"So I need you to put me in a choke hold and pull me backward while I throw this nail polish at a big piece of cardboard." This I asked of Kevin, our son's friend, who'd been staying with us for several months, up until yesterday when he left for the Navy.
He looked a little aghast. "Uh, no." He laughed uncomfortably because he realized I wasn't kidding. "I can't do that; why can't you have someone else do that?"
"Because you're the right height. You're tall like my murderer and I need to see how the victim's nail polish splatters. I couldn't find the right pattern on Google images."
Now, the fact of the matter is that generally, young men do not like to put their friends' mothers in choke holds. Even if the favor is requested so that she can get the description right for a pivotal clue in her humorous suspense novel. I could've asked my brother, since he's also tall enough, but he lives an hour away and the last time he did that (it was to show me a self-defense move) I dislocated my jaw because I did not realize at first I was supposed to stand still until he explained the move. So I was hesitant to go down that path again. I like my jaw right where it is.
For this particular book, I've had to seek some unusual references: which military units worked with the CIA in Viet Nam (twelve books on desk, and several discussions with surviving cousins of family members who served, and one or two guys from the VA), how prosthetic limbs work and how to put them on and take them off (thanks, AmputeeOT on YouTube, and countless other videos and articles), how arsenic works, and what counties in California might not have medical examiners (had to make one up). Oh, and there was the call to Honeywell about how low you could make a thermostat to chill a dead body (I had to promise I wasn't going to do that myself). And whether a Tazer makes noise or needs warm-up time (I have yet to work that into a conversation with the local police, who carry them, and they're illegal in my state so I can't just buy one and find out. And who would I tazer anyway to try it? Kevin's no dope; he left for basic training, which will probably be easier on his nerves.).
I recently read about an author who got her pilot's license because her heroine flew and she wanted to be able to describe doing so accurately. I have a friend who worked in an animal shelter to see what was involved so she could write about it. And another who asked to swim with sharks so she could describe how their skin felt. I'm not there yet. Although the animal shelter thing's my speed, and we do need a new dog.
So I started to wonder about how other writers handle making things feel "true": What's the oddest/craziest/most daring thing you've ever done to research a particular aspect of a story you were working on? Did you end up using what you learned or have to try something else? Was it something you continued to do, like flying or knitting... or tazering?
