Creating fictional stories often requires lots of research. Most writers love to research. Researching is fun. Writing is hard work.
Research allows you to meet remarkable people, go to fascinating places, and have exciting experiences. One of my favorite research experiences happened the day a Metropolitan policeman chased me down a London street.
No, I didn’t try to make off with the Crown Jewels. Nor did I try to rob a bank. I simply asked a few questions . . . at New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police Service.
It Started With a Question
Authors who write fiction tend to ask a lot of “what if” questions. The officer I queried in the lobby of New Scotland Yard couldn’t provide answers. He said I needed to talk to the Secretary of their Historical Society. Unfortunately, the man wasn’t in the building, and the officer didn’t know when he’d return. Trying to help, he gave me directions to the police information and recruitment office a few blocks away, and I set off.
Initially, I passed the building, then had to backtrack. (Who knew the red “curtains” he told me to watch for were actually a red “awning.”) I’m not sure how long I spent inside, but after gathering what little information I could, I left the office, disappointed.
The Meeting
Few people were on the street that afternoon, so when pounding footsteps suddenly sounded behind me, I glanced around. A man was running toward me. He looked more like a businessman than a street thug, so I wasn’t too worried. Then he called me by name. My surprise turned to astonishment when I discovered he was the man I’d been told to talk to. When he’d returned to the Yard, the officer had told him about me, including what I was wearing and where I was going. The man had then rushed out, running down the street, trying to find me.
I can’t say how much of his wanting to meet me and answer my questions was because of his interest in history rather than an attempt to do something pleasant in a normally difficult day—he worked in the sex crimes unit. But he invited me to come back and talk. With a visitor’s badge and approval to enter the Yard’s inner sanctum, I accompanied the man up to his office.
Even before I asked my questions, I learned something. Did you know Metropolitan policemen, like their colleagues in the states, drink coffee? I’m not a coffee drinker, but when he offered me coffee instead of tea, I quickly accepted.
For more than an hour, we drank our coffee and talked. He answered my questions and shared other interesting stats and information about London’s Metropolitan Police Service and New Scotland Yard. Before I left, he even arranged for me to visit their archives the next day.
Research
As I said, research is fun, but it can be frustrating when you can’t find the information you seek. But that day, what started as a disappointing research trip ended in a grand adventure. After all, how many people can say they’ve been chased down a London street by a policeman, before being invited into the police station—handcuffs-free—for coffee and a chat.