Writing A Deadly Rejection has probably taken more research than the other four Allensbury Mysteries put together. I’ve written before about my style of research – story first and then fill in what I don’t already know later – but with this book, I did things a little differently.
This book has two strands running – modern-day murders (obviously) but then a very cold case for Dan, Emma and Ed to solve. I had the first part locked down in my head from start to finish, but the cold case was a bit woolly. There were a few ideas bouncing around in my head, and I needed to get them locked down.
As ever, my first stop was the library to learn about the history period in which I was setting that storyline. I raided that section of the library and came away with some gems of text books – my favourite being Tracing Your Kent Ancestors by David Wright. This was particularly useful given that Allensbury is in that county and I didn’t know whether there are regional differences in how to research family history. I’m fortunate that my dad is working on our family tree and has been for many years. He traced the Milford branch to somewhere in the 1700s, I think, and all the way back, we’re a family of miners. I suspect my storyline may have been influenced by him because I find social history fascinating. Learning about how your ancestors lived and worked, and the challenges they faced in life, really makes you think about the modern world.
I also used online research – I think in this day and age it’s impossible not to. If I stopped and went to the library every time I ran across an issue, I’d never have got the book written. When I’m writing I use a program called Scrivener, which sorts your manuscript into scenes and chapters, and has a section for research. I’ve been dropping all the research sources I used into there to keep a solid record of where I got my information. It’s not as vital to have this when you’re writing fiction – and don’t have footnotes – but it’s good research practice, particularly if you need to revisit a source to check something. A Deadly Legend will have a bibliography of my sources so that you can find out more for yourself.
The most important part of research is to keep your analytical brain fully switched on. It’s easy to get dragged down a rabbit hole when you find something interesting and spend hours looking at unimportant information. So my rule is, if it doesn’t fit the story, don’t even write it down. There’s a lot of information out there and there’s no point in keeping copious notes if you’re never going to use them.
That said, during my research, I learned enough to create a backstory for the historical characters in the book. I’ve been considering whether to write it to act as a companion alongside the finished book. However, this will probably depend on whether there’s a demand for it. Fill in the survey in the newsletter and watch this space…