A hearty welcome to D.B. Sieders, scientist by day, romance writer by whatever time she finds in-between. How many girls did you know as a kid, who liked wading in creeks and catching salamanders? Rare as hen’s teeth in my day. We share an education in biology, an amazing agent, and penchant for scribing stories.

 

How-to-Incorporate-All-of-the-Cool-Stuff-You-Know/Have-Learned-Into-Something-Someone-Might-Actually-Enjoy-Reading

Thanks for hosting me, D.T. I’m so pleased with the opportunity to hang out with a fellow scientist-turned-author!

People love to talk about what they know, especially when they’re passionate about the topic. That’s true for me as a scientist. I know, as I’ve been asked on more than one occasion to answer a science question in ‘five sentences or less.’

*Must work that line into one of my books*

This is also true for me as a writer, something I learned while working with the editor for my soon-to-be re-released debut contemporary romance novella. Both of my protagonists are biomedical researchers. The laboratory setting and their efforts to solve a research problem are integral to the story. But given my passion and first hand knowledge about these two elements, they could easily overshadow the characters and their motivations in the larger plot and make for a really boring, long-winded, jargon-filled narrative.

No one wants to read a really boring, long-winded, jargon-filled narrative.

So how to balance those elements as a writer? The example I’ll use is tailored toward science, but I think it works for any form of research – be it for a historical setting, a tech-driven thriller, an imagined dystopian future, or in world building to create fantastical realms rich in mythos. It doesn’t matter. What matters is knowing when and how to layer what you’ve learned from your research into the story and to do it in a way that drives the plot forward, reveals something essential about character motivations, and blends seamlessly into the narrative.

Example:

So, here’s the setup for a scene. A scientist is going through the very tedious process of scoring gene expression across a high number of samples when he’s suddenly interrupted by a tech and loses his place.  Did I lose you at ‘gene expression?’ Possibly, so we’ll work on fixing that in a moment.

***

Jackson Downing sat hunched over the microscope, his back aching. There were 150 pinhead-sized samples lined up in neat rows on the slide, and each one looked a lot like the samples on either side of it. He had to scan each sample by eye and determine the percentage of cells expressing the gene, as well as the relative intensity of the signal, in the less than ten seconds and then assign a score. Naturally, it required laser-beam focus and all the concentration he could muster.

And it was really friggin’ tedious.

Still, it could be gold. With the information he gathered, he might be able to link changes in expression to clinical outcome, gaining insight into whether the gene product could be targeted with the new drug they’d synthesized. And the new drug could save someone’s life someday, someone who wouldn’t leave behind a widower and her only son.

“Hey boss, got a sec?”

“Damn!”

“Sorry.” At least Bill, his technician, had the good sense to sound contrite. Unfortunately, he didn’t have to good sense to go away. “I need your approval on these orders.”

Sighing, Jackson leaned back from the microscope and glanced over the list of pricey chemicals, kits, and cell lines. How much would put them in the red this month?

“Getting anywhere with those patient samples?” Bill asked.

“Well, I was just over halfway through them.” Until I lost count. God he didn’t want to start all over. “But so far, most of the tumor samples are negative. Can’t drug something that’s not there.” And you can’t fund a lab and get tenure chasing false leads.

“So… yea or nay to the orders?”

“Yes to the first three, no to the other two. Too expensive.”

And, cue the disappointment. Clamping down on his irritation, he took a deep breath and said, “Look, Bill, I know it’s tough, but we can’t afford to waste cash right now. If the students start grumbling about it, just send them to me, okay? The buck stops here.”

“You got it, Dr. Downing.”

He sighed. Times were tough in academics, so the days of bleeding cash for the sake of convenience were long gone.

Speaking of bleeding…

He leaned back over the microscope and started scanning through the rows of samples. Bingo! That was it. No changes in the surrounding tissue, but signal in the blood vessels stood out.

He bounced back on his heels and barely restrained the urge to jump up and down like a giddy schoolboy. “You know what, Bill? Go ahead and approve those other orders. I think we’re onto something.” Maybe they weren’t so screwed after all.

***

B-O-R-I-N-G, right?

I’ll bet anyone reading this was (a) bogged down and/or lost by those first three paragraphs full of technical descriptions, and (b) didn’t really care about Dr. Jackson Downing or what happened with his work. Now granted, this is a short scene, but with a little tweaking, it is possible to work in enough of the technical details and background in a way that actually drives the plot forward and invests the reader in Dr. Downing as a character.

***

Seventy-five, negative, seventy-six, negative, seventy-seven… positive but weak… just mark it before you lose your place and move on. Seventy-eight, negative–

“Got a sec, boss?”

“Damn!” The tech’s voice pierced his bubble of concentration and sent Jackson’s nose on a collision course with the microscope’s eyepiece.

“Sorry.” At least Bill had the good sense to sound contrite. Unfortunately, he didn’t have to good sense to go away. “I need your approval on these purchase orders, Dr. Downing.”

Jackson leaned back and stretched, his back cracking in protest. He should probably go for a run, but the twelve-hour workdays he was rocking barely left enough time for sleep and showers. So the only way to preserve the space-time continuum in his little corner of the universe would be tossing around a baseball with George and hoping like hell that it would pass for exercise while serving as some much needed father-son bonding time.

Man, things would be different if he still had Judy.

Nope, stick that in the file labeled ‘Not Going There.’ Tearing open old wounds would be about as useful as giving himself an ulcer over the lab budget. Yet glancing over the list of materials Bill had just shoved into his sweaty palm made him want to down a jumbo sized bottle of Tums.

“Getting anywhere with those patient samples?” Bill asked.

“Well, I was just over halfway through them.” Until I lost count. God he didn’t want to start all over. “But so far most of the tumors are negative. Can’t drug something that’s not there.” And you can’t fund a lab and get tenure chasing false leads.

“So,” Bill said, glancing away and shuffling his feet across the dull tile. “Yea or nay to the orders?”

Jackson heaved a sigh and handed back the list. “Yes to the first three, no to the other two. Too expensive.”

And, cue the disappointment. Clamping down on his irritation, he took a deep breath and said, “Look, Bill, I know it’s tough, but we can’t afford to waste cash right now. If the students start grumbling about it, just send them to me, okay? The buck stops here.”

Some of the tension left Bill’s shoulders and he offered a small smile of relief. “Okay. Thanks, boss.”

“No problem. How’s your mom?”

Bill’s smile broadened. “She’s doing great. Clear scans and she’ll finish up with chemo in two weeks.”

“That’s awesome,” Jackson said, clapping the guy on the shoulder. “She’s got a great shot. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know the stats, but it’s…well, it’s different when it’s your family.”

He fought against the lump lodged in his throat, but his voice still sounded like gravel when he found it again. “Yeah, I know.” It was like losing your life’s blood.

Life’s blood…

He leaned back over the microscope, scanning through the rows of samples as a little spark of exhilaration ignited the flames of excitement. How had he missed it before?

“I know that look, boss? What’ve you got?”

“Blood vessels, Bill, lots and lots of blood vessels feeding these tumors. And they’re chock a block full of signal.” He bounced back on his heels and barely restrained the urge to jump up and down like a giddy schoolboy. “You know what? Go ahead and approve those other orders. I think we’re onto something.”

***

Better, right?

Showing Downing in the midst of his frustration and tedium is more effective than getting into the nuts and bolts of tissue microarray analysis. It also ties into the other frustrations and past heartaches that motivate him as a character – the loss of a spouse to cancer, the struggle to balance the demands of work with being a good father, the burden of responsibility for the people who work in his lab. It invests readers in this character so they can share in the thrill of Downing’s discovery made in the midst of all his struggles.

Don’t get me wrong, it can be tough to cut out the fruits of all that research (and personal experience) on the technical stuff! But ultimately the writer has to distill the technical information, or world-building, or historical details, or fantasy elements, adding just enough to make the action/setting and the characters reactions ring true while still driving the plot. Readers are more likely to tag along on the writer’s adventure given a great plot and interesting characters rather than a textbook treatise.

So, fellow writers – how do you go about research and distillation? And readers out there in cyberspace – which authors do you think excel at giving enough tech/historic/world-building details without bogging you down in details?

 

About D.B. Sieders:

I was born and raised in East Tennessee and spent a great deal of my childhood hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains and wading barefoot in creeks, chasing salamanders, fish, and frogs. We camped a lot, and we loved to tell stories while sitting around our campfire.

Those days of frog chasing sparked my interest in biology, which I pursued in college and later in graduate school. I am a working scientist by day, but I never lost my love of sharing stories. I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember and am thrilled to be working as a writer.

I live in Nashville, Tennessee with my husband, two children, two cats, and my very active imagination. You can find me online at my website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.