Like Salt to Mashed Potatoes: article by Lonnie Cruse in Web Mystery Magazine, Fall 2005

Like Salt to Mashed Potatoes

I often tell people that if ignorance is bliss, I’m probably the most blissful author ever to put fingers to keyboard. I knew so little about writing a novel, it’s a wonder I ever got past page one. Fortunately, once I chose to place my fictional mystery story in the real town where I live, I instinctively knew that I’d have to get my facts straight, or change my identity and move to another country. Readers don’t think much of authors who can’t be bothered to get their facts straight. Once you get a bad name for lousy research, it’s pretty much impossible to win back your readers. Thus began my foray into research.

Because we are the only Metropolis listed in the Postal Zip Code Directory (yes, I researched all of this), the Illinois House passed a resolution in 1972 declaring us the Hometown Of Superman. Subsequently our small town has become a large tourist attraction, boasting a privately owned Super Museum, as well as a large piece of kryptonite weighing down a prominent street corner. And then there is our wonderfully impressive fifteen foot tall statue of Superman standing at the east end of the courthouse, feet planted wide, arms on hips, huge metal cape appearing to flap in the breeze, eyes ever watchful over our downtown area.

I had decided to dump a dead body at the statue, fictionally speaking of course, but wondered if the area inside Superman’s arm was large enough to hold it. Pen and notebook in hand, I went to the courthouse and checked it out. The area inside Superman’s bent elbow would hold a body, but a ten foot ladder would be required to reach that well-muscled arm and shove the body in there, so I made sure the stairwells leading to the courthouse basement were large enough to house a ladder. That way, my character wouldn’t be burdened with carrying both a ladder and a body. (I’ve since had at least two readers tell me they made a special trip to the statue to see if my theory was correct. Whew!)

While moving around the courthouse, checking things out, and trying not to get arrested for loitering, I discovered the courthouse has only three entrances rather than the four I’d assumed a courthouse square would have. Publishing a dumb mistake like that certainly would have sent my local fans into fits of unintended hilarity.

My next research task was to meet with Sheriff Bob Griffey and Coroner Steve Farmer to make certain my fictional sheriff and coroner were pictured accurately. Now, while I do enjoy speaking to groups about my mystery series or teaching writers’ workshops, I absolutely go dry-mouthed and white-knuckled at the prospect of cold-calling any individual to ask pesky questions about committing murder. Possibly because not everyone is thrilled about discussing the subject with total strangers. I managed to drag myself out to the car and drive to the local funeral home, owned and operated by said coroner, and was fortunate to spend a fascinating morning discussing among other things how long it takes a body to “smell” and the correct angle of blood splatter patterns.

I got great information from this research, so now I was ready to tackle the sheriff. Except I couldn’t get up the nerve. His office is right across the street from the statue, and it’s a very imposing building. And my character is his fictional counterpart. I wasn’t sure how he’d take that. So I conned my friend Kaela, who’s worked in the courthouse for years and knows everyone in town, to call and set up an appointment for me. I was given an in-depth tour of the department, and discovered the sheriff is very easy to talk to, and the information he gave me, priceless.

Though I’d lived in Metropolis for some time before writing the book, I still had to take a long walk downtown and look at it through new eyes, making sure my setting was accurate. Since it was necessary to change a couple of buildings for storyline purposes, I made sure a disclaimer was included in the front of the book explaining that.

I have discovered that friends and acquaintances can be an enormous source for research information. I frequently haul one of the two cops we go to church with out to the foyer to ask questions. Doctors will generally answer any medical questions, as long as I can assure them it’s all for fiction. And a friend who is a farmer was a great wealth of information on broken jaws that occur during a “friendly” game of basketball. Being alert and watching/listening to conversations around me can bring in all sorts of research information, as long I remember to carry a small notebook and pen at all times.

The research for my second book involved snakes. Eeewwww. I had taken an outdoor biology course in recent years but knew better than to trust what I thought I remembered about any subject—double or triple checking my memory instead. Not wanting to do any research that remotely involved a one-on-one in this situation, I resorted to the Internet and learned a lot more about snakes than I ever wanted to know.

It is beyond wonderful the amount of research an author can do on any subject just by typing a few words into a browser. I learned that lesson all over again when I needed some medical information for a story line in another book. I’d asked a friend to find me some medical information about a collapsed lung. She did, but I was too dumb to make heads or tails of it. So I typed in “collapsed lung,” clicked the GO arrow, and was in business. In case you’re interested, don’t laugh hard or sing loud with a re-inflated lung until it’s had time to heal. And, you’re welcome.

A great source for doing what I call ‘pre-researching’ is the newspaper. I scan the local paper (yes, it is called The Planet) and The Paducah Sun (largest city near us) for interesting articles. If any articles catch my eye, I cut them out to save in a file. Before long, I’ll be back into that file, digging the article out, and using the information. And the article needn’t involve murder, or even a crime, for that matter. Anything from every day life, like our annual volunteer “sweep” to clean up the riverbank, can become a key element in my story, and the research is already in my folder, close at hand.

For me, reading is primarily entertainment. I don’t want an author to drown me with information in an effort to teach me or prove to me how smart he or she is. But I want the author to be accurate because obvious mistakes turn me off. And I do love it when I learn something new that an author has managed to subtly slide into the story. For me, research to a novel is like salt to mashed potatoes. You can’t see it, but you sure can taste it. And a little goes a long way.

The Metropolis books are available at Amazon.com, directly from the publisher
Quiet Storm Publishing, or other online outlets as well as most bookstores.

		Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lonnie Cruse now resides in Metropolis, Illinois, home of Superman. Murder in Metropolis, debut novel in the Metropolis Mystery series, was published in 2003, and Murder Beyond Metropolis, late 2004. Married in Metropolis is due out January 2006.
Lonnie works for the Massac Unit One school district, and operates an independant editing service for authors. Visit the author's website. Direct correspondence to Lonnie Cruse or Editor.