Saturday, February 11, 2006

Researching for your novel

I just finished a book - but I wanted to toss it across
the room before I finished it! Unfortunately, this is
not the first time this has happened to me.

Why? Am I getting violent in my writing career?
Nope. I wanted to pitch it because the author didn't
bother checking some of his/her facts.

Research is the name of the game. NEVER, ever, put something
in a book if you have the slightest doubt it might not be
correct. Why do I say something like that? Because some
reader - like me - will know the fact or facts, and know
you didn't care enough about what your wrote to check.

Now, we come to the internet. This World Wide Web is wonderful,
but not everything on the web is correct. For instance, in
reviewing a music site, I discovered that Mozart wrote "The Moonlight
Sonata". I'm very sure Beethoven would be shocked to hear that.
No, research is critical and using the web is definitely a shortcut.
However, as I've been told, also check and double check the sources.
One is not enough. Two are good, three make it better and if you
can find four sources that agree, then you know you have your fact/
facts correct.

You won't have readers like me wanting to throw your book across
the room.

Allison

"Simon's Brides" coming in May
from Wings-Press, Inc.
visit Allison at www.allisonknight.com

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