Research Tastes Better with Chocolate

For a long time I wanted to write a book that focused on adoption, but it’s such a serious and emotional topic that I also wanted balance in my novel. I love creating characters with jobs I’ve never done before because it’s part of the adventure for me as a writer, so in my novel, The Chocolatier’s Secret, I chose to have one of my main characters work as a chocolatier.

Research for novelists is multi-layered. It may come from personal experience, or perhaps putting yourself in new situations. Information comes from books, magazines, journals and the internet, or it may come from interviews with professionals or other people who have had experiences you want your characters to go through. Once you bring all this research together, it will help to create a realistic world in your novel and characters who leap right off the page.

There’s nothing nicer than hearing from a reader who says they could relate to your characters and the story. It’s when you know you’ve done your job well as a writer.

Adoption is an overarching theme in my book so it was important to start there with my research. I made the decision early on to make my main character, Andrew, a birth father and tell the story partly from his point of view, so as well as finding out about adoption as a whole, I needed to ensure some of my research was quite specific.

I began with reliable articles on the internet, books I could find on the subject, and then I moved on to interviewing an adoption worker who was able to discuss how birth fathers may feel, their reactions to adoptees getting in touch, and how they felt about never being told about a baby or being involved at all.

Once I had the basis of my adoption research, I was able to develop my plot fully and work out who the other main characters in the story would be. I developed a profile of Andrew, the chocolatier, and worked out how secondary characters could interact with him.

Andrew’s father, Louis, plays a key role in the novel, The Chocolatier’s Secret. I wanted the adoption and birth father themes to carry through and show how a tangled web of lies can have an impact for the rest of your life. I gave Louis health concerns to create more dramatic tension between him and his son and have an urgency for them to sort out their differences.

This layer of research was fairly tough as I don’t have a medical background, and even books and articles couldn’t really give me a good understanding. I had specific questions about my character’s daily life and challenges he may face and to fully research this I spoke with a medical professional who gave me enough information to keep my character real.

With the adoption and the medical layers of research complete, I saved the best until last. It was time to move on to the chocolate layer! And this time, after hitting the books and the internet to find out as much as I could about being a chocolatier, it was time to go and experience the world of chocolate for myself.

I was very lucky to be invited along to spend the morning with a mother and daughter team at Creighton’s Chocolaterie in Leighton Buzzard. I talked to them about their daily routine, all the little tasks and rituals they would go through from the moment the shop opened until they went home at night. I watched them use the tempering machines, took photos, and even learned a few technical terms along the way including all about fat blooming which is what happens to the chocolate if it isn’t tempered properly.

The fat rises to the surface – just like when you see white on your chocolate if you put it in the fridge. The chocolate must therefore be cooled in a special fridge set to an optimum temperature for the chocolate to remain in its best state. I watched the team take enormous bags of the finest Belgian chocolate and saw how these were taken from this state and made into the intricate designs in the shop.

I watched them pour chocolate into moulds, tip hardened chocolate out and package it up, use transfer sheets to add pretty designs to all flavours of chocolate, and I flipped through trade catalogues and talked about seasonal chocolate trends. It’s these finer details that I was able to weave in when my character was working away in the chocolaterie, and therefore make my story more real for my reader.

I took everything I’d learned back to my desk and my work in progress, and was able to put the final touches to The Chocolatier’s Secret, and of course I took some samples home from Creighton’s Chocolaterie. All in the name of research you understand!

I loved writing The Chocolatier’s Secret and if you would like to read about the lives of Andrew, Gemma, Molly and Louis, the novel is available as an ebook or paperback via Amazon following the links below. The Chocolatier’s Secret is a standalone novel but is also book two in the Magnolia Creek series, following the lives of characters in the small town. I’m currently planning book three of the series and hope to release it mid 2017.

—

Find out more about Helen on her Website www.helenjrolfe.com

Follow her on Twitter @HjRolfe and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/helenjrolfewriter

Tags: featured

Category: How To and Tips