J. Lee was born and raised in the Midwest, between the Chicago suburbs and rural Southern Illinois. He received dual degrees in Engineering and Sociology from Duke University, and although his day job has been in engineering, marketing, and program management, he also pursued writing, first as a stress-relieving hobby and then as a professional endeavor. His first crime thriller, The Hubley Case, was published in 2018, followed by The Silent Cardinal in 2021, and The Deadly Deal, which was released today.
The Deadly Deal follows David Centrelli, a junior business development executive at a pharmaceutical company with no military training or criminal record whatsoever...but an innocent knock on the door one Monday morning changes his life forever. Thrust into a world of unbelievable accusations, outrageous claims, and danger he's only seen in the movies, he's told his best friend's death two weeks earlier was no accident, and that his buddy has a message for him from the grave. Blackmailed by decisions he made years ago, informed that his brother has been kidnapped, and threatened with a future not even his worst nightmare could imagine, the temptation to give up what he knows and disappear into affluent anonymity grows stronger by the second...until he learns millions of lives depend on him trying to do the right thing. But can this ordinary businessman really escape death from experts trained to administer it and prevent a colossal calamity already set in motion by the highest levels of government?
J. Lee stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book:
“Truths & Categories”
Whether you’re writing a term paper for a college class or a thriller novel for the beach reader, there are three truths about research that stand the test of time. Let’s start by identifying them:
- You want to represent truth in what you write – for your audience, yourself, and what you’re writing. Doing so not only enhances the world by offering something genuine and original for people to enjoy, but also establishes and enhances credibility for you as an author.
- As the world changes, the methods used to gather research will change, too. Gone are the days where Encyclopedia Britannica and the local library are the primary sources, but we’d all be naïve to think that in eighty years Google will be either.
- What you’re writing isn’t solely about facts or figures that have already been established in the world…if it were, there’d be no need for you to write it. Thus, while you want your research to be accurate and support the story you are telling or point you are making, you don’t want it to become that either.
NOTE: if you don’t think the above are fundamental truths, you should stop reading. When I write, I do so believing they are central pillars to the research aspects of my book. Not agreeing but reading on would be a waste of your time.
So, I was asked to describe my approach to research as I wrote The Deadly Deal, my third mystery/suspense novel that centers around a fictional conspiracy launched between the federal government, a pharmaceutical company and an insurance conglomerate.
The research I did fell into one of two separate, yet equally important categories (Law & Order style) that in my head I labeled – not so originally – as:
- The big picture
- The nitty-gritty
For the big picture, it always starts with understanding the overall characters to the story, and I don’t mean people. In this case: How does the FDA approve drugs? What process and controls go into verification? How does the government’s separation of powers ensure it acts in the best interests of the people? What about the development process? How do drugs go from an idea to a tangible product? And how does insurance fit into all of this? We all know it affects the pocketbooks of both companies and consumers, but when does that start and how does that work?
These are the types of fundamental questions you need to ask first when you write fiction, especially plot-driven novels. Because ultimately, understanding the bigger picture players is critical to meeting Truth #1 above, and misrepresenting it will discredit your story.
How?
It’s common to say people should “write what they know” and this is where it best applies. I’d worked at a company involved with the regulatory process. So while I needed to verify what had changed over twenty years, I did have a baseline. I knew some people who still worked in the space. I also have a family member into cutting edge medical research who let me pick his brain about some things.
The point is that for the big picture, it helps immensely to start with something you know and like. You can Google “FDA Approval Process” and get a lot of information, more than enough to provide the level of detail I did in the book, but it’s incredibly helpful to have a baseline and rely on experts in the field going in. The other thing is, going back to Truth #3, don’t overdo it. If people wanted to read a detailed description about the FDA, there are books for that. Don’t over-demonstrate your knowledge of a subject at the expense of your story. Practically speaking, what that meant for me was that for every paragraph of research that made it into the book, there were five pages of notes that never saw the light of day.
For the nitty-gritty, there’s good and “bad” news.
The good news is the information is readily available and can be verified with multiple sources on the web. Some readers think I’m a gun guy because my books have lots of them used by good guys and bad guys. My first novel, The Hubley Case, even has the protagonist holding one on the cover. Yet without even owning one, I learned what I needed from reading online. And when I described an intersection, Street View gave me context that complemented my site visit. The data is available, and you don’t have use old-fashioned encyclopedias that could be outdated or be an Internet savant to get it…you just need to make the commitment to do the work.
There’s the “bad” news…it’s work.
When I wrote a scene with two guys chasing another through a boathouse, I didn’t necessarily want to look up types of boats, how boathouses are winterized, how big they are, what the floor material is, what the temperature might be, etc. But those details help set the scene. And answers are out there; it just takes time to get them.
Certainly, “writing what you know” makes nitty-gritty research easier and probably more enjoyable, but it’s not as critical as it is for the big picture. And trust me, even if you write what you know, when your book is 80,000 words, there’s going to be nitty-gritty research you just need to commit to doing to get it right. Most research at this level isn’t about the “how.” It’s about your mindset as a writer. You need to know it’s worth it.
Bottom line: respecting the three truths, big picture and nitty-gritty category research is hard work. But once you’ve made the commitment, once you’ve put in the effort to make your writing as authentic and genuine as you can, you’ll be that much more satisfied. You’ll know that your time and energy went into making something you’re happy to attach your name to.
And your readers will, too.
You can learn more about J. Lee and his writing via his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. The Deadly Deal is now available via all major booksellers.
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