It really doesn’t matter the genre of the story you‘re writing, because if you’re not 100% accurate with any information you’ve written within your book that someone can check you on then at some point in time you will have some reviewer come along and slam you for the mistake. Besides the possibility of being called out on by a reviewer (in my experience usually another writer), I think it’s overall important to have as much accurate information for the quality of the story itself.
There will always be some people who will tear apart your book. None the less I think it’s somewhat easier to accept when someone is just commenting on a storyline or I was caught by this by surprise on Flight when I made a mentioned a 10 cylinder Ford engine at one point of time in the book. Relatively quickly I had a writer point that out in a review that they did of my book that this was not accurate. Although a part of me laughed at having something like this pointed out in a book with demons, werewolves, clerics and paladins, I quickly made the change and updated the incorrect information. None the less it was still upsetting to me that I’d missed something, which became even worse when it was caught and pointed out. All in all I figure that wasn’t bad for my first novel, but it has made me very aware for verifying the information in book two.
In Destiny I have a lot of Military terms that are coming into play. Fortunately for me I am familiar with much of the terminology soldiers’ use from my time in uniform and my current job, which covers Army and Marine jargon for the most part. Of course there are some nuance differences, but for the most part they are relatively interchangeable. Unfortunately this doesn’t help me much when it comes to Navy terms. I’ve been doing my best to get some research done on the subject, but it has been hard to find a good site that lists the true Navy jargon that sailors use day-to-day. To assist me with this I just recently had a retired Commander send me a paper he did in the late 80’s that covers the actual jargon used by sailors. Also, he’s a nice enough guy that I can run terminology that I want to use in the book by him for him to help me tweak.
For some non-military people this might seem like an inconsequential point, but that is where they would be wrong. There are so many ex and active service members out there reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy that it behooves an author to make sure their information is as accurate as possible. Also, I’ve read book and have seen movies where they don’t have the typical military jargon and it really takes away from the quality of the film or book for me on a level that I think even most non-military people pick-up on an unconscious level.
This is important for any topic you’re writing about whether it’s about computer gaming or surfing. Knowing the slang, knowing the culture really gives life to any story. Now-a-day with Youtube.com, googlemaps.com, Facebook.com and all of the other multimedia sites out there we have the ability to really the ability to bring faraway places to life. Anyway, it’s a simple thing to make a better connection with your readers and to make your story that much more solid.
There will always be some people who will tear apart your book. None the less I think it’s somewhat easier to accept when someone is just commenting on a storyline or I was caught by this by surprise on Flight when I made a mentioned a 10 cylinder Ford engine at one point of time in the book. Relatively quickly I had a writer point that out in a review that they did of my book that this was not accurate. Although a part of me laughed at having something like this pointed out in a book with demons, werewolves, clerics and paladins, I quickly made the change and updated the incorrect information. None the less it was still upsetting to me that I’d missed something, which became even worse when it was caught and pointed out. All in all I figure that wasn’t bad for my first novel, but it has made me very aware for verifying the information in book two.
In Destiny I have a lot of Military terms that are coming into play. Fortunately for me I am familiar with much of the terminology soldiers’ use from my time in uniform and my current job, which covers Army and Marine jargon for the most part. Of course there are some nuance differences, but for the most part they are relatively interchangeable. Unfortunately this doesn’t help me much when it comes to Navy terms. I’ve been doing my best to get some research done on the subject, but it has been hard to find a good site that lists the true Navy jargon that sailors use day-to-day. To assist me with this I just recently had a retired Commander send me a paper he did in the late 80’s that covers the actual jargon used by sailors. Also, he’s a nice enough guy that I can run terminology that I want to use in the book by him for him to help me tweak.
For some non-military people this might seem like an inconsequential point, but that is where they would be wrong. There are so many ex and active service members out there reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy that it behooves an author to make sure their information is as accurate as possible. Also, I’ve read book and have seen movies where they don’t have the typical military jargon and it really takes away from the quality of the film or book for me on a level that I think even most non-military people pick-up on an unconscious level.
This is important for any topic you’re writing about whether it’s about computer gaming or surfing. Knowing the slang, knowing the culture really gives life to any story. Now-a-day with Youtube.com, googlemaps.com, Facebook.com and all of the other multimedia sites out there we have the ability to really the ability to bring faraway places to life. Anyway, it’s a simple thing to make a better connection with your readers and to make your story that much more solid.
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