We asked authors: What's your craziest Web search in name of research?
We asked Montlake Romance authors Kendra Elliot, Nancy Naigle and Anne Stuart: What is the craziest Web search you've done in the name of romance novel research?
Kendra Elliot, author of Spiraled
My answer is: I can only pick one? I write romantic suspense, so I've searched exploding propane tanks, bullet bevels in skulls, apartheid, dog fur, weather on the Yucatan Peninsula, poison herbs, politics of survivalists and maple bacon donuts!
About Spiraled:
FBI Special Agent Ava McLane solves crimes; she doesn't witness them. When she's trapped in a mall without her weapon as a shooter picks off victims, she hides with a wounded teen and prays for her survival.
But that's only the beginning…
An epidemic of mass shootings has swept across Oregon. The young shooters terrify the public, committing random murders before taking their own lives. The task force assembled to solve the case—which includes Ava's boyfriend, detective Mason Callahan—remains stumped. And on top of this chaos, Ava's troubled twin sister reappears, throwing Ava's already-tumultuous life into a tailspin.
An old-fashioned cop with a strong sense of duty, Mason struggles to find the cause of the shootings as workaholic Ava spins ever closer to breaking down. But can one detective save the lives of countless innocents—and prevent the woman he loves from going over the edge?
Nancy Naigle, author of Life After Perfect
Research is always fun, but it sure can sweep you off into a virtual archaeological dig of useless trivia in a hurry. Questions like:
• What is the Guinness World Record for the largest blackberry cobbler? In my new release, Life After Perfect, my fictional town of Boot Creek is holding a Blackberry Festival. While researching, I stumbled into information about Lenoir, N.C., trying to achieve that record. From there … things got fun.
• Do all dead bodies weigh the same after "processing"? Yes, a curious girl needs to know. They don't. Just one more reason to stick to the diet. Darn it.
• If you squish a lightning bug light on your skin like war paint, how long will it glow? I found that results may vary. I tested it myself after hours and hours of research, although I'll admit I'd always been more of a lightning bug jewelry girl myself. Wearing those lights like a diamond ring rather than war paint.
• Will lipstick harm the paint on your car? It won't. Unless you have the misfortune of getting to the bottom of the tube and the metal scratches the paint. Ooopsy!
About Life After Perfect:
Katherine Barclift had it all: the perfect job, the perfect car, and what she thought was the perfect marriage. But when her entire world collapses in one stomach-churning instant, she hits the road and keeps driving until that so-called "perfect life" is just a dot in her rearview mirror.
A chance encounter leads her to make a pit stop in Boot Creek, a drowsy little North Carolina town where she can call herself Katy, soak up the peace and quiet . . . and drink in the bluer-than-blue eyes of Derek Hansen, a local doctor still wrestling with his own painful past. Both Katy and Derek are wary about giving romance another shot, but they can't deny the sparks that fly between them. And if being in Boot Creek has taught them anything, it's to take life as it comes and never pass up a chance at true love . . . no matter how wounded your heart may be.
Anne Stuart, author of Consumed by Fire
The great thing about being a writer is that you can justify just about anything you want to do by saying it's research. I can sleep late and daydream and it's research, I can go to Broadway plays and movies and get premium channels on my TV (Outlander, anyone?), I can buy any book that seems of passing interest and not only is it work, it's tax deductible. Most of the time I go about research in an ass-backwards kind of way. I read or watch things and if they interest me they stick in my mind (I'm a demon at Trivial Pursuit). When it comes time to write a book I'll guess at historical or technical details and then double-check when I'm doing revisions. Nine times out of 10 I'm right.
Travelling is my favorite form of research (oh, twist my arm!), but the second most useful is word of mouth, especially when it comes to love scenes. The problem there is that most people don't like to talk about what works for them or doesn't (on a personal basis) so you end up with only your own experiences. The answer for that one is lovely — you simply have to read lots of other romances to experience other women's fantasies.
My most difficult piece of research has to do with an old wives' tale. I had several Asian heroes, and there has always been discussion about the size of their … ahem … packages. Usually you can find out anything on the Internet, but I was afraid if I did a search I would get bombarded with pornographic spam. Living in Northern Vermont, lamentably the whitest state in the union, there was no one I could ask, and it just seemed rude to inquire of my friends who had experience with the situation.
Finally inspiration dawned — my cousin was a nurse who'd worked in a Urology unit! She didn't get to see the equipment in full working order, but she had enough basis for comparison to give me the answer I needed.
About Consumed by Fire:
Evangeline Morrissey remembers the last time she saw her husband: it was during their honeymoon, right before he stole her elderly aunt's earrings and abandoned her. Now, five years later, the enigmatic man who'd broken her heart and destroyed her trust is back. But she's not the same naive young woman who fell for him so easily.