Research: Too Much vs Too Little

Research.

It's a good thing to do.

I don't remember how we got onto the topic of badly researched vs awesomely researched books at the CaRWA meeting. We just did. One of those awesome random conversations that writers will land on.

I won't notice when a book has been awesomely researched, because it blends seamlessly. I will notice when the author researched so much then info dumped everything into one scene to prove they researched and researched well. And it goes on and on and on about how to know how the jade is real or fake or how it gets its striations. Just tell me it's jade and if it's real...or fake. I don't need the lesson. Though I suppose there are those who love research dumps like that. I don't.

 I will, however, totally absolutely know when the author hasn't researched...about a topic I know. I once read a book about a magazine company and I was all "Hey, I know that terminology! Sweet!" as I worked in a printing company for ten years. I also, noticed, when an author hadn't researched.

At all.

The book was set in Edmonton. While not being exactly close, I have spent  good portion of time there as I have family & friends there...and it's not like it's on the other side of the galaxy.

I admit I was pretty excited to see a mass market paperback set in Edmonton and a paranormal at that. Ten years ago it wasn't one saw a lot in the romance genre. Set in my province? With werewolves? Sold!

Then I started to read. *sighs*

And then I stopped reading. Within five-ish pages. I closed the book and sent it on its way. I think I recycled it. I was that pissed about it. It was blatantly obvious in those 5 pages that the author hadn't really researched where I lived. First there was the rat scrambling around the trash.

I stopped. Reread a few times. Yeah...a rat. This may be common in other cities (shrugs) but here in Alberta it's not. See, we have the rat patrol. It's been around since for about fifty years. It was created to keep rats from infesting our deeeeelicious Alberta beef and from inhaling our farms. Really I kid you not. Alberta is THE largest rat free population in the world. Proof. Now, ten years ago the internet was around. So was Wikipedia. On just about every given website about Alberta information you're going to find about the rat patrol. I think it was on Jeopardy too.

At this point, the author had already lost me. But the deal clincher was the heroine carried the hero (yeah...carried) as she ran super-duper fast to the mountains. Calgary is about a 45 minute drive from the mountains (it's okay...be jealous). Edmonton is 3-ish hours North of Calgary. Jasper (to use an end point when I checked Maps to make sure I wasn't wrong) is about 4 hours away from Edmonton. BY CAR. I'd have found this a bit more believable (because it's paranormal...you have to stretch your imagination in many ways) had they been in Calgary (without rats) when the heroine CARRIED the unconscious hero into her mountain cave.

That's when I stopped.

It taught me an important lesson. First: research really well. Make sure the place of residence doesn't have rats (okay....maybe shapeshifting rats but still...rat patrol is gonna go after them. You can't even have pet rats here. Hand to God. Someone got a massive ticket for bringing their pet rat into Calgary then having the damn thing escape. And...eeew. Pet rat? Blech.) Know your stuff. Really well. Google Map. Even though I've lived here, I still spent a good amount of time seeing how far my heroine's ranch was from Calgary in Spurred On.

Because somewhere someone is going to know what you're writing about and no one wants to get one of those emails. You know the one that calls you a hack because you can't research the most mundane things. In Midnight Hour, Maddie was a sniper and she made 1,000 yard (we'll ish that as I'm not 100% sure...maybe 900) kill. My dad was all "Impressive shot." And I was all "Well you did it your rifle shooting." I had pulled enough targets (oh my wild teenage years) at the rifle range to know it was possible. I also researched to make sure it was doable. No one emailed me with a "What the hell, woman? Impossible!"

So research. Research well. Put enough in to make your story believable but not too much where it feels like a lecture in school that I napped through. It's a fine balance but it's like any other aspect in a book. Find the balance. But for the love of God...research.

And there better not be any rats in your Alberta setting. I will kick your ass.