Write Better: Tips and tricks

Accuracy

How accurate should your story be?

It's a good question, whether you're writing about a mission to Mars, a murder mystery in 17th century England, or a a high school romance. In Run Cold, the protagonist spends a lot of her time in Boston, which I've visited since I was a child (and still have friends there today) then travels to Norway, a place I can only dream about traveling to. Not only that, but I changed the royal palace under my less-than-kind ruler.

I didn't want to invent a country when this story is largely about showcasing the beauty of Norway in the form of a modern fairytale (it just has a bad apple sitting on a throne).

One of my favorite comments I get on that story is: have you been to Norway? It feels like you have!

And I always answer (regretfully): No, but I did my research!

First, let's talk readers. You'll find these general audiences:

1. Readers who don't care whether your story's moon is or isn't made of cheese.

This is me when I watch bad monster movies. This is my good friend when she watches people smashing zombie skulls and driving around in perfectly working vehicles years after the apocalypse.

Sometimes we know what's right and what's inaccurate, but frankly my dear, we don't give a damn. The story is too good and we aren't interested or motivated enough to learn the truth. Sometimes we know the fake doctors on TV are performing CPR incorrectly and it drives us bonkers, or that there's no way someone falls 30 stories into a swimming pool and just gets up...But eh, we complain to the people around us and keep watching.

2. Readers who learn from your story.

We probably didn't pick your fictional story up for an education, but here and there we glean information. I distinctly remember learning the word "monolith" when I was younger from the first page of a book I ended up loving. Other times, I learned a little bit about history, or a flaw about space travel, or a cool phrase about horseback riding because a writer had taken the time to include the detail.

These little details can really make a reader feel engrossed in a world. We don't want to learn, but we do, and we feel like you must know your stuff because you've made it real for us.

3. Readers who know more than you do and/or are passionate about a subject. They care when you're wrong.

We could probably fill a book (or a reasonably sized pamphlet) with the information we have on that particular subject.  You might've done your research, but there's a good chance we know about that amended study that came out just last month and you're incorrect- or your passing knowledge is serviceable, but in that particular situation, all we have to say is NOPE NO WAY.

We are often the hardest to please, because we know so much about something and you (as a writer) are just scratching the surface and carrying on your way. You aren't taking a break in your story to detail a paragraph about why in this particular instance, blanching the tomatoes was necessary.

Depending on the story, any reader can be any of the above, often at the same time! You've got to decide for yourself if you need a little more accuracy or a little less. How important is X to the story? If it's super important, you may want to spend more time being right (Pres Lincoln being your protag in a history novel, you may want to get his appearance right), than if it's a single throwaway spot (like blanching tomatoes for sauce one Tuesday night in a murder mystery thriller about a killer cyborg). Generally, if you can please the second kind of reader, you're in good shape.

Here are my requirements for accuracy. Your requirements might vary, but in general I find sticking to the points below usually gives you a good working knowledge. The point is to not sound like a moron to most of your audience.

1. Try to demonstrate a reasonable amount of knowledge about the subject.

Meaning, if you want to write a story about a girl whose dream it is to grow up to be a dog show judge, you should try and be a little accurate. The character probably knows about dog breeds and about the procedures and methods of showing... If you're going to mention them and you want your reader to believe in your character, you should know some, too!

For example, while some of us see our neighbor walking a dog, this character might note that Charlie is walking a Skye terrier with a gorgeously effortless gait.

2. The level of accuracy fits the story and/or character.

If you're researching your story and you have nothing left on the cutting room floor when you're done, there's probably too much detail in there. When I was researching for Run Cold, I learned a lot of really cool facts about different customs, cultures, religions, foods, animals, etc- both in Boston and Norway! Unfortunately, while I wanted to share a lot of that with my readers, I couldn't. Heck, Allie Stevens is a biology major, but she couldn't vomit up all her facts and knowledge to prove that she's a bio major. She sees a husky's mismatched eyes and knows about heterochromia, but she can't lecture the reader for a paragraph because a polar bear just tried to eat her and a man shot at it.

Include what you can to make it sound authentic, but be sure your fantastic facts don't get in the way of the story or character.

3. Decide what the story needs. Cut the rest. It's great to know about the color of a polar bear's skin underneath its fur, but did I need that level of accuracy for a bear attack? Turns out I couldn't really include it without taking away from the action. The scene worked, and while I wanted that information in there, my polar bear was still a polar bear.

4. Have an open mind. If you do get good advice from someone, or a reader happens to point out something that makes the story better, don't be afraid to edit!

OKAY. But what about being accurate with unrealistic things?

Want to write a story about space cowboys robbing zombified ant farmers? Go for it! Here's how:

 Make stuff up and then own the inaccuracy.

Take the reader for a wild ride . We can usually tell when someone is trying too hard, and when they're just having fun. If you know there's no way in hell a zombie can climb the ceiling like a gecko without a losing a few parts, but you want to do it anyway, hey, go for it. Let your zombies be the best damn zombies to ever imitate geckos. Give those decaying fingers a parasitic ooze that lets them chill on the ceiling waiting for their next snack. Make them super speedy. Make your hero bulletproof. But do it in a way that says YUP, I WROTE THIS AND I'M PROUD OF IT.

Confidence in your writing goes a long way in inspiring a reader's confidence in you. But if you want to take it one step further, you've got to:

Blend your misinformation seamlessly.

This can take a bit more effort, but if you write in a convincing fashion, you can make it seem like you're accurate without being, well, accurate. Sprinkle your vampire lore here and there throughout the story. Give examples, reasons, back up your thoughts and write like you know what you're talking about. You'd be surprised how accurate you can sound about something you made up!

Read Jurassic Park. It's fiction, and yet, as we're reading about an unfortunate playdate with a T-Rex, damn, it sounds good, doesn't it? That science sounds like it could be possible in that world, maybe even in our world.