RESEARCHING A NOVEL IN THE DIGITAL AGE

In my previous blog I discussed the trials and tribulations of researching a novel in the pre-internet age. Back then, we had to get off our duffs and actually go outside. Now, don’t get me wrong. There is still a lot of value in good old fashion boot-on-the-ground research. But unlike On the Rocks, which was confined to the Pacific Northwest and the Alaska Panhandle, the follow up novel Straight Up locations span from Washington, DC to the banks of the Lena River in Siberia. That’s a lot of territory to cover.

Now, for all the locations in the continental U.S.: DC, Denver, Aspen, Salt Lake City, Northern Idaho, Seattle – Over the years Doug and I have already been to all these places. He and I have each made the road trip between Denver and Seattle many times. That’s one of the reasons that the story’s labor camp was set in Colorado and not, say, Kentucky. I took the Amtrak train from Denver’s Union Station to Glenwood Springs. Ostensibly for research, it was also an affordable and a fun way to spend a day. A lot of my observations of that trip made it into the book. I left out the part about the time-honored tradition of people along the upper Colorado River who routinely drop their pants and moon the train as it passes. There are a lot of fat, white butts out there, let me tell you. Brrr.

But I digress.

The use of good old fashion technical advisors never hurt either. My brother is a retired USAF pilot (A-10s no less) and a member of the LDS Church, so I got a twofer there. He helped me craft my flying scenes with accurate terminology and make sure my references about his church were not based on an outsider’s inaccurate stereotypes.

Last year my wife and I celebrated our anniversary with a stay at the Brown Palace Hotel and while we were there, I took a few minutes to go out and prowl the hallways and scope out the lobby, snap some photos, make note of little details that I could use to flavor those scenes. I certainly didn’t get to tour the Roosevelt suite or the back halls and kitchens. But in this wonderful digital age, I didn’t have to.

This is the point where I offer my thanks and praise to our invaluable 21st century writing partners – YouTube, Wikipedia and the Google family; Google, Google Maps and Google Translate.

I can’t tell you the number of times I try to explain to someone about an obscure British TV show or an ancient cartoon show from my youth, only to stop halfway through and say “Oh, hell. Here it is on YouTube.” For research, we used it to take a few martial arts lessons and also to find inspiration. I showed Doug a YouTube clip of the fight between Jayla and Manas in Star Trek Beyond. I told him “That is how I envision the fight between Nikki and the Blonde.” There are computer flight simulator programs demonstrating how to take off from a mountain airport. Aspen Airport to be exact. Visitors flying into or out of Aspen would post videos of their takeoff or landing. It’s all there.

As the saying goes; Ah, Wikipedia. The first source a researcher goes to, the last one they would ever cite. True, but it is still an invaluable tool when you just want to get a little background on any old person, place or thing. Do you really think I know what Russians like in a traditional breakfast? Or the latitude and longitude of Arthur’s island? Wikipedia does.

Then there is Google. Yeah, we got Denver, Salt Lake and Seattle covered. But when you get north of Seattle? Not to worry. Sitka? Anchorage? Fairbanks? Just go to Google Maps and punch up ‘street view’. Boom. You are there. Do a 360-degree turnaround. To a lesser extent we were able to do this even in the remote Lena River area (honestly, most of it looks like the Colorado back country). Do you see a feature that interests you, a restaurant or historic site? Again, using the Brown Palace Hotel as an example. One click and you get a slew of uploaded photos various visitors have posted. You also get a link to that site’s own webpage. Go to the Brown Palaces’ website. More photos, history, restaurant menus, even more photos, it’s all there.

Occasionally, some of our characters would lapse into their native tongue. Spanish, Inuit, Russian or Japanese. Go to Google Translate, type in a word or short sentence and it instantly provides a phonetic translation. There was an exchange between Natasha and Romanov that was a bit lengthy and needed Libby to translate for the reader, but most of the words or exchanges spoke for themselves.

I’ve already insinuated that Straight Up is a slightly better book than its predecessor and I feel these digital tools are a big reason. The ability to instantly research and include such detail not only improves the story but can help free us to concentrate on the important world-building and development of our characters and their relations with each other.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the God-bestowed miracle that is Spellcheck.