My characters always seem to spring stuff on me that I know nothing about. Take my latest story. My heroine in the proposal I'm working on told me she drives a convertible. Makes sense. She's originally from California and is living in Florida right now, so she can have one. The only convertible I can think of is the Sebring, and given the condition Chrysler is in, I figured maybe I should take a look at cars and see what else is out there. There weren't as many choices as I thought there would be.
There's a BMW, but she told me no, she doesn't drive a luxury car. That took care of the Lexus, too. I spotted a Mini Cooper convertible, but that wasn't her either. I kept looking. I found another car that was cool--a nice metallic blue and it had a shape that worked for her, but it was only being sold in Europe. There went another possibility. I had high hopes when I spotted the Nissan, but that had extremely limited distribution in the US. I ruled that one out, too. Finally, after forwarding through a few pages of search hits, there was a Ford Mustang convertible. That might work although she wasn't particularly enthusiastic about it. Or I might have to go with the Sebring after all. She liked that one.
I like learning new things, but this story is really pushing me into uncharted territory. Both the hero and heroine's jobs are going to require research and now I've got the heroine's car to add to that list, too. But when I think about complaining, I remember what other authors have mentioned that they need to research. Makes my topics look much better. :-) It would sure be easier, though, if I knew someone who had one of their jobs.
This happens in every book, though. Characters who do or know something that I don't and it feels like I'm constantly researching something. I enjoy learning new things--really, I do!--but sometimes I'd like to have topics that are easy to find information on and not have to figure out a way to discover what the dressing rooms at Walt Disney World look like. :-/ It never seems to be easy.
