But it’s not only getting the details right that’s important to me. When I am in a place, all kinds of ideas spring up, based on what I’m seeing and hearing. The idea of having to make all of the words up from scratch seems very difficult. I thought you might be interested in some of the experiences, I’ve had while working on Key West Food critic mystery number 15. I will often start a book with an idea, in this case, Hayley Snow and her mother and coworkers are on some kind of a Sunset cruise with important people from Key West. It will go wrong, of course, so I needed to take a boat ride that would go by Mallory Square. John is a very good sport about these kinds of things and this is what we found:
My writing group pal Angelo thought I might get a visit from the FBI when he heard I’d quizzed the captain about ways a boat might blow up.
One of my recurring and very popular characters is Lorenzo, a tarot card reader who works on MALLORY Square. (He is a real person named Ron.) I like to get his take on things, in this case, what sort of person might have been sitting with his fictional tarot card reader character, and what cards would be on his table. We had lunch and he did a reading for my fictional person:
I posted a query on Facebook a couple of weeks ago asking friends and readers What places in Key West they would like to see in the books. One of them mentioned White Crown Pigeon Park, which my sister had also noticed on a previous visit. So I took a ride out there and took pictures and a walk. Until I scared myself, thinking about what might happen here toward the end of this new book…
I’m not sure exactly where this next photo might get worked into a book, but it is an example of the hardships I have to endure: waffles, with fried chicken and sausage gravy at Louies Backyard. (I did walk 4 miles in order to atone for this!)
Miss Gloria has the same weakness for chicken and waffles that I do. Lest you think I’m making all this up, here she’s ordering at the Square Grouper in A POISONOUS PALATE:
Our waitress came over with menus and water. “Our special
today is fried chicken and waffles.”
“Sold,” said Miss Gloria, slapping the menu on the table.
“Sorry,” she said after the waitress left with our
order. “If you need me to try something, we could call her back.
But that waffle was singing a very powerful siren song.”
Reds, tell us about the kinds of research you’ve either done, or noticed in the books you’ve read!
That ways you sacrifice for us. It is much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteaw thanks Mark!
DeleteI am not a writer, but I can tell when an author has done good research for their book. There is an author that writes books set in Wyoming and Montana. We had gone through that area on a trip and found the next few books set in there. From her description of several out of the way places we went, she has obviously been there. I have found the same thing with several books set in New Orleans. The authors had the atmosphere and little details in descriptions perfect.. Even in historical books , locations were accurate enough that I could fine some places in modern day NOLA. It makes a big difference in a book if the author has had experience in the place or some of the details.
ReplyDeleteIt does make a difference! When I wrote the first book in this series, I did not know Key West as well. I made mistakes and they were noticed!
DeleteLUCY/ROBERTA: I do appreciate all the hands-on research you do to get details right for your Key West mysteries! A sunset cruise & eating yummy food sounds fun & worth it, lol.
ReplyDeleteHow far down did you walk the White Crown Pigeon Park trail before turning back? What scared you?
As for me, many of you know I was a climate change researcher & physical scientist for most of my 27-year career with the Canadian federal government. My research foci was on climate change and water resource availability, with particular emphasis on how to adapt to severe droughts affecting agricultural and urban sectors in Canada. My team and I spent plenty of time analysing historic & current crop/yield statistics, water & streamflow levels as well as interviewing farmers, agricultural professionals and water resource managers about how they dealt with extreme weather events.
Oh Grace, you did such serious and important work, and we appreciate that!
DeleteAs for White Crown Pigeon park, I did not know where that path led and there was no one around. Not a soul. It was as if I was imagining the final scary scene in the book. I told myself I'd come back with a friend or Lottie:)
Gotcha. I must admit I have gone on remote trails without seeing anyone, except for sheep & other harmless critters. Looking forward to reading about what happens to Hayley and her pals in a future book!
DeleteFood research is the best! For my Cece Barton mysteries, I've spent time in the wine-country Alexander Valley north of San Francisco. Yes, wine tasting in various locales - SUCH a hard job - but I also toured a big wine production facility with many opportunities for mayhem. I spoke with a vineyard manager about all the lethally sharp tools they use in the field, and I interviewed the police chief in a small town about the size of my fictional one. I smelled wildfire smoke and interviewed someone about the how she and her husband frantically evacuated. And I watched from my uncle's hilltop home as the fog rose up and filled the valley one morning, a detail I'd never get from a google search
ReplyDeleteFor my new historical, I tried twenties-era cocktails, and learned so much about Boston of the era (ore on that here in March!). The one thing I didn't do was find a way to go aloft in a small antique biplane like Amelia Earhart flew on the weekends. Instead, I interviewed my amazing friend Janet who is an astrophysicist, a belly-dancing instructor, a speculative fiction author - and holds a small plane pilot's license. Fun!
I suppose you have been to the Amelia Earhart display at the Smithsonian as part of your research. When she flies the plane is my favorite part of Night at the Museum : Battle of the Smithsonian.
DeleteJanet sounds like a fascinating friend to have!
DeleteYou really suffered for our greater good Edith!
DeleteI've always wondered about the research that goes into the books I read. I've only been to Key West as a cruise ship passenger. I appreciate the sacrifices you make for us to make things so authentic. I talk to my husband all the time about the places I read about and now he wants to visit Key West and New Orleans and Venice, Italy among other places. I also enjoy the historical cozies and some times wish I grew up in a different time at least while I am reading.
ReplyDeleteThat's great Paula, I hope you two get to travel to all those places!
DeleteI love research! I've taken quite a few citizen's police academies and writer's police academies and classes and done ride-alongs. But the most immersed I ever got in research was the several years I spent hanging out on the backside of Mountaineer Park with the racehorses, trainers, grooms, and exercise riders when I was writing Death By Equine.
ReplyDeleteI loved taking the Citizen's Police Academies--you stumble across details you simply wouldn't otherwise know.
DeleteI took Lee Lofland's academy for writers and a Citizen's Police Academy in my town. Great resources.
DeleteYour books bring me right to Key West. I see your brilliant sunsets and sweat in the heat of the day. Your restaurant visits are so enticing that I feel hunger pangs reading about them. All I can say, Roberta, is I want to research those restaurant delicacies with you, and Hayley's mom's food, too. I think I'm going to bake a coconut cake. Eric's.
ReplyDeleteLOL Judy, you'd be a great addition to the table!
Deleteyou can tell if a book is well-researched when the story comes alive. My day job is a market researcher, so I know that when I'm searching for facts, a rabbit hole I will go even for obsolete items.
ReplyDeleteOh Dru, it's hard to sidestep the rabbit holes, isn't it?
DeleteThe chicken and waffles pictured look delicious and the boat ride would be fun. I often wonder what kind of watchlists writers may be on from their online search histories and questions they ask people for various crimes.
ReplyDeleteexactly Brenda, we may all be watched, and probably you guys too, by association.
DeleteI love the idea of having the cards read by a real life tarot card reader for a fictional character! Your series sounds so enticing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elizabeth!
DeleteYou have clearly chosen your second profession well, Roberta! Sounds like much more fun than running psych surveys.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was researching my first book I interviewed sewing professionals of many kinds. Theater curtains, covers for dog food machines, banners and flags for color guards and drill teams, gowns for cross-dressers and drag queens, just a few of the sewn products made by some of the very successful businesses. One day I was on my way to visit a (male) designer in San Francisco who had sewn jackets for Geena Davis and Al Pacino, and a couple dozen of Elton John's exquisite hats, and noticed a boutique in the storefront on the first floor below his studio. It turned out to be a fetish shop, for leather and rubber wear. Another friend was with me, and we had a ball talking to the owner.
Your career sounds like so much fun Karen! There must have been many stories in the fetish shop!
DeleteWhen I read in books of places and food, I am often tempted to look it up and see what is being talked about. I have looked up the map for Key West and the cat sanctuary. I doubt I will ever see them in person, but vicariously is never bad.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of the ‘situation and places’ essays have broadened my cognizance of things, and so I think that later when I then hear of them, my ears perk up. There was conversation not long ago of canal boats in England – I think poor Debs was suffering through that research. I am sure we all felt sorry for her. A few nights ago we watched Tony Robinson of Baldrick fame as he was ‘Walking Through History’ (Britbox, Season 2 episode4) He was following the first 50 miles of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal system. I do believe I paid more attention and if you have the opportunity, check it out.
Now as for the Chicken and Waffles. Yup, have never eaten them, and for some reason, they make me salivate. Yet, somehow, I think it should not work as a recipe, especially that white gravy (my mind pictures maple syrup or hot sauce). I want to try it authentically, and not just make it and hope to get it right. I wonder if it is like poutine – the first time you try it, you often think – well, maybe – and then two or three times in, and if you it is made perfectly (the fries are the secret, and the cruds which must be fresh are second), you are hooked!
That last sentence should read 'if it is made perfectly'.
DeleteThe white gravy should not work, but it totally did. Loaded with sausage which I otherwise do not eat. And then maple syrup on top:)
DeleteMargo and Lucy, my mom often made gravy after making her fried chicken--using the drippings and bits of chicken that stuck to the pan. That is the gravy I'd want over my fried chicken and waffles!
DeleteOh yum, Flora, I am in!!
DeleteI always thought fried chicken and waffles sounded awful - until I tried it! I am sure I didn’t have the white gravy with sausage, but however I had it, it was delicious! — Pat S
DeleteI’m in Key West now (saw you at The Green Parrot yesterday afternoon). Hubs and I are signed up for the KWHS cruise next week researching military history of Key West. In the late 50s my father worked here in coordination with US Navy on underwater acoustics and my family accompanied him in the summers of 58 and 59 which was the beginning of my love affair with Key West!~Emily Dame
ReplyDeleteYou must have been at the Beatles concert Emily, wasn't that a blast? where were you standing or sitting? it was a mob scene!
DeleteA Beatles concert? In Key West?
DeleteWe were standing out on the porch by The Bottle Shop. It was fun and plenty loud standing outside!~Emily
DeleteAs you can imagine, it wasn't actually the Beatles:), rather a Beatles tribute band that sounds very good!
DeleteSuch a hardship, Lucy! Pace yourself! And I never understood the appeal of chicken and waffles until I saw that photo--yum! I did plenty of research throughout my career as an archaeologist and I definitely notice when a book involves archaeology in any way. One very famous author used the archaeologists as the villains in one of her books. I love her books and don't mind the archaeologists being the villains, BUT, for heavens' sake, she didn't have to diss the entire profession with a crude stereotype! Some of us are ethical, careful professionals! Someone who got the archaeology exactly right was Tony Hillerman--especially the tension between cultures when it comes to archaeological excavations and interpretations.
ReplyDeleteMmm. Chicken and waffles.
ReplyDeleteI've done the police academies and ride-alongs. I take a lot of day-trips to my locations to see what may have changed and refresh my memory on sights/sounds/smells. I'm looking forward to traveling to Niagara Falls when my new series gets underway.
Liz, new series?? Have I missed something?
Deletea new series, how fun!
DeleteFlora, at the end of 2023 I signed a contract with Harbor Lane for a new contemporary police procedural series set in Niagara Falls, NY. Still waiting on production details. I guess I'm "in the queue." LOL
DeleteCongratulations!!
DeleteMmmm chicken and waffles! Even my GF mouth is watering.
ReplyDeleteYour books have made me want to visit Key West. You have brought the sounds, sights and tastes and people to life. You have the added bonus of getting to enjoy the research!
thanks Gillian, I do enjoy it:)
DeleteI can't wait for #14 Lucy. I've been to Key West (gosh - probably 15+- years ago). I can picture a lot of the places Hayley scooters around to which helps.
ReplyDeletewonderful, thank you!
DeleteWe must all suffer for our craft, Lucy. That’s why my books are set in Venice and Tuscany But to be serious you can’t make something feel real unless you have experienced it— sight, smell and sounds
ReplyDeleteI feel that way for sure. It always amazes me that some writers can make things up that are entirely fictional.
DeleteThat research looks like SO much fun! (I have never had chicken and waffles....) And what I love most about how you do it is that it never feels like research in your books--it just feels real. And that is a skill!
ReplyDeleteI always shake my head when I read books with paragraph after paragraph about, I don't know, medieval armor, and it's clear the author did RESEARCH, by golly, and it's not gonna go to waste!
My writers group is very good at pointing that out:)
DeleteThat research looks like lots of fun! Food research is wonderful, right? I remember library research for my papers at University donkey years ago.
ReplyDeleteDiana
yes food is a big bonus:)
DeleteYou do do the BEST research, Lucy - White crown pigeon park? Just looking up White-crown pigeons... and realizing I SAW ONE when I was in Key West last time. Hanging out in a tree by the pool. But I didn't have my bird book... Did you see one in the park? Or any other birds? Wondering if it's worth a visit...
ReplyDeleteMaybe you and I will take a ride over and walk to the end of that path?
DeleteAnd I’ll bring my bird app! hallie
DeleteOh, the sacrifices you make to write wonderful books! Thanks for virtual visits to charming Key West. <3 Improvised research can be extra fun. In college I chose as a speech topic non-verbal communication. BODY LANGUAGE was new and popular, too much so . . . sold out and the library copy missing. I told my activist friends of my dilemma, and they provided the background, noting that every woman learns to read "signals" and most have a few we use. We compiled a list and I went off to give a throw-away speech. Since I knew it was B.S. and expected it to fail, I just had fun with it. I gave the most relaxed and best received speech I ever gave in that class. Remarkable.
ReplyDeleteI love your research, Lucy!! And what a gorgeous boat! I can't wait for a virtual sail when I get to read this book. (I'd be happy to try to try the chicken and waffles for real:-))
ReplyDelete"that waffle was singing a very powerful siren song"
ReplyDeleteLOVE it!
Your research looks like quite a bit of fun, Lucy!
ReplyDeleteI think I notice research the most in historical books . . . .
The research that I notice is the research that I do not notice in the well written, interesting story. It seamless with the story, what the characters are saying, doing is natural to them. If research is out of context, noticed, almost as if the author is saying “look here, look at ME and MY work”, then the story is probably not well written or all that interesting. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteIsn't the research the most fun? And you have certainly picked a great place to do yours! Some of my favorite "local color" never fit into a book but found a place in a story (Hint: selling the Brooklyn Bridge is NOT just an urban legend) A couple of the best fell into my lap, just talking to people ...and listening. The "McGuffin" in my last Brooklyn book, Brooklyn Legacies, was a gift from an elderly man who I interviewed about history and local politics. And after, he sent me an article about a lost Walt Whitman sculpture! Luck you can't predict or create.
ReplyDeleteYour research sounds both tasty and healthy, Lucy! I too did a different kind of research before mysteries, so I know about poets like Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, and Elizabeth Bishop visiting Key West. What I do NOT know is how to turn shoe-shopping into book research. Have to work on that.
ReplyDeleteSadly, my research hasn't yet involved much eating, but I enjoy it anyway. For the first book in the Polizei Bern series, I learned about organic farming and selling heroin; for #2, on child labor on Swiss farms and the Bernese aristocracy; for #3, on curling (the sport!) and alternatives to mandatory service in the Swiss Army; for #4, on glassmaking and the wars in ex-Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. Now I'm researching the role of judges in Swiss criminal trials for #5.
ReplyDeleteI would love to be on the sea like that! Reen Carter
ReplyDeleteI would love to be on the sea like that. Reen Carter
ReplyDeleteFirst, Lucy, let me comment on Louie's Backyard as it is one of my favorite restaurants in Key West. Now, I will need to add this to my list of menu items to try the next time that I am in Key West as we usually focus on fish dishes. ....I love reading historical fiction. What really excites me is sharing key points in these novels with my husband as he is a historian specifically focusing on the Civil War, WWI & WWII and the Korean Conflict. I ask him if a particularly interesting point is accurate and then many times he will expand on the point that the author is making. Both the sharing and the storyline itself are more enhanced with this partnership.
ReplyDeleteThe more I read of your series, Lucy, the more I realize I need to get back to Key West. As Miss Gloria said, "Sold!"
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need to eat at Louie’s again, just to be sure! That place is the best!
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I met Ron when we were in Key West two years ago. He's a very charming gentleman and joked about being a character in a book.
ReplyDelete