Research

I'm currently writing and researching the fourth Halsey brother book and researching for a Christmas novella- once I get the novella research cone I'll start on the research for the book I'm writing with fellow TWRP author Lauri Robinson.

For the Halsey brother book, I'm reading a book about a female doctor in the 1890's and spend a lot of time on the internet looking up medical equipment in the 1880's. Did you know in 1880, they had the plaster of Paris rubbed into bandages for casting material? They actually started the practice around the 1850's. And reading the book about a female doctor in the 1890's I'm learning a good deal about thoughts of doctors, the middle class and the doctor in the book(who was a real person) on the subject of contraception. Though I don't need that information for my book.

Then for the novella, I'm researching the location to set my story in. As usual I want to use a ghost town in Oregon, so I've been in contacted with a librarian in the area I'm interested in and I think I've found my location. Pleasant Valley. I love the name and the area fits into the idea I had in my mind. Not to mention the name contradicts the heroes feelings for the place.

If you're a writer, do you spend countless hours on research to make the story ring true? If you're a reader, do you want the author to make the story as plausible and real as possible or do you just want a good character driven read and don't really care about if things ring true?