Besides English, how many languages do
you speak? Likely more than you suspect.
One guest at our Super Bowl party works
as an electrical engineer. Because he is fluent in a technical
vocabulary he shares only with those who work in his field, I asked
if he could interpret the title of a job description I'd recently
stumbled on: a “mixed signal design verification engineer.”
As someone who works with words, I had
my own understanding of “mixed signals.” But to Dan, the title
made perfect sense. The meaning has nothing to do with conflicting
messages, but to input from both analog and digital sources.
If your novel ever includes someone who
works in electronics, I hope that character talks something like Dan.
Even if your readers don't catch half the jargon, it provides a sense
of authenticity. And that, every reader can understand.
I've never done any fly fishing, but I
sure know that Keith McCafferty, the author of the novels I'm
reading, has. His protagonist works
as a Montana fishing guide. Every page offers a richness of details
that ring true: about trout flies and fishing techniques, the
geography, plants, and wildlife, the people and their way of life.
While
I've never done more than just drive through Montana, after reading
The Royal Wulff Murders
I felt I'd spent considerable time there. A visit I enjoyed so much,
I booked a return trip – in the form of the sequel: The
Gray Ghost Murders.
After
reading those novels, I don't pretend to know what kind of trout fly
to use in different conditions. But I know there's an important
difference and that a good guide – or a good author – can inform
me.
Do
that well and you won't send your readers any mixed signals.
7 comments:
I talked with an acquisitions editor from England once who told me he rejected an authors regency novel because she mentioned turtles. England has no turtles. He said if she hadn't bothered to research that, he couldn't trust the rest of her story. He thought it a shame as he had been considering offering her a contract before the turtle arrived on the scene.
Great point, Diana! That makes me cringe as well in historicals when they use products not invented yet. That is a huge turn off.
That brought a smile, Linda. Early in my writing career I used a rifle in a western a mere year before it was introduced and was eaten alive by western readers. I figured a year was close enough, but not so. Readers, particularly western readers, know their genre extremely well and tend to be adamant about details.
Oh goodness, yes. I have to listen to that whenever my husband and I see a CW movie. "Did you know that Sharp's carbine (or whatever) didn't come out for another month? That was model...blah, blah, blah...(my eyes glaze over) and their consultant should have known that. That weapon changed the war and those changes didn't happen until its release." UGH, but I hear ya. One little thing. And it hurts even more if it's a change from an editor that the writer doesn't okay and it goes to print anyway. Double UGH!
For those who think I'm kidding, I had to sit through this watching the North and South. Over a button on a uniform. How the heck could he even see the button let alone know it was the wrong kind for that uniform???
Yes, sometimes huge errors make it through into print. Like the novel Putnam released a few years back by a NYT bestselling author in which someone in 1906 was driving a Model T Ford (introduced in late 1908). But handled accurately, details about that vehicle (such as the gas tank being located under the front seat)can help create a sense of place and time.
Oh, dear. Glad my husband didn't read that one. LOL
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