Researching for your Novel

Accuracy is incredibly important when writing a story that involves actual locations and settings. Historical facts are as well. This I would discover to a great degree while typing out my first full-length novel, which is why it took three years to complete.

By far the book that required me to do the most research was In Search of Good Times. In this story, a man by the name of Joseph Manley loses his job and makes a road trip across the country hoping to find the 1970s sitcom families from Good Times and All in the Family. After a drunken night, he wakes up and somehow believes that these are real people.

Teton Mountains Joe would have seen whiling traveling through Wyoming.

He begins his journey in Idaho—his home state—and continues to Chicago and New York (Astoria, Queens). Along the way he stops in Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. So first and foremost I needed to map out the actual highways and backroads he would traverse. I did this using Google Maps and Google Street View. I wanted to make sure my descriptions of topography and landmarks were accurate. I also wanted him to take lesser-known roadways to add more character to the story. One doesn't tend to come across abandoned houses along major interstates. When he reaches large cities like Chicago and New York, I was insistent that street names and cross streets be accurate. This took a lot of time, but it was well worth it in conveying a sense that this story really could have happened.

While meeting people along the way, he learns about different lifestyles and cultures. He stays the night with an older gentleman who tells him a WWII story. My previous knowledge of WWII—all the countries that were involved and specific battles—was about as in-depth as my apprehension of brain surgery. Much of my historical knowledge faded after high school. So I took it upon myself to research a real regiment he could have been a part of, as well as the specific battles and countries involved.

In Ohio, Joe meets and stays a few days with an Amish family. This probably required the most research for the book. I watched numerous documentaries on Amish culture specific to Ohio, and read detailed articles on customs. Rumspringa, for example, is a period for Amish youth, typically starting around age 16, where they experience more freedom and can explore the outside world before deciding whether to commit to adult baptism and join the church.

I actually began my novel with extensive research on the notorious Cabrini-Green projects in Chicago where the Good Times sitcom was set. I somehow got lost in a maze of Google Street Views one night where buildings would mysteriously appear and disappear as I moved my cursor throughout the roads. It was at the time, circa 2009, when The Reds (the red-brick buildings you see on the opening of Good Times) were being demolished and replaced with gentrified housing. And since my story was set in 2008-2009, I made sure that that fact presented itself when Joe arrived in the city.

Also, I wanted the book cover to have images of the Good Times building and the Bunker's home in Astoria. So working with actual photos and a 3D program I had purchased, I proceeded to match these structures as best as I could. Here, I kept the duplex where the Bunker home is seen on TV as the solid brown, single-family home it was portrayed.

And finally, even the simplest of details may require research. Back in Idaho in the second chapter, Joe is awakened from his drunken stupor when a Blue jay taps on his window. Well, what if Idaho didn't have Blue jays? I'd certainly be called out on it by residents who read my book, and so I had to check. And yes, luckily, though smaller in numbers compared to other states, Idaho does have Blue jays flying about.

Order In Search of Good Times in paperback, eBook, or audiobook.

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“Death Toll” by Victor Rook (Written in 2010)

I hope you won’t think this is sick, but I have something to admit. I like tragedies. I like to see them unfold on TV. The bigger, the better. If there’s an earthquake, it better be an 8.0 and not an inconsequential 3.5. If 23 people are missing and only two are dead, I want to see that number rise. If a tsunami is possible, I want it probable. If the news says there’s a tornado watch, I want it to change to a tornado warning—meaning a tornado has been spotted and is already wreaking havoc. Tragic “Breaking News” excites me.

I’ve thought about this several times and was almost uncertain whether to write about it. Then it came to me why. Large-scale human tragedies bring people together. Everything else seems to stop. All the trivial entertainment news about the Lindsay Lohans and Kate Gosselins of the world gets put on the back burner. Political rhetoric subsides. The focus shifts to 24/7 news coverage of the latest tragedy at hand.

I think about how drastically the media changed immediately after 9/11. For almost a month there seemed to be a self-imposed ban on airing crap TV. There were no cheating scandals on Entertainment Tonight. Nobody cared who the latest castoff was on Survivor. TV wasn’t hemmoraging with heaps of gossip, but rather focused on covering this momentous U.S. tragedy. It would have been seen as shameful and disrespectful to cover anything else. People came together. People told their stories. People shared their misery. In a way, it was comforting.

Small day-to-day tragedies top the evening news every night. News really is an entrée of tragedies with a small side-dish dessert at the end: a man grows a monstrous pumpkin, a child overcomes a disability, somebody raises money for somebody else. You have to wait until the end to get to the good stuff.

But large catastrophes are different. When Katrina hit, I was focused on the news just about every waking moment. I was angered at the lack of response from the government, but overjoyed at the rage they received from stranded victims and onlookers. Even the media began scolding FEMA and the Bush administration for taking too long. CNN’s Anderson Cooper was outraged, and it genuinely showed. The tragedy revealed how flawed the system was, and how corrupt organizations could be. Yet people came together. People were human.

As I write this, a recent West Virginian mine disaster has killed twenty-five miners. Four are still missing. I am rooting for them to be pulled out alive. The nation is gripped by it even though a similar tragedy happened nearby just a few years ago. All the major networks are broadcasting live from the scene. They are getting to the bottom of it. People will be fired, more safety precautions will be taken in the future, and lawsuits will follow. Yet, if only two miners had lost their lives this week, how much coverage would the story receive? Would it get the amount of scrutiny it requires to force about future preventive measures?

I watch and listen to people who have suffered from twisters, fires, floods, and mudslides. Houses have been flattened and whole communities are in wreckage. A plane flies overhead to show the world the destruction. Survivors sift through debris to find that one special picture, a wedding ring, and so on. People gather together at community centers to receive food and clothing.

And then, miraculously, long-lasting friendships are born out of the healing. People who barely gave their neighbors a second look are now helping them put the pieces back together again. Suddenly, the focus has shifted back to people and not material things. A proud mayor stands in front of the TV cameras and proclaims, “We will rebuild.”

There can drawbacks to intense media coverage, though. Well after the donations stop pouring in, the media has a hard time moving on. They begin to overanalyze every nuance of the situation. Polls pop up on the hour telling viewers how they should feel. The media starts to loop around the blood bath it has created like a dog chasing its tail. They don’t know when to stop. It was a ratings coup.

Eventually, things return to normal, and the vapid stories we are used to seep back in. Occasionally, you will get an update on the most recent tragedy while they wait for the next one to unfold.

People will sometimes say that we like to see the misery in others because it makes us feel better about our own lives. I think that’s a load of crap. I feel good about my life, even if it is a little dysfunctional. I think that we just like to see people experience a range of emotions. That’s why we go to the movies. An emotional life connotes a life worth living. Tragedies bring about many emotions, both good and bad. And emotions are what make us human.

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