how to research characters...

For the other sex I find it really useful to just ask one or two people of that persuasion. The actions might be the same, but the reasons are often different.

For my detective, who isn't a PI, I have trolled the region's, province's, and country's police websites. Also, there are tons of police procedural books out there, specifically for writers. There are also memoir type things from detectives.

Location: go there if possible. If not, at least you have picked a place that is easy to learn about. Read blogs from LAers, watch movies set in LA, visit LA websites.

Maybe you could find a female PI in LA (or somewhere different) and email them about their job. If you explain you're writing a novel, they may be interested enough to just provide you with info.
I'm considering doing this for my character, but a little afraid I'll look like a fool. Then again, I really want my story to be believable.

Niall, first thing I'd do is read some history books from LA, for instance, learn some of the historical things that make the place different from, say, San Fran, San Diego, etc.

As for learning the PI job, don't worry about it. If you read PI novels, then you have the basics. Talk to any real PI and everyone of them says that fiction PI's sound and act NOTHING like a real PI. And if you make the PI sound real, people generally don't like it as much.

NiallMcF said:

what methods do wrtiers use when researching characters, locations, professions?

Example.; I'm a guy from Dublin who writes stories. My character is a woman from L.A who's a private detective. Couldn't be more different. How do i sound convincing? How do i write like a p.i. from L.A... who's a woman!
I find reading p.i. books based in L.A. a great help. The hardest part is the private detective role. How best to find out what it's like to live a day in the life of a p.i.?

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Niall! I think it was HistorySleuth that originally pointed us to this great blog. It's called Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes, and it's written specifically for writers who have PI characters.

Also, you can ask questions in our Story Research and Experts forum.

I use Google Maps and satellite feeds for specific area information. Very helpful.

Good luck!

Yes! Google Maps is awesome! You can get right down to seeing trees and benches, or whatever you need.

NiallMcF said:

what methods do wrtiers use when researching characters, locations, professions?

Example.; I'm a guy from Dublin who writes stories. My character is a woman from L.A who's a private detective. Couldn't be more different. How do i sound convincing? How do i write like a p.i. from L.A... who's a woman!
I find reading p.i. books based in L.A. a great help. The hardest part is the private detective role. How best to find out what it's like to live a day in the life of a p.i.?

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Well, I'm a gal from Italy (originally, been long gone) who writes about a male cop in LA... I did live in LA, though, so that helps. Google maps is my best friend. And also an awesome ex-LAPD cop whom I bug 2-3 times a day!!!

Also, Niall, read Michael Connelly's books. He does an excellent job of giving the spirit of LA seen from a cop's perspective.

NiallMcF said:

however, i find myself stuck on the PI part; realistically, what questions would she ask, what procedures would she follow, what are the boundaries, the laws? this is where i find myself writing a little blind. (emphasis mine)

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Read Raymond Chandler, Robert Crais and other PI novels based in LA. Huge research and the best in the business if I can state my opinion.

Don't be afraid to contact a professional to ask for help/advice and to pick at their knowledge. Sort out what it is you really want to know - maybe the two/three main things and put the questions in an email. A few years ago I had to find out if Royal Navy ships still had cats on board. My email was forwarded to all sorts before I got a reply from a senior officer who fell over himself to be helpful. Doing research in other fields I have found much the same - that people want to be helpful and to share their knowledge and experience.

You can't sneeze in a bookstore and not infect a dozen books about a private eye working in LA. As a reader in the US, it would be refreshing to read stories that take place in Dublin and Ireland. I've read dozens of Jack Higgins' novels and never tired of them.

Keeping your stories local will help you keep them real, Reading PI novels will give you an overview of how fictional PIs work. Your investigator should not be cut from the same mold as the others, anyway. S/he should be unique in some way, either physically, or in how s/he operates.

Also look up the "Howdunit" series. They're reference books written specifically for writers with several different topics like Private Investigators, Amateur Detectives, Poisons, and Police Procedures, to name a few.

Researching a character is more particular than researching a place. Both have culture, but culture of person is shaped by personality, influential people and institutions, while culture of place is shaped by demographics, economics and politics. Major characters tend to stand out from the crowd, and they'll often think, say or do things differently to those around them. We can start with the generics but get the particulars right, put them into conflict with one another, and I believe you'll nail verisimilitude and complexity.

Example: Clarice Starling, the rookie FBI hero from Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs, began her life a long way from the cynical pragmatism of Quantico. She grew up in small-town West Virginia to a cop father who got shot on the beat and died of his wounds. After his death she moved to her uncle's farm and was psychologically scarred by the treatment of the animals there. Eventually she was accepted into FBI training and is mentored by criminal psychologist Jack Crawford, who exploits her fresh naïveté to get at arch-psychopath Hannibal Lecter. But see how a sensitive personality shaped by small-town values and father-worship gets beaten repeatedly until she becomes an ambitious FBI rookie with layers of complexity beneath? Places matter, but I think it's the conflict between personality, influences and institutions that create the layers which make the character credible and fascinating.

Hope that helps.