Yes, the title sounds like a bad joke. And in a way, it surely is. But it’s also a very good lesson for me as a writer. One I hope you can see the wisdom of as well.
- Raise your hand if there are three wise men in the Bible?
- Again, keep those hands up if you know that onions, once gone bad, are poisonous?
- And finally, if you picture a Viking as a guy with horns on his hat, keep those hands up.
Recently, thanks to Angie Hodapp, I started to think about ‘facts’ and what we take into our writing as ‘truths’, and how these might not be the same. You see, in my book, HOLY SOCKS & DIRTY DEMONS, I wrote about three wise men because, hey, that’s what I was taught. My mom said so, and you know she is never wrong. Just ask her. Then I found out, the Bible never mentions the exact number of wise men. Which means I gave a fact, that others might read and believe, because what sort of miscreant doesn’t fact check? This one, apparently. And in my defense, I KNEW this to be true. Had no question about it.
How many other ‘facts’ are wrong in my writing? I spend hours fact checking and researching things I don’t know, but never check what I do. Sure, I can always claim, hey, it’s fiction. But that’s far from far.
When I read historical romance, I trust the author to know that tupping really is a word, and that Scots don’t wear anything under their kilts (I’ve tried to research this myself, and only ended up in jail). I’d be disappointed to find out neither ‘fact’ is true.
Now, I’m not saying authors must fact check every word, but going forward I plan on doing my best not to further misleading facts in fiction, and in life.
And just in case you haven’t guessed, onions aren’t poisonous after going bad, according to the Onion Council, and Vikings didn’t wear horny hats, except for Erik (that Viking had issues).
What ‘facts’ did you add to a manuscript, only to find out they were wrong?
Thanks, well done… point taken, and with the benefit of raising an additional opportunity to understand that asking a question is often a POV exercise in how the listener will perceive it. (context optional, background varied)
Are there three wise men found in the bible? Asked contextually unbounded, my mind went to Lot (wise enough to leave) Noah (wise enough to ignore his H.O.A. and get everything ship-shape) and Solomon (down right solomonic)
Bad onions poison? (A wide variety of red and black molds do grow in spoiled onions–I would advise NOT EATING as they are demonstrably toxic. Admittedly associational , not causal. in the mind of a geek)
Viking horns. Sundays Minnesota decked in purple. doubt-thee-not
Not meant to be a comedy refrain, but hope a smile might arise, nonetheless 😉
More than a smile. You got two chuckles and a belly laugh.
Knowing what you don’t know is the challenge of writing (or one of many challenges). I meticulously researched what constellations my characters would see at a specific time in a specific place. But I had no clue whatsoever that my reason for thwarting my heroine’s escape, by giving her a car with a manual transmission, which she had no idea how to drive was a car that didn’t come with a manual transmission. Luckily, a writing buddy caught it prior to publication.
And, really, why would you second guess a manual transmission? I thought all car brands had then. It amazes me each day how much stuff I really don’t know.
One of the reasons I love my critique group is their uncanny talent for knowing obscure facts … like the fact that wild rabbits are so lean that when roasted over an open fire, there will be no fat to drip and sizzle on the flames.
But we’ve all been subject to the same lessons in history and science and it’s impossible to fact-check every single “fact” we’ve learned from bible to climate-change. When our intuition flare up and asks, “I wonder if that’s true?” though, then that’s the time to dig deeper.
I never really considered the bunny issue. Good catch critique group.
Hi Julie!
Here’s something that will really bake your noodle! The wise men weren’t wise men at all, they were ma’goi or magi, which in Ancient Greek means astrologer. It’s amazing how much misinformation there is floating around out there!
That’s awesome. Thanks!
Well said. And for the two noonfiction books I have in te works, I’ll have to do muc more research. Erik would be awesome to play with… after all he must have been one horny guy!
OMG! You’re so funny!