All the little details

Even contemporary fiction writers often need to do a little research, to make our fake worlds seem authentic. Some of the things I have done in the service of my stories:

Walked through a neighborhood in which I once lived to record the sights, sounds, and smells.
Looked up sky-diving information on the internet and watching videos of a few people sky-diving, plus remembered everything I could about what an old friend had told me about his sky-diving excursions (back in the days before tandem jumps became common).
Took paper and pen on a mountain hike to scribble down details about setting.
Consulted the diary I kept when I was in Iceland.

I have also researched automobile crashes, psychics, pharmaceutical toxicology, and wild mushrooms. Among many other topics.

But my favorite kind of research is the incidental kind, where I use something that I've already read about or experienced, without realizing at the time that I would end up using it in a story. I've done this with some of my Himalayan mountaineering reading, and with a book I read about guys trying to ride a hand-made raft across the Pacific. And I've used my hiking experiences in more ways than I can count.

Of course, if you want to go hard-core on research, you can go to the Writers Police Academy like April Henry did.


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