Monday, September 28, 2015

Griping Again by Linda S. Glaz



Yes, that’s me. Complaining again. I go crazy when I read a novel that has its historical facts wrong. Because if there’s one fact wrong, you will generally find more as you go along.
My mom used to say if there’s a penny off in the checkbook, you still have to worry, because if it’s a penny, it could as easily be a hundred dollars, and there’s no way to know for sure unless it completely balances.
It’s how I feel about historic facts. A penny’s worth of errors could easily be hundreds of dollars’ worth.
Why is it important to have all of the facts correct? Because your book may be the only “history” that someone reads. Say you have a person who hated history class but for some reason is an avid reader. YOU might be the one to make that history come alive, and you don’t want to impart bad or lacking information.
So, yes. I’m griping again. I read historic novels that have women baking chocolate chip cookies before there was such a thing. UGH! Or a guy saying, “Dude” in the 1800s. Perhaps a woman wearing a bra in the 1700s. Really?!? Come on! In today’s easy access to information, it’s not difficult to know find out what was and wasn’t correct for nearly any time period. Take the extra effort to make your novel truly teach history as it tells a story.

6 comments:

Joyce Hart said...

I agree Linda. It drives me crazy when I see slang that wasn't used during a certain time period.

Deborah Dee Harper said...

I agree too, Linda. There's no reason why, in this technological day and age, a writer can't be 100% accurate with his/her historical facts. That's one of the very good things about the Internet!

Anonymous said...

Bravo!

Linda Glaz said...

Thanks, all. Good to know I'm not the only one. LOL

Joe Allison said...

Glad to know I'm not the only one who hears fingernails screeching on the chalkboard when a writer or speaker does this.

Linda Glaz said...

haha great way to say it!