Scoundrel Know-How
NOTE: This post is part of my ongoing series called “What Really Happened While I Was Writing What Happened in Granite Creek.” Occasionally, some of these posts will contain spoilers. I’d rate this one “medium” level, so advance at your own risk. (The perfect solution, of course, would be to read What Happened in Granite Creek and then come back to this post. See what I did there? 😉 )
When I wrote the short story, “Support Our Troops,” I had no idea that the full-blown novel — What Happened in Granite Creek — would evolve into a book filled with suspense/mystery. That’s the fun thing about writing: those times when the story takes over and leads your imagination down the road not taken.
This new road, however, required me to stop and research certain things, like guns and dead bodies and police procedure.
- Luckily, the Internet has almost everything I needed. The online video presentations by Lee Laster and John Ritenour on eHow.com were incredible; I spent a whole weekend watching these videos and learning about the parts of a gun, how to load a gun, and how to fire a gun, among other gun-related things.
- I also talked to David Studley with the Crime Scene Services unit of the Framingham Police Department, which is my hometown PD.
- And I bought this book, which I hear is the bible for crime writers: Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers by Lee Lofland.
- In my Internet travels, I also came across this: Writers’ Police Academy, where writers gather for a weekend of training in all things police related. I didn’t go, but it’s cool to know something like this exists in case I ever need it.
- And, of course, the universe stepped in and helped me out with the details regarding quadruple amputees.
Have you ever read a book where you were awed by the amount of research that went into it? Share in the comments.
And if you share this post on Twitter, remember to use the hashtag #WHIGC.
