Today, I am flying from Washington, DC to Austin, Texas for the next leg of the INDEPENDENT STUDY tour. For the next couple weeks, while I'm bopping around the country, three fabulous authors are going to step into my blogging shoes. First up, the amazingly talented author of suspense with the occassional hint of romance - Donnell Ann Bell. I encourage you all to check out her work! And, if you're in Texas (Austin or Houston) please come out and say hello.
Take it away Donnell.....
Does anyone remember the day when you could Google, check out research
material at the library, and have a pretty good idea how to write a believable
plot? I’m sure it happened once upon a
time. I can’t imagine Agatha Christie, Arthur
Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler and other greats had to worry too much about DNA
evidence, bloodstain pattern analysis, 3D printer guns, CODIS, IAFIS, LEDS
databases and a multitude of other technologies that have ballooned seemingly overnight.
You might argue that technology has made our lives simpler, so why am
I whining? After all, these people used
type writers with carbon paper for crying out loud. They mailed their novels to their publisher in
manuscript boxes.
I’m whining because technology refuses to stand still while I finish
my book. Someone opened the door to the Information
Age, created an avalanche and laid me out flat.
Oh, sure, I enjoy my laptop, smart phone, tablet as much as the next impatient
person, but for a contemporary crime fiction writer, it’s a disaster. For instance, say you start your book in
January and finish it the following September, you’d better go back and check
your facts, AGAIN, because during that short amount of time, based on today’s
technology, your research has probably changed.
Think I’m exaggerating? Are you
ready for what I learned last night? Last
night at Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America, our guest speaker was
Greggory LaBerge, Director-Forensics and Evidence Division, Denver Police
Department. Along with learning that if
a person breaks into a home and leaves his DNA evidence (blood, saliva, or
hair) in Colorado and his DNA is left at another crime scene across the country
in Michigan, that bad guy, once he is located, is going to jail.
I also learned that DNA technology has gotten so sophisticated that if
your detectives are having a conversation over the body, (which we’re known to
do when writing a book to advance the plot and cue the readers in on possible
clues) they’re contaminating the crime scene.
I like to think I don’t spit when I speak, but evidently we human beings
do. That’s how accurate scientists have
gotten at identifying our DNA.
I didn’t even fret about ballistic fingerprinting or the fact that
every automobile out there can be identified by the make and color of its
paint. (And you can’t even confuse the issue by taking it to one of those autobody
paint stores because forensic analysts can break it down by layers.) Quite frankly, it’s getting darn hard for
criminals, and for that matter, us writers.
The truth is I love storytelling too much to give it up, so I’ll keep
learning and doing my best to stay ahead of the ever-changing curve. But for you technology/forensic people out
there so proud of the progress you’re making, would it hurt you too much to
slow down?
And they say writing historical fiction is hard.
I’m curious, if you’re writing a contemporary crime novel, have you
had to go back and make changes because the technology has advanced? Have fun on your tour, Joelle!
