Making Phone Calls

For most of my books, I have to do some research. I can’t always fly somewhere, or read a few books, or look everything up online. Even if I could, I’d lose the important aspects of research, which are, for me, talking with other people. I don’t do this all the time, but I find if I want to learn something about a place, for instance, it’s best to call someone local. I’ve gone so far as to pull a name from the phone book (or several names).
When you ask someone from Boston about the quality of the air on a spring evening, you can get wonderful quotes that you can actually use in your novel. “On a spring evening the air smells like French fries cooking from the fast food restaurant down the street mixed with the scent of maple leaves from the tree out front.”
I was once told by a Captain in the Army stationed in Texas that “it gets so hot some days that your sweat starts sweating.” I’ve called doctors and lawyers, truck drivers and factory workers. I’m also lucky enough to get to talk with scientists from all the major universities, as well as experts from NASA, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, as well as Sony pictures, Disney, and Universal. Even if I didn’t know people from these places, I’d call if I needed some intimate wording for a specific thing.
I’m amazed at how many novelists set their novels in the east and almost never mention fireflies in the early evening. And when they do, the words they use are hardly as amazing as actually looking out over a field, or in a year, flashing as though a thousand stars were floating in the very air. It’s unbelievable and extraordinary, and sometimes I just sit and stare when I’m back there.
I know a lot of people who don’t like to make such calls and will do their research everywhere else that they can. Sometimes they make things up based on television shows they’ve watched (that’s where a lot of stereotypes can come from). But, I urge everyone to just pick up the phone. Most people have friends and/or family all across the country, so ask them who they know if you don’t want to cold-call a stranger.
All in all, people like to help, and when they find out that I’m a writer, they’re more than willing to talk with me. It’s refreshing, and reminds me how wonderful people are.
* * * * Terry Persun holds a Bachelor’s of Science as well as an MA in Creative Writing. He has worked as an engineer, has been the Editor-in-Chief of several technology journals, and is now marketing consultant for technical and manufacturing companies. Seven of his novels have been published. His science fiction novel Cathedral of Dreamswon a ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Finalist Award, and his historical novel, Sweet Song won a Silver IPPY Award. His latest science fiction space opera is Hear No Evil.