Over the years, I've encountered numerous instances in which authors have failed to properly research certain specifics within their manuscripts. I honestly can't say enough about the importance of researching topics a writer includes in their work, especially when these topics are not familiar to the writer.
Research comes in many forms, and necessities vary based on the work. However, the importance does not vary. It's of the utmost importance that an author research topics that are not familiar to them in an effort to maintain accuracy, realism, and flow of the manuscript. I say flow because when you incorporate inaccurate information into a book, your readers will notice. Never think your readers won't notice. You may think that the topic or detail you're using is so bizarre or such a niche topic that your readers would never notice, but believe me, there will be that one person who is more than familiar with that topic and will call BS immediately. This interrupts the flow of the book for the reader and breaks what I like to call their "reading consciousness," or that zone we drift into when we become engulfed in the world of the book we are reading. Do this too many times, and readers are likely to DNF your book. For some readers, it only takes one time for them to pick up on the fact that you didn't do your research on the topic for them to condemn your book and DNF it. Others are more understanding and give the writer a few opportunities before they throw in the towel.
Let's use a fictitious author, who we'll call B. Anne Author, and a fictitious novel, which we'll title The Precious Little Novel. Now, B. Anne wants to show her MMC (male main character) as being filthy rich and therefore owning an extremely large amount of property in rural Louisiana. B. Anne states in the narrative of the work that he owns a 2.5 million-acre estate. Now, clearly, this is very unrealistic, even without research. However, if B. Anne were to do the research needed, she would realize that New Orleans, which is the largest city in Louisiana, is 224,000 acres. The entire state of Louisiana is, in fact, a total of 33 million acres. A 2.5 million-acre estate would be nearly 8% of the total land mass of the state of Louisiana. Now, MMC is filthy rich, right? So, maybe this isn't entirely unrealistic. However, when B. Anne later claims that MMC made it from one end of his property to the other in about twenty minutes, her claims are completely unrealistic. Now, I did that little bit of research and calculation as I made up and typed this scenario, but just that little bit of research, had B. Anne done it, would have saved her manuscript and would have certainly saved her some embarrassment.
This is just one example of the many types of research that should be done when working on a manuscript. Aside from measurements, research should also be conducted on unfamiliar topics being incorporated into the manuscript. For instance, if your MMC is a trained assassin, he may use certain weapons or types of guns that most people have not heard of. Because let's be honest. The term "trained assassin" comes with high expectations. Most assassins aren't walking around with a Glock, much less with a switch on it. They're skilled marksmen who have a keen eye for effective weaponry in any given situation, and they know that the Glock is not the most reliable firearm, especially when your life and a few hundred thousand dollars for the job you've been commissioned to complete ride on it. In that case, you'll want to thoroughly research firearms that assassins are likely to use--something with high capacity, high accuracy, high reliability. You might want to look into what weapons Army and Marine snipers use. Even Googling "what weapons do hitmen use?" may render you some pretty decent results.
When you get that information, you want to be sure not to info dump on your reader. Now, we've all seen this before. A writer has done so much research on a topic, and then, they turn around and dump all that information on you as the reader. Doesn't matter that the information doesn't drive the story forward. Doesn't matter that they essentially give you three straight pages of stuff you don't need. They've found this information out and now you as the reader must too, right? Wrong. Absolutely not. Firstly, you must learn to seamlessly incorporate just the information you received during your research that your reader needs to be able to understand the story or to move the story forward. Secondly, you must also learn when to stop researching and start writing. Sometimes, enough is enough. Once you have the information you need, there's no reason to continually dig deeper into the topic, accumulating more information that is not necessary to write the book or relevant to the story itself. Knowing when to stop when researching helps to prevent info dumping while writing.
The bottom line is: don't sell yourself or your writing short by believing research is unnecessary. Don't fall into the trap of believing your readers won't know the difference. Writing--truly good writing--takes time. Part of that time should include research. Your readers will appreciate you for it!
Disclaimer:
When conducting research for your work, please do not be afraid to research any topic you need to research, especially for accuracy. In the wide world of authors, I'm quite sure about 90% of us have researched something that caused our name to come across someone's desk at some federal agency. When writing my novel Bacardi Barbie, I researched "what is the recipe for meth" numerous times over the course of several days. While writing the Living in His World of Lies series, I researched "how to kill someone with potatoes" and "what is the hottest temperature the human body can withstand" multiple times too. I have never gotten a call or a knock on my door, though I'm quite sure some agency has run my name and/or background and possibly run my IP address at some point. Do your research. Don't let the possibility of the Feds coming knocking bother you because before they ever do, they'll make sure they have actual reason to do so, and it won't be over something as small as your book research. Even if they do, you've got all the proof you need in your work. Happy researching!