The Researcher’s Creed by Lisa Carter

Are you following the creed? Romantic suspense author Lisa Carter provides tips for writing research that won't kill you professionally. -- Sandy

Lisa: Readers often ask what kind of research I do for my novels. First, I read everything I can regarding factual topics and law enforcement issues before I ever speak with LE officials. Once I’ve done this and feel I'm ready to ask semi-intelligent questions, I turn to various experts in their field. For example—

Beyond the Cherokee Trail required a research trip retracing the Trail of Tears in addition to correspondence with a noted Cherokee scholar.

Under a Turquoise Sky was an interesting research situation as it involves WITSEC. And that’s all I’ll say on that—loose lips sink ships.

The research for my Coast Guard series—Coast Guard Courtship & Coast Guard Sweetheart—led to a delightful long-distance relationship with Captain Jim, a retired Coast Guard officer.

But here’s the creed researchers, journalists, historians and writers live by or—if not heeded—by which they professionally die:

1.      Don’t wing it or guess. Check out as many sources on the topic as possible. Determine if the writer had an agenda and filter truth from opinion. Visit multiple sources. Vary research venues. Most important—There’s a Rule of 3 that must agree. Make this your personal and professional mantra in research.

2. Take legible, precise notes—copious notes. But steer clear of plagiarism. Err on the side of caution.

3. Fact check details in the writing and re-writing stages. Readers will spot errors and this damages their trust in you as an author.

4. Don’t fudge historical/contemporary events to bolster your storyline. Understand the difference between “anecdotal” and what really happened. Grandpa’s version of the Battle of Iwo Jima is just one slice of the whole pie—his perspective, not the whole enchilada. Kind of like what cops encounter in trying to interview eyewitnesses to a car crash. Treat anecdotal accounts with caution. The truth may lie in the middle.

5. Keep your source material organized—books, articles, links, interviews. Writers are often contractually required to keep these for a certain length of time. Develop reliable sources. Your reputation—and your publishers’—is on the line.

6. Research allows authors to construct the most realistic story possible on the subject matter. It grounds the author in truth and frees their imagination to take it from there. Research should pepper your novel, not overwhelm. A little goes a long way.

7. Hone your writer instincts. Like the nose of a finely trained K9, learn to sniff out nuggets of research gold.

8. Finally, pray a lot during the entire process. While writing Under a Turquoise Sky, I discovered a Navajo legend, which when seen through the eyes of faith provided the missing element to the hero’s emotional and spiritual character arc. Coincidence or inspiration? What do you think? Trust God for those serendipitous encounters that can only be explained by Him.

What is your system for keeping your research organized? Do you have another tip to add?

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Lisa Carter's novel, Under a Turquoise Sky, won the 2015 Carol Award for Romantic Suspense. Her latest, The Stronghold, releases in March. Beyond the Cherokee Trail is a 4 1/2 star Romantic Times September Top Pick. The author of seven romantic suspense novels and a Coast Guard series, Lisa enjoys traveling to romantic locales and researching her next exotic adventure. A native North Carolinian, she has strong opinions on barbecue and ACC basketball. She loves to hear from readers. http://www.lisacarterauthor.com

About The Stronghold:

Drug violence, revenge killings, and kidnapping are nothing new along the U.S.-Mexican border. But now teenage girls are disappearing from the Apache reservations of Arizona and New Mexico.

Apache tribal cop Pilar To-Clanny and FBI Special Agent Alex Torres have a long and tumultuous history. When someone close to them disappears, Pilar and Alex must risk everything to rescue the child, including facing the unresolved issues of the past, and venture into the no-man’s land of the drug cartels.

Can Pilar and Alex work together to stop a sadistic killer before he strikes again? On a quest to rescue those they love, who will rescue them?

Lynette Eason, bestselling, award-winning author—“I’ve added this book to my keeper shelf and you should too!”

The Inspiration Behind Aloha Rose—When Life Comes Full Circle by Lisa Carter

A college friend once shared her struggles regarding her adoption. The unanswered questions—despite a loving, adoptive home—about the most fundamental of identity issues such as who she was, where she came from, why she’d been given up for adoption, and what all this meant for the person she’d become. A void lingered inside her that she yearned to fill.

Now years later, she related how she'd located her birth father in Hawaii and how a wonderful, new chapter in her life had opened. Through a difficult personal journey, she and her family had come full circle. As we laughed and cried, rejoiced and remembered the pain along the way, the seed of Aloha Rose, was born. Just as Laney Carrigan in Aloha Rose and the Lokelani quilt come full circle.

Like a lot of us, Laney and hero, Kai Barnes, are on a journey, seeking family and a place to belong. A huaka'i, no matter our journey, requires truth, heart and extraordinary courage. The kind of courage Laney and my college friend displayed in traveling halfway around the world to find a family. The kind of courage required of those who seek God.

For Laney, it is an issue of forgiving those who’ve hurt her in the past. For Kai, it is a matter of forgiving himself. At a crossroads, how each answer this dilemma will determine whether they can be free of the pain of the past and find God’s best for them. There are many people trapped inside wounds. Myself included. Wounds that have scabbed over but never healed. They yearn to be free of the gaping pit inside themselves and to climb out of the hole that scars their life.

At the heart of Aloha Rose are questions we each must answer with God’s help—finding true freedom and real wings to fly to be the person God intended for us to be all along. The chains of our past can only be loosed in Christ. Our guilt, fear, and the past must be nailed to the Cross.

What do you truly believe about grace, the power of the Cross, and its sufficiency to save? At the Cross is where guilt meets His forgiveness. Where confusion meets His peace. Where loneliness meets His companionship. Where the lost find direction. There is a place at the foot of the Cross for the hurt and wounded, like Kai. Like you and like me. A place for restoration of relationships, like for my friend.

Will you—will I—choose to trust the Cross? Maybe the hardest thing to do. Maybe the only way you and I can ever truly come full circle to who we were meant to be.

I hope Aloha Rose will make you laugh. Perhaps make you cry. But most of all, warm your heart with the greatest of loves, God’s love for you.

Learn more at www.lisacarterauthor.com. For behind-the-scenes photos, visit the Aloha Rose board on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/quiltsoflove/aloha-rose-by-lisa-carter/.

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The chains of our past can only be loosed in Christ. Click to Tweet

At the Cross is where guilt meets His forgiveness. Click to Tweet

Huaka'i, no matter our journey, requires truth, heart & extraordinary courage. Click to Tweet

Lisa Carter

As a frequent speaker and vocalist at women’s ministry events, Lisa Carter shares her own journey of faith regarding the sufficiency of the Cross and His grace in her life. Aloha Rose, a contemporary romance in the Quilts of Love series, releases in November 2013. Her debut romantic suspense novel, Carolina Reckoning released in August. She and her husband have two daughters and make their home in North Carolina. When she isn't writing, Lisa enjoys traveling to romantic locales, quilting and researching her next exotic adventure.

Aloha Rose

When Laney Carrigan sets out to find her birth family, her only clue is the Hawaiian quilt in which she was found wrapped as an infant. Centering her search on the Big Island and battling fears of rejection, Laney begins a painstaking journey toward her true heritage. Kai Barnes, however, is determined to protect the people he’s come to regard as family. He thinks Laney is nothing more than a gold digger and blocks every move she makes toward her Hawaiian family. As their conflict escalates, it puts at risk the one thing that Kai and Laney both want most—a family.

The Inspiration Behind Carolina Reckoning: Out of Life’s Adversity by Lisa Carter

Lisa Carter

God has often taken life’s adversity and used the trial as a refining fire in my walk with Him. This holy fire has in turn provided fuel for the stories with which He subsequently gifts me. My parents divorced when I was nine year’s old. In many ways, I am Claire and Justin in Carolina Reckoning. And like Claire, I was angry at everyone, most of all God, when my world fell apart.

I wrestled with feelings of anger, abandonment, forgiveness, and faith. Like Alison in Carolina Reckoning, I longed to find someone upon whom I could rely. And at the foot of the Cross, I discovered a Father God who is always faithful and true.

Like Alison’s ultimate choice, as a teenager I came to a crossroads—to carry an anger that in the end harmed me more than anyone else or to choose to forgive, to forgive someone who’d never asked for my forgiveness nor deserved it. But to forgive anyway, like God had forgiven me. Because unforgiveness brings its own reckoning. It isn't how God wants us to live. And God's way is always the best way.

Out of those hard times, God birthed this novel within me. Carolina Reckoning is a novel for those who’ve felt alone and faced an unknown future. For those who’ve felt abandoned and betrayed by a friend, spouse or family member.

But in the midst of pain and disillusionment, there is a Savior and Father God who is always faithful and true. Enough for every need—past, present or future.

This is the message I’m excited to proclaim to readers.

It is the story, in a small way, of my life. My own journey, like Alison, toward faith.

Carolina Reckoning is a novel about hope. And true hope, forgiveness and love will be found in Jesus Christ.

I hope you enjoy Carolina Reckoning—a little sweet tea and a whole lot of southern magnolia.

Have you ever wrestled with anger or abandonment? Were you able to use those feelings in your writing? Did it help you to write out those scenes? Please share your experiences with us.

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In the midst of pain, there's a Savior & Father who's always faithful and true. Click to Tweet

True hope, forgiveness and love will be found in Jesus Christ. Click to Tweet

God often takes life’s adversity and uses it as a refining fire. Click to Tweet

About the Author

Lisa Carter is a writer and teacher whose articles have appeared in FamilyFun, Thriving Family, MomSense and Christian Parenting Today. She has taught at the collegiate, high school and

Carolina Reckoning
by Lisa Carter

middle school levels. As frequent speaker and vocalist at women’s ministry events, Lisa shares her own journey of faith regarding God’s sufficiency for every need. Carolina Reckoning is her debut novel. She and her husband have two daughters and make their home in North Carolina. When she isn't writing, Lisa enjoys traveling to romantic locales, quilting and researching her next exotic adventure. www.lisacarterauthor.com
Learn more about Lisa and Carolina Reckoning at www.lisacarterauthor.com. For behind-the-scenes photos, check out the Carolina Reckoning board on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/lisacoxcarter/carolina-reckoning/.

Carolina Reckoning

Alison Monaghan never gets to confront her husband with the proof of his infidelity when his body is found on a lonely back-country road near antebellum Weathersby Historic Park. Homicide detective Mike Barefoot immediately puts Alison at the top of the suspect list. He's learned to keep his emotional walls high and he knows better than to get involved with a murder suspect. But despite his best intentions, he finds himself drawn to her and to her two teenage children. Can he fight his feelings for her—and find the killer before Alison becomes the killer's next victim?