Handcuffed and Stun-Gunned: How Far Would You Go for Writing Research?

Through the hood that had been yanked over my head 10 minutes earlier, one of our captors pinched my nose closed. The duct tape over my mouth meant I couldn’t protest, and the handcuffs around my wrists prevented me from fighting back. Next to me, Hannah screamed wordlessly as she was stun-gunned.

At that moment, it was hard to believe I had actually paid for this. The four of us captives hadn’t really been kidnapped by terrorists. Instead we were attending onPoint Tactical’s Urban Escape and Evasion class. Past participants have included Navy SEALS and special ops folks from various federal agencies. Hannah and I were the first novelists to attend.

(Dislocating a Thumb to Escape Handcuffs.)

The first two days were spent in a hotel room, learning how to pick locks, improvise weapons, create fake IDs, shake off pursuers, get out of zip ties and handcuffs, and more. The third day we were taken hostage by men wearing ski masks and carrying long guns.

We had to use everything we’d learned, first to escape, and then to avoid the 10 hunters looking for us. We had no idea who they were, but they had our photos, and they knew the route we were required to take. We also had a series of tasks to complete, such as convincing strangers to give us rides or let us use their cell phones.

Urban Escape and Evasion was the most intense (and useful!) research I’ve ever done, but I research everything so that my fictional worlds feel real.

Read

Reading is the first step. In Stay Dead, my main character, Milan, is the only survivor of a plane crash. Mike Pewtherer’s Wilderness Survival–Living off the Land with the Clothes on Your Back and the Knife on your Belt was very helpful. Later I got in contact with Mike and he helped me brainstorm more survival strategies.

In Girl Forgotten, which just won the Edgar Award, my teen protagonist starts a true crime podcast, so I read books about podcasting. Those books helped me ask smart questions when I interviewed a real true-crime podcaster.

Reading is also useful for adding sensory details about something you personally wouldn’t want to experience. I have Googled phrases like “I almost drowned” or “what it feels like to be shot” to find first-person accounts.

Watch

You can find an amazing amount of information on YouTube, often uploaded by someone doing something inadvisable while filming it. I’ve seen what happens when people get sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher, or try to Taser themselves through a towel wrapped around their arm. (Both choices were poor—but watching them helped me get the details right.)

Documentaries can also be extremely helpful. Thespians, which covered a regional high school theatre competition, helped inform the imaginary competition in Two Truths and a Lie.

Ask

People like to talk about their jobs, hobbies, or things they know well. I managed to track down one of the teens in Thespians. Now a working actor, she helped me understand the world of drama kids.

For Girl Forgotten, I talked to a teen who used a prosthetic leg so I could do a better job of writing about a character with one.

I’ve had good luck emailing experts I find online. That’s how I got in touch with a specialist in theatrical rigging when I was writing Two Truths and a Lie. While we were FaceTiming, he did an impromptu demo with his iPhone charging cord. Later he had his shop build a setup just like the one that appears in my book and took videos of how it worked.

You can also try asking on social media if anyone knows the type of authority you need. You’d be surprised how quickly a connection can be made. That’s how I was able to interview both a drone operator and a private jet pilot for Stay Dead.

Check out April Henry’s Stay Dead here:

Bookshop | Amazon

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Try It Yourself

Reading, watching, and interviewing people will only take you so far. At some point, you need to experience what you can in order to gather sensory details that will make your book come alive.

When I was writing Stay Dead, I brainstormed what self-defense possibilities a rundown hotel room might offer my main character. Then I purchased an old telephone on e-Bay, brought it to my dojo, and tried using the handset attached to the curly cord as a bola-like weapon. It was surprisingly effective.

Take a Class

A class can give you in-depth knowledge you can’t gain any other way. I’ve taken classes in firearms training, knife fighting, knife throwing, close combat, self-defense, and active shooter response. I’ve attended the FBI Citizens Academy, the Writers Police Academy (held at an actual police and fire academy), and gone on police ride alongs. I’ve taken classes with Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue volunteers. I even got certified in wilderness medicine for a book.

Because I have a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, and have trained in a half-dozen other martial arts, I can write about physical confrontations with first-hand knowledge

Get It Right!

Don’t rely on your best guess, making stuff up, or using something you saw on TV. You owe it to your readers to get it right by reading, asking questions, and experiencing things yourself. And research will make your book so much better!

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