"I have a book coming out in September, for example, where the plot concerns counterfeiting, and I had to do a lot of research on that. Or on any legal matters, for example, I have to do a lot of research online"
About this Quote
A working novelist admitting he has to “do a lot of research online” lands like a quiet rebuke to the romantic myth of genius-as-oracle. Evan Hunter, a consummate professional who wrote as both himself and Ed McBain, frames creativity as craft: plot is an engineering problem, and authenticity is something you earn with homework. The throwaway “for example” is doing real work here. It’s the rhetoric of the jobbing writer, the guy who treats a book release like a deadline on a production schedule, not a sacred unveiling.
The specific intent is practical and demystifying: he’s explaining how fiction gets built from facts, especially when a story touches systems that can punish inaccuracies. Counterfeiting and “legal matters” aren’t just colorful details; they’re domains with rules, jargon, and consequences. Hunter signals an obligation to get the machinery right so the invented parts can carry weight. It’s also a subtle performance of credibility: research becomes a proxy for moral seriousness, a way to reassure readers that the writer isn’t bluffing.
Context matters. Hunter’s career straddled pre-digital reporting-style research and the early internet’s promise of instant access. His nod to researching “online” captures a cultural shift in authorship: authority no longer requires a Rolodex and a library card, just fluency in information. The subtext is a new kind of anxiety, too: when facts are searchable, mistakes are indefensible. Realism becomes less a style than a standard.
The specific intent is practical and demystifying: he’s explaining how fiction gets built from facts, especially when a story touches systems that can punish inaccuracies. Counterfeiting and “legal matters” aren’t just colorful details; they’re domains with rules, jargon, and consequences. Hunter signals an obligation to get the machinery right so the invented parts can carry weight. It’s also a subtle performance of credibility: research becomes a proxy for moral seriousness, a way to reassure readers that the writer isn’t bluffing.
Context matters. Hunter’s career straddled pre-digital reporting-style research and the early internet’s promise of instant access. His nod to researching “online” captures a cultural shift in authorship: authority no longer requires a Rolodex and a library card, just fluency in information. The subtext is a new kind of anxiety, too: when facts are searchable, mistakes are indefensible. Realism becomes less a style than a standard.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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