Evil Games Book Tour – Research For Evil Games By Angela Marsons

Sociopathy
Covert Manipulation
Conversational Hypnosis
Dark Psychology
Mind Control
Psychological Experimentation
Post-natal Psychosis
Schizophrenia
Autism

The second thing I do is pore over Amazon choosing factual books and personal accounts and after I typed in these search parameters I half expected a knock at my door from some kind of government agency.

By the time I begin the research I normally have a vague idea in my head of the story I want to tell. I clear away the computer and spend hours at my desk reading the books and making notes. I have two notebooks with me. The first is to record the factual information that I want to include in the book and the second is to record ideas. I always find that as I research, the things I learn give me lots of ideas for plot development or twists or clues along the way.

One of the challenges I faced when researching Evil Games was knowing when to stop. The subject matter was so absorbing that I just wanted to carry on reading. A second challenge was knowing how much to use in the actual book. I find it very exciting to learn new things and am often tempted to share every interesting new fact. It is normal for me to put too much research into the first draft only to remove what doesn’t work later. However much I want to share the knowledge it is reduced only to what moves the story forward.

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I remember one of my editor’s comments after reading the first draft of Evil Games. Her note said something like ‘I love reading about all these experiments but you need to cut a few out’, which although painful was absolutely right. I have sometimes filled an exercise book on a particular subject only to use a sentence or two in the finished book.

I do believe that getting the research right is key to the reader’s enjoyment of the story as a whole. One simple inaccuracy can remove the reader from the narrative and ruin the experience completely. I’ve had messages asking if I previously worked in social care or in the police force or even as a psychologist which is gratifying as it shows I’ve done my job properly. More worrying are the messages telling me that I’ve depicted Alex accurately and asking if I’m actually a sociopath myself!