(But first, a quick note–Yay! I’m at page 405 in my second RS story! The end–she is in sight!)
The book that I am currently working on is a very research intensive book–probably the most research intensive I’ve ever done. Before I could even start the story, I had to spend hours researching fires and firefighters. And, yeah, some of the stuff I discovered scared the the crap out of me.
The heroine in my story is a firefighter, and I wanted to be sure to get the details right about her career and my villain is an arsonist, so that means I had to do a ton of research on fire starting. Who knew there were so many accelerants out there? Well, I know now, and I know some tips for scoping out a scene and determining if the fire was arson or not. Ah, my writing always provides me with interesting trivia for later.
Over the weekend, I paid a visit to a local fire station. As fate would have it, one of my son’s friends was having part of his birthday party at the station. I don’t know who was more exited about this visit–me or Jack. 🙂 I’d been looking forward to the trip for weeks because I knew it would give me an up close and personal view of the workings of a fire station. I knew that being in the fire station would give me details that all of my book research and online research hadn’t.
And I was right.
Actually being there–it will add so many more details to my scene. I think the small details are what really bring a scene to life. Now I have more details to add–like the WE LOVE OUR FIREFIGHTERS sign that hung over the entranceway, signed by a group of school children. I never would have thought to add a banner like that if I hadn’t seen it, but just the sight reminded me how important the firefighters are to the community–and now I’ve got to add it! I also had the chance to see the holiday/vacation chart, I heard the crackle of the radio when a call me, I saw the thick fireman coats hanging on their pegs, right above the boots.
I tried to suck all the information in as quickly as I could. When we went outside, I told my husband how great it was and I started listing the things I’d seen He stopped me during my grand retelling to say, “That was there? Where?” And I realized I was probably the only one in the group hyper attuned to the setting. My focus was on learning my scene, while everyone else was interested in the firehouse mascot–the cockatoo that taught fire safety. (The cockatoo was cool, btw.)
Normally, using my books and my beloved Internet is enough for me when it comes to research, but this time, I sure am glad I got my up close and personal look.
I also learned some sad facts about fires and fire fighting. Like the fact that in Alabama, someone dies in a fire every 4 days. Jeez, that’s scary.
And here’s my helpful tip for the day. If you have kids and a fire starts, get them all out at once. Don’t think you can come back for a second trip (a situation I’m using in my book), because as my fireman said, there’s never enough time for that second trip. You go back, and, according to fire fighter lingo, “You’re DRT.” Dead Right. There.
But that is my research ramble for the day. For the other writers out there–what’s your favorite research method? And what interesting facts have you learned while researching?
