Research Is Real for Fiction Writers

by Nan Reinhardt

I’m so excited to share this new series with you—The Walkers of River’s Edge. We met the Walkers in previous series—if you are a River’s Edge reader, you might remember that Jazz Weaver is now married to Elias Walker, who left his CEO chair to return to being a carpenter in the family business. This series tells the stories of his older brother and his cousins, who are all part of Walker Construction.

The Walkers are struggling to keep their family construction company afloat after losing a big contract to build an auto factory across the river in Kentucky. But their Custom Homes division has the opportunity to build spec homes for the factory workers and executive mansions for the big-wigs. The whole family must pull together prove that Walker Construction can handle the job, and win a bid that will serve the whole community. 

This series has meant a lot of research for me. I’ve googled and asked questions of experts about designing and building homes and creating beautiful landscapes. I discovered how Japanese gardens flow. I learned facts about concrete hardening and building custom cabinetry, what kinds of woods work best for different kinds furniture and how the Pennsylvania Dutch cabinetmakers created their gorgeous painted dower chests. Also, I found out how glass ceilings affect women in the construction business.

I’ve learned a lot, but chances are good, I won’t retain very much of what I’ve researched. Just as when I used to copy edit nonfiction—textbooks, computer how-tos, and general reference books like the For Dummies titles—I couldn’t possibly remember everything I read. My brain would explode. But it’s funny what you do hang onto. I recall very little from reading Beauty Secrets for Dummies except that women over forty shouldn’t wear sparkly eye shadow. No clue why that fact stuck, but I don’t wear shimmery eye shadow because of it. 

Research is how fiction writers roll. We live inside our little fictional worlds, but to create those worlds, we have to step outside—into the vastness that is research. How else do we know what happened during D-Day or what Colonial women wore under their skirts or what happens when an abandoned warehouse goes up in flames. Google is our best friend, as well as libraries, visits to towns we aren’t familiar with, and long conversations with experts in a field we’re writing about in our newest book.

Writing the Walker family’s stories has been a wondrous adventure and I’m so happy to invite you to share it with me.

Book 1, Make You Mine is available now, book 2, Make It Real, releases on August 6 and is available for pre-order. Books 3 and 4 will be available in October 2024 and January 2025 respectively. Welcome home to River’s Edge!

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Make You Mine, Book 1 in the Walkers of River’s Edge series

When his family’s company is on the line, business and pleasure definitely don’t mix, but maybe they should…

Madeline Ross left the city and a career glass ceiling behind, hoping to build a new life as the crew supervisor for Walker Construction in River’s Edge. She’s qualified and experienced, but new CEO Jackson Walker hires someone else. Even as she searches for a different job and builds a life in River’s Edge, the sexy memory of Jack teases.

After a rough year, Jackson Walker’s family business is still struggling. He needs a new construction crew supervisor, and Maddie Ross is perfect, except for the first time in his life, player Jack is suddenly smitten with the curvaceous redhead. He wants her in his bed more than on his payroll.

When his second-rate new hire is a disastrous mistake, Jack humbles himself on Maddie’s doorstep with an offer she can’t refuse. Maddie could be the key to saving his company as long as he hides his heart. But does he have to?

Buy Link: https://tulepublishing.com/books/make-you-mine/

Excerpt:

As she struggled up the stairs with a stack of boxes, Maddie scolded herself. Idiot. You should’ve made another trip. She should’ve, but this was the last of the boxes, and she was tired and damp from the rain that was making the wooden steps up to the apartment above Mac Mackenzie’s garage rather slick. She should’ve known it would start raining while she was toting the last load upstairs. 

The box on top leaned precariously and just as she moved her hand to catch it, her foot slipped on the wet step. I’m going down, was her first thought, but then footsteps thumped up the stairs behind her. A hand righted the box at the same time a strong arm wrapped around her waist and caught her. 

“Careful now.” That deep voice was familiar, but Maddie was in no position to even turn her head at that point.

“T-thanks,” she managed and got her balance back. 

The firm hold remained as a blond head peered over the boxes. “Let me take some of those for you.” 

Jackson Walker? 

One step below her, Jack lifted the top two boxes, leaving her only one, and when she moved her face toward his voice, his lips were mere inches from hers. His blue eyes smoldered dark navy and, for a moment, time stood still. 

Maddie closed her eyes. Time does not stand still. Open your eyes, stupid, and get moving. She opened her eyes, but he was there so close, she felt his minty breath mingling with hers. When she opened them, he was gazing at her as if he wanted to . . . but he held back for a second, waiting, giving her time, it seemed, to say no. When she didn’t . . and then he did. 

Clutching the boxes in one arm as if they held nothing more than feathers and moving his hand from her waist to grasp the banister behind her, Jack leaned in and very lightly touched his warm, full lips to hers. Her eyes closed again, automatically, and when he tipped his head and deepened the kiss, every nerve ending in her body went on point. The kiss was a crazy contradiction of gentle and passionate, sweet and sensual. 

Bless whoever taught this man to kiss because she could’ve stood there in the rain forever in a lip-lock with Jackson Walker.

But finally, he lifted his lips and a wry smile curved his mouth upward. “So . . . that’s not why I’m here.”

She blinked and her voice came out croaky. “Why are you here?”

“Because I need you.” He shook his head as if to clear it. He hadn’t moved his arm yet, and it pressed against her back, sending tingles up her spine. “We . . . we need you.”

“We who?” Maddie knew the answer, but she asked anyway because she wanted to hear him say the words.

“Walker Construction.” 

“Why? I thought you already hired someone.” She wanted him to beg. Maybe that was shallow of her, but he’d turned her away before and now here he was, telling her he needed her. He should grovel, just a little bit. Besides, he’d kissed her, something she felt had nothing whatsoever to do with Walker Construction. The man was an enigma. 

Jack tossed his head and rain dripped off his wet hair onto her boxes. “Can we continue this conversation in a drier place, please?”

She stared at him, debating the wisdom of letting him into her apartment. Into her life, for that matter. However, she needed a job, and it seemed he was about to offer her one. But there was that kiss, that incredible, unexpected kiss . . . Her belly flipped at the thought. What was she supposed to do about that? 

With a short jerk of her chin toward the door above them, she started up the stairs. “Come on, then.”

—

Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet, small-town romantic fiction for Tule Publishing. Her day job is working as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, however, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten and is still writing, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled, woman in her prime. Nan lives in the Midwest with her husband of 50 years, where they split their time between a house in the city and a cottage on a lake. Talk to Nan at: nan@nanreinhardt.com.

https://www.nanreinhardt.com; https://tulepublishing.com/authors/nan-reinhardt/; https://linktr.ee/nan_reinhardt

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Category: How To and Tips