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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42690
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42690
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Whatever subject I am researching for my story, the common recommendation is "talk to the relevant professionals". If I need medical information, talk to a doctor. If I need information about the military, talk to soldiers. Talk to scholars, talk to museum curators, talk to designers, dancers, security personnel. Best of all - ask to shadow them at their work.

For an established writer, that's all very fine. One can email the person one wishes to interview/shadow, and introduce oneself as "I am author of published works X,Y,Z, here's my website, here are my books on Amazon, I am now doing research for my next novel."

But what does a first-time author do? **"Dear Sir/Madam, I am a nobody with aspirations of writerhood. I would very much like to ask you really weird questions / follow you around and get in your way."** That's not going to work, is it? In particular, not every person who "works on their first novel" finishes it, and not every first novel gets published. So from the expert's point of view, there's a high chance the information they provide to an aspiring writer will not in fact lead to a book. That's assuming they even trust the "I'm an aspiring writer" story - security personnel, soldiers, etc. might not.

So how does someone who is working on their first novel, and thus has no credentials, go about asking experts for information?

([This question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/37818/14704) is related, but does not focus on the problem of the first-time author.)

Original score: 5