I’m Definitely on Some Lists

I recently sent an email to the police department in Madison, WI (USA). After I hit send, my first thought was…this is going to land me on a list. [strained smile]

I sent a request to the South District Office in the hopes that they might allow for a tour of their facilities – as I had just decided I wanted this district to be the location of a mystery I have been thinking about for some time and recently started writing. My MC will be a detective who has just transferred to this district. As with all my writing (aside from the YA SFF), the locations are real places, and I want them to all feel real – so that someone who has been there feels it’s authentic.

Understandably, it turns out they don’t give public tours, but the Lieutenant who responded offered to answer questions. I did send a list to her, and, again, my first thought…I’m going to land on a list or two with these… [laughs uncomfortably] She was kind in her responses, and they even gave me an idea of how to make the story work. Can’t wait to add her name to the acknowledgements. 🙂

This got me thinking, though, about that meme that goes around in various iterations – where a writer’s search history gets flagged. For my YA, I had to look up how much damage a pipe bomb causes, as well as how to make certain weapons (thankfully, since it’s SF, they aren’t weapons that work in real life). For this mystery, I’ve looked up various things about causes of death – and there will be many more searches that involve bodies and burial and blood splatters and whatnot. (Perhaps whoever might see my flagged search history will see this and realize, oh, she’s a writer!)

Thankfully, my other books/WIPs have had me looking up history and restaurants and Italian translations. 😛

Have you had to look up anything for your writing that has certainly landed you on a list or two?