Have you ever read a book and become annoyed or disgusted by some anachronistic error that totally broke the spell of the book, or some bit of incorrect detail that snapped your suspension of disbelief?
I have, and I don't like it. Some readers and fans love pointing out mistakes--like Trekkies, for example. I love the TV show Mythbusters and how they've debunked things Hollywood movies have gotten us to believe and some of these myths have seeped into fiction writing. For example, the Mythbusters showed how people DO NOT get thrown across the room when shot--they just crumple to the ground.
Hey, we're all human, and we all make mistakes. But there is a difference between making a one-off mistake and doing sloppy research.
"The devil is in the details."
Patricia Robertson is here to give her take, as well as suggestions to help defeat that devil.
Attention to Detail, or The Importance of a Misplaced Penny
by Patricia Robertson
©2014
In the cult movie classic Somewhere in Time, Christopher Reeves (aka Superman) and Jane Seymour (aka Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) play two star-crossed lovers, separated by over fifty years. In order to go back in time and be with Seymour, Reeves dresses himself in period clothing and goes to a room in The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island, which also matches that period. He pays great attention to detail to get it right; however, he misses a penny in his pocket. This penny proves to be his downfall, as the minute he sees it, the illusion is broken and he is whisked back to his own time.
Details in writing can be like that penny. A misplaced detail can break the spell we wish to cast on our reader and jar them back to their own reality. If your novel is set in the 1960s and you include a cell phone or computer, none of which were available at that time, you may fool some of your readers, but others will be pulled out of your world of fiction by this mistake.
A well-placed detail can set a scene. As a life-long Michigander, I love the soft drink Vernors, whereas my Texas-born-and-raised sister-in-law has an affinity for Dr. Pepper, which originated in Texas. If Vernors is mentioned, I immediately see this character as a fellow midwesterner. If a character orders a Vernors in Texas, they better be a Midwest transplant or have some other reason to order this drink.
Even if you are writing fantasy, creating your own world, there will be rules in this world that you need to heed lest you jar the reader awake. If your fantasy world is a pre-literate country where modern weaponry is unknown, you would not give your hero a submachine gun without some explanation of why this happens.
A few mistakes like these may be forgiven, but too many and you will lose your readers forever. I recently started to read a memoir where the writer referenced the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies during the 1950s. Having grown up with The Beverly Hillbillies, I knew they weren’t on the scene until the 1960s. After several such incidents, the writer lost credibility in my eyes and I stopped reading her book even though she had an engaging style of writing.
Lack of attention to detail is sloppy writing. The writer doesn’t care enough to do their research. It was more excusable, though still lazy, back in the day when you had to painstakingly go through scores of books to find a particular reference or to research a time period. In this day of the Internet, there is no excuse for not doing your background work.
Detail is especially important when writing a sequel. I realized this as I began work on the sequel to my latest novel. Originally, I had no plans for a sequel. I had written the novel for fun as part of NaNoWriMo. As I prepared it for publication and another November approached, I felt my characters had more to say. Fortunately, this happened before I had published the first book, so I was able to change parts that would have created a problem in a sequel, such as having the last chapter set ten years in the future, which would have boxed me into a difficult time frame.
As we write, we come to know our characters. They become friends, not only to us, but to our readers. Sometimes our readers may be quicker to catch a discrepancy than we are. They will be quick to note if this is a change in a character from one novel to the next that is implausible. We may forget that a main character had a great uncle Bill who fought with the French Army during the Prussian War as we move on in our writing and get caught up in the growing story line, but our readers won’t. All reasons to pay attention to those small details about our characters. Reason to avoid unnecessary details as well.
In my novel, Dancing on a High Wire, I referenced Obamacare in regards to a character who had just lost her job and health insurance. It was a small detail that those of us living now would readily recognize, setting the general time period. However, as I planned for a sequel, I was afraid it would stick me into a time frame that would not work. My copyeditor recommended I use a more ambiguous term rather than be pigeonholed into a specific time.
Sometimes a small detail can set a scene or character trait; other times, it’s better to leave them to the reader’s imagination.
So how do you deal with details in your writing?
Patricia Robertson is the author of fiction and non-fiction books, some self-published, some traditionally published. Her latest novel, Magnificent Failure, is a Christian romance about second chances. She is currently editing the sequel to her novel Dancing on a High Wire and looking for all of those important details! She blogs about life and writing at http://patriciamrobertson.com.
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©2015. Zetta Brown is an editor and the author of several published short stories and the erotic romance novel Messalina: Devourer of Men. She also provides editing services through JimandZetta.com.
If you like this post, then stop by Zetta’s Desk for editing tips and “Zetta’s Reference Desk” where she features a writing reference book every week. This week it's Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (9th ed.)
Natalie,
I got that tip from a young man in my writer's group. I don't write fantasy. I was under the illusion that you just make it up as you go along. He pointed out that similar attention to detail and consistency is required. An added benefit of belonging to a writer's group - you learn beyond your genre!
Thanks, Cate! Love your comment about the "dart!"