Okay, so I'm a little behind on the blogging thing. LOL. Anyway, I wanted to post about something that I've been struggling with lately. Asking a professional for help with your WIP when you are a virtual nobody. How do you call up a coroner and ask "Uh, would you know a way I could kill a person without being caught?" Hmm, not a good idea.
In my current book my character is a dispatcher for the sheriff's department. I want it to seem real, but again, how do I walk into the municipal building and say, "Hey would someone have time to talk to me about what it's like to work here? I mean, you're not busy are you?"
Fortunately, we have the internet and that's a great help, but there's something about talking to a real person. Now having said all this, I did find someone to ask about the sheriff's department, but I was just wondering if any of you struggle with this or have any funny stories to share about times you did ask for help. Like when I asked my nurse cousin how much of a certain drug would I have to put in someone's food to kill them. That was an interesting dinner conversation stopper. LOL.
p.s. I'm going to be interviewing Colleen Coble next week about the release of Alaska Twilight. I'll be giving away a copy of the new book. So tell your friends. =)
3 comments:
What helps is that in that Myers-Briggs test you have an E as the first letter instead of an I. Though, I do know an I who just has no problem asking people to do stuff for her.
Anyhow, a lot of my problem is that I think people are going to roll their eyes at this wanna be writer. If I think someone is going to understand, I generally am okay with asking. For example, last night at the RWA chapter meeting a fireman spoke. I won't have any problem e-mailing him because he came to speak at a writers' group and therefore must kind of get us. Plus, his wife is a writer.
Generally, I try to find people I know or friends of people I know. And I do a lot of research so I know what specific questions to ask.
I guess I'm an E on Myers-Briggs too. I have a hard time asking people I don't know for help. And I need to find a resource for my wip, a football one.
I need to do some serious praying on the matter. You two know who I'm targeting.
LOL nice way to make people stop eating, Sabrina.
I haven't personally talked to law enforcement people, but most authors say that if you say you're a writer, most professionals are more than happy to talk to you. And I know that police departments often have a designated PR person whose job is to answer questions, so I'm assuming other professions have similar positions. Less intimidating than walking up to a sherriff, right?
Camy
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