use of information is questionable. Then there are downright copyright infringements. One should know if a work is copyrighted before using it. Keep in mind that there are things where the statute of limitations makes copyrighted material void. Research will brings these things to light. When one considers the return in royalties from sales, it just isn't worth the risk to gamble.

Yep, Abe, I am quite aware of the copyright infringement problem. I watch that very carefully.

These files are all from a real murder in 1967 that I was a part of. Normally they would have to be subpoenaed but the D.A.'s office is cutting the red tape for me.

My novel is fiction based on this murder. The rest of the 5 book series is also based on murders or missing persons' cases I have been involved with. I just didn't realize how difficult it would be to get the info for them. I mean, it is not like the cases are ongoing or recent. Sheesh!

I love reading what you all have experienced in research and how you approach it. Thank you!

Sue,

One of the problems with research is that it seems to be never-ending! It seems I am always coming upon new information and resources.

Good luck with your writing.

Carol

Thanks, Carol!

I started a novel way back in the mid 1970's and ended up just putting it aside. I felt that I needed to make sure the weather conditions were accurate along a major highway and that the route numbers I chose were accurate as well. I got overwhelmed and quit.

So, I was wondering, since it is fiction does all of that have to be 'that' accurate? I know when I read I am not necessarily looking for accuracy in the location, etc. I am looking at the story and how it evolves.

Can you tell I am new to personally writing fiction? *grin*

I think fiction has to be accurate and I do believe there are websites with weather conditions over decades but am not sure.

I once read a book where peonies bloomed in the midwest in October. I have never known that to happen as I have only known them to bloom in early summer. I still remember that little error. My mind just goes that way.

But if you are fictionalizing this story, perhaps the weather isn't that important, but the route numbers might need to be. Readers from this area might want to visualize where the story takes place and thus that would be important.

Carol

Carol,
I know that what you write has been researched. It's just the way you are, and a good reputation to have, I might add.

The only problem I see with too much data, is that it may bore the reader. Being accurate with important information that supports a story, is a given. I know you did much research on the Cuban story. Tom (I almost wrote Ken) was certainly helpful with input.
By the way, did you ever know a Ken? Can't figure out why I keep wanting to use the word Ken instead of Tom.

I agree, Abe. Too much data is called an "information dump" and slows down the story.

That's the trick, watering it down, knowing too much, wanting to put it all in. I'm working on this and my book is shrinking and might come down to 20 pages!!

I think that is the trouble with historians. They want all the details, get way too much info, and then forget others don't need that much, they only need a story. I am really working on this history writing.

A number of years ago I went to a museum re-opening. It commemorated a Civil War event in which I had a relative. We all had nametags with our relative's name. Then there were those name tags that read "Historian." You did not want to get cornered by one of these people. One man had a book where he had photographed every gravesite of those in this war operation. He proudly showed it to me. Thank goodness I am a good listener. Then again, that was way too much information.

Okay, back to deleting all the extraneous information. One of the problems is that I got a lot of this from government documents and they are very detailed. Working on this.

Abe, I've never dated, or even given a child the name of Ken.

Carol

Carol,
Perhaps my problem with names like Tom most likely has to do with the expressions of “Every Tom, Dick and Harry” can do such and such.
And then there was Dick Nixon or “Tricky Dickey.” It always seemed a bit
derogatory to me. My brother is called Dick by his friends but I call him Richard. People I know as Tom, I call them Thomas. With Harry, I’m stuck.

Just realized that if “Normandy Dick” reads this thread he may be insulted. Although he no longer kills with guns, he is very capable of killing with words.

My truck driver was traveling westward on side roads paralleling Route 10 in the spring during a severe thunderstorm. He found a young woman by the side of the road. No definite town or area is implied. After finding her accommodations he heads out to Bakersfield again.

I wanted to make sure the type of weather I described was possible in an area at that time of year and along that route. I also wanted to make sure that the route names I was using were headed in the right direction. If they were ficticious was it still okay to use them? But is all of that necessary?

Sue, who did you murder in 1967? Or did you just plot it and have someone else commit it? Did you hire a hit man? You can't get away with just saying you played a role in it. Confess.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1967 Grandparents and their grandson were brutally murdered. I was a Senior in high school at the time and since I had taken all my academic courses already, I was taking typing and business courses. The 4 best of the class were taken out of school and placed right in the middle of the investigation. We took dictation and did typing for the detectives. We had access to all the testimonies from suspects, witnesses, and anyone else they pulled in.

A black and white squad car would pick us up at school in the morning and our own personal detective would take us home at 5pm. This went on for weeks. We had to keep our grades up and get our homework done, but we had no classes.

It was quite an experience to say the least. The highlight was being able to order anything we wanted for lunch. Lobster tail in the middle of the day is wonderful!

In 1977 there was a murder under my 3rd floor apartment window. I was involved because I could give exact time of the murder and I saw the murderer run away. I had to give depositions because I was in the process of moving to Arizona when the trial was scheduled to start. Seems a man killed the female lover of his lover. This is the 2nd book in the series.

In 1987 my girlfriend's son killed his step-father. I was involved because I know stuff that I shouldn't know. His lawyer told me to stay away from the court and just hope the prosecutor didn't put two and two together. This is a long story as to how I knew. This is the 3rd book in the series.

In 1997 I was involved in another murder. I won't bore you with the details. This is the 4th book in the series.

In 2007 a girl came up missing in our area. I am working with the police on an intuitive basis to find her remains. That is the 5th and final book of the series.

Then I have the brutal murder of a very dear friend last year in 2008. That I am going to write about separately.

So see why I am so interested in research and the proper way to write a mystery fiction novel. *smile*

Sue, it would seem that you are a dangerous person to be around!

Marie,

A book in that genre is Pope Joan by Donna Cross. There was supposedly a woman who posed as a man and became pope in the 800s. It is a fascinating story and one I believe, and the author writes this woman's story using historical facts, like for an intelligent woman to meet intellectual needs in the 800s she had to pose as a man. She takes this woman through a variety of circumstances, even getting her pregnant, which is part of the story told in some of those historical accounts not edited by the Catholic Church.

At the end, the author explains how she wrote the story and a couple of places where she took "liberties" with history as she got stuck and couldn't find a way to get this woman from point A to point B.

I try to do this with my great-grandmother stories, writing them for family archives thinking this genre will more likely be read rather than just genealogical history. I have yet to perfect this type of writing, but continue to work at it and will read some of the references on the article.

Sue, there are just stories like you relate that nag at us and ask us to write about them. I think your books need to be written.

Carol

Zada is right. Sue looks so sweet and she spreads sunshine wherever she goes, but take care when she's nearby. Especially during years ending in 7.

This also relates to the numbers thread.

Interesting.

Carol

I think the key to using research in works of fiction, non-fiction and memoirs is to write the facts in your own words. Readers are interested in a new slant, interpretation or explanation, e.g., if you must add a table, then explain what you extrapolate from the table, not someone else's take on the same data.