pbray | What do writers and forensic scientists have in common?

Curiosity. Because the field of forensic science is changing so rapidly, curiosity and the desire to continually keep learning new things is considered an essential trait of a good forensic scientist.

It's also extremely helpful if you're a writer. At the current moment I'm researching the history behind the Human Genome Project (particularly the politics), requirements for a career as a high school science teacher, the history of the Military Tract of Central New York, and looking for first hand accounts of women police officers from the late 1970s/early 1980s, just to name a few. I need to know more about DNA analysis as well, but that's such a broad field that I need to frame my questions first before I go digging.

Resding: Just finished Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation by Ngaire E. Genge. It's a good introduction to the field for those considering a career in forensic sciences, and also appropriate for fans of mysteries and crime shows such as CSI as it includes numerous examples showing when they got the science right, and when they got it wrong. Showing how quickly the field moves, since this book was published in 2002 it's already out of date in some areas, but still worth reading.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This must be a real challenge, since your book will have to be limited to whatever technology fits the timeframe it's written for. When advancements come so quickly, it would be easy to include a procedure that didn't exist if you go back only a few years. It never ceases to amaze me the little details readers pick up on in a book. "Oops that game came out six months after this story is supposed to take place," or "How could she have used an open bed MRI in that year when it wasn't in hospitals for two more?"

I cannot wait to read the results though. Hats off for taking on such a challenge!

Readers will catch you every time.

In my mind the story is set "present day", but if it stays in print I'll have the Sue Grafton effect, where what was cutting edge when she began her Alphabet series is now archaic in 2007.

I'll have some wiggle room in that this is an alternate Earth story, rather than a straight mystery. But I still need to get as many of the details right as I can--the more solidly built the "real world" underpinnings are, the easier it will be for readers to accept the fantastic additions to that reality.

Thanks for the encouragement. Hopefully my agent and editor will share your excitement when I'm ready to pitch the idea to them :-)

I don't see how you could miss, now that you're starting to get better known. As someone who's trying to get to the official stage of writing, though, it is interesting to think you still have to pitch the idea. I'd hate that. I keep having accidental novels -- ideas that form and must be put to paper before I have time to tell anybody, let alone pitch something. I think I'd probably end up pitching a half-written manuscript. If you're thinking I'm insane, you're right.

Out of curiousity, did you have an agent before you had a publisher, or after you'd already found someone interested in printing your book?

For my first novel, I sent queries to numerous publishers and agents, and eventually found an agent who took me on. She sold the book to Zebra for me, then promptly left the agenting business :-)

As a published author, it was easier to find my next agent, whom I've been with for the past ten years. Jennifer Jackson

arcaedia was my agent for the remainder of my historical romances, and was instrumental in helping me make the switch to epic fantasy.

For my first romance I sold based on a completed manuscript, then the rest of my romances were sold on proposal, which is generally three sample chapters and a synopsis. For my first fantasy I also had a completed manuscript, since it was such a huge genre switch, along with a detailed outline explaining how this was the first book of a three book series, which brought me an offer for all three books from Bantam.

For the current series I was back to submitting on proposal--three chapters and a detailed outline of each book in the proposed series.

I know many authors who are happy writing books that they've sold based on sample chapters and a high-level outline. And I also know authors who find this approach too stressful, and that they do their best work if they write the entire book first, and then try to figure out where to sell it. It's really a matter of figuring out what works for you.

Hope this wasn't too long-winded.

No, as always it was very informative. I suspect I will be the entire book type. Also, I almost never complete an outline on paper. It exists only in my head. I usually jump right in and research as I go. I finished the first draft of my last accidental novel in 44 days, which just goes to show that I'm slightly on the psychotic side of prolific.

44 days is crazed, but also awesome!

I love the alphabet series, even though, as you say, some of it is archaic. I think that Kinsey Milhoun is so quirky that I can't help myself. Obviously the time stuff isn't a problem for her, and I doubt it will be for you. Even so, you seem to be putting in the kind of effort necessary to avoid any pitfalls.

Ooo, that sounds like a fun book! :)

What do writers and forensic scientists have in common?

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