Blog Tour! – Angel on Fire

Published May 1, 2012

Welcome to the Angel on Fire Blog Tour!
I’m exited to be a part of this tour!
You can find the entire tour schedule – here

At my stop today – I am doing a guest post by Author Jacquie Johnson.
It is all about research!
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did and that you take something from it!
First off, some info on Jacquie!

Here are some trusty links for you! :)

Website - Goodreads - Facebook - Amazon

I’m couldn’t tell you when I fell in love with books, but I know it was in early childhood. My first memory is of my mother reading to me. She never imagined that years later she would be yelling at me to stop. I admit I had a tendency to tune her out when I was lost in the words of Carolyn Keene, Kathryn Kenny, and L.M. Montgomery. With time, my tastes matured, and my favorite authors now include Tom Clancy, Nora Roberts, Johanna Lindsey and, yes, William Shakespeare.

I started writing stories in second grade and continued throughout high school. I loved mysteries and suspense and found myself thinking of creative ways to “bump off” people – not my teachers, of course – during some of my more boring classes.
My love of reading, writing and research sent me to law school, but I returned to writing fiction when I started homeschooling my daughters. I’m currently working on writing my fourth novel. Novels two and three are in the editing process.
I spend my free time (what free time?) exercising and listening to music, usually at the same time. I live in Northwest Indiana with my husband, three daughters, and a spoiled cocker spaniel puppy aptly named Princess.

Research

I love research. In fact, when I was practicing law, my favorite assignments involved dusty legal tomes and a corner table in the library. There’s just something about libraries. Maybe it’s the quiet? Maybe it’s the calm, serene environment? Maybe it’s the smell of the books? Regardless, I spent many hours happily leafing through hefty volumes searching for a needle in a haystack.

I do far more research than necessary for each novel simply because I tend to get lost in my fact-finding mission. Although not all of the information I drum up makes it into the book, it does give me the background I need to create the plot and develop the characters. Odd bits and pieces of news or speculation on fringe websites send my imagination into overdrive, generating twists and turns that I didn’t originally plan. Sometimes in the midst of a conspiracy theorist’s discourse, I even find a plot for a future novel.

For Angel on Fire, I spent quite a few hours researching everything from how the FBI operates to the financial markets to computer viruses. I read until my eyes bled and then went back for more. The librarians thought I was a little odd at times and I had to explain on several occasions that I was writing a novel, not plotting to take over the world. I can’t blame them for being a little hesitant since I was checking out books on weapons and terrorism. In fact, my husband still half expects a visit from the FBI. Wait until he sees the books I will have to check out for my next work-in-progress.

I also combed the internet for information about stock market fluctuation. Although I took economics in college, my knowledge of the financial markets was pretty limited and I ended up begging some investment banker friends to explain more about how and why crashes occur. After I plied them with enough liquor, they were even willing to play what-if games with me and speculate about how the markets could be manipulated in the future as technology and software evolve.

Since I knew nothing about guns, I visited the local gun shop to find out what kind of weapons Angela and Chase would carry. The shop owner took pity on me and gave me a crash course. I learned more about different calibers and types of ammunition than I will ever need to know – I hope. I dry-fired several but didn’t have the opportunity to try one out at the firing range.
In order to develop Zach, Mac and Chase’s characters, I also spoke with several retired members of the armed forces. My favorite was my father who for the first time shared some of his experiences in Vietnam. Although I had asked in the past, it’s not a time in his life he likes to discuss.

As for the romance portion of my novels, my husband prefers a hands-on approach to research. He’s always up for the challenge of providing something steamy for my readers.

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Interesting stuff right?!
Be sure to leave some feedback for Jacquie!
As usual, thanks for stopping by!