BlaiseCorvin
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Writing workshop - a thought about the necessity of delivering technical minutia
🕑 Added 2020-09-28 14:30:00 +0000 UTC
I have a bad habit of assuming that people who are interested in the same stuff I am into also know as much as I know about these subjects.
Social media helps me remember this is not always true.
This post is actually meant to be sincere, not snarky or self-aggrandizing. Anyway, these reminders help me while working on a book to explain things better. Explanations or descriptions need to be for folks who don't know about something--which I usually try to include--but also for the folks who have like...half-baked knowledge.
Some of the best advice out there is to write what you know. I've built a career on this...but it's also important to write /for/ the people who are interested in what you know, but might need a refresher.
---*I know I'm going to get this question, so here goes:
"BC, what is the difference between writing for someone who doesn't know anything about a subject (let's say...guns), and someone who knows a small to decent amount about it?"
The difference is in minutia of details.
Using guns for example, let's say I have a character who is firing a machine gun that fires from an open bolt, like a MAC-10.
Someone who doesn't know anything about guns and doesn't care doesn't need any details past that. They just read "machinegun" and that's enough for them.
However, people who are interested in machine guns but don't know as much as they think they do about them might do a double take and assume that I'm an idiot who doesn't understand how guns work...even though I've actually shot a MAC-10 before and spent a few years of my life dealing with machine guns for work.
So for these readers, it's important to include some minutia about how the weapon works, or a mental note by the character that they prefer closed bolt weapons, etc etc. This stuff is basically subtext that yes, this is factual stuff. At the very least it usually makes people look stuff up rather than going straight to 1 star reviews.
For subject matter experts, that extra sentence or two is not necessary, and might even seem redundant, but in the end, they don't really mind. Readers who don't care...don't care.
But folks with the half-baked knowledge who think they know stuff they don't know? They either get a refresher or learn something, which not only prevents 1 star reviews (and can result in more 5 star reviews), it actually helps more readers enjoy my books.
At the end of the day, I'm an entertainer. If someone is frustrated or angry because they think I got something wrong, it can actually spoil the book for them. I want people to have fun while reading my books...
So again, I'm glad for the reminders (sometimes daily) to put that extra sentence or two in a book so that I can do my job better.
TL:DR
It's not always enough to just know about or have researched a subject as an author, sometimes you need to give a few more details to help readers with a dangerous--but incomplete--amount of knowledge keep enjoying the book.
Another example is "firing" a bow. In a non-gunpowder culture, nobody would ever say "fire" a bow. So a quick thought by a character like:
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"Archers, fire!" shouted Frank. He knew the actual command would be "loose," but fuck it. He was from 21st century America, not his current pseudo-medieval fantasy hellhole! Luckily, his soldiers obviously understood what he'd meant because a volley of arrows rained down on the charging goblins.
Comments
Jimmy
I wish to eventually at least write a couple of books to get this world and story I have cooking up in my head onto paper. Your posts like this one have definitely helped me understand what it takes to write a successful story. I have done a fair amount of research into some of the aspects of the story (like your example of armor and weapons in everyday life and that it isn't feasible to wear full plate armor all day every day, especially while traveling long distances) and I plan to do alot more as it develops. Hopefully it will be enough to appease most of the people who would read it. So I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to write posts such as this that essential make you no money, but help aspiring authors.
Blaise Corvin
Thank you for the kind words!
Tim Vowels
I sometimes forget that an author may have limited knowledge of something I have been around. Take your example of firearms. I have limited knowledge of firearms but no means an expert. I build some reload some and have shot many. So when I read or hear something that I know is not factual, I tend to loss focus. So, thank you for helping to understand My own short comings and to realize that things I have no knowledge of or don’t interest me enough to bother me may very well be what can ruin a book for someone else. Being a writer is much more than telling a story. I see there is a lot of research and or experts you must have or do. Thank you for your skill, time and imagination. Tim V
Blaise Corvin
That's for you to decide, but if you ever write, just make sure to double check things. I doubt you're a Dunning-Kruger sort of person, because I don't really see you get angry about stuff you think people have written incorrectly that was actually correct...lol. In the past, I absolutely was a Dunning-Krugerite. When I was in my early 20's, I thought I knew a lot about medieval warfare, when in reality, a lot of what I thought I knew had crossover with fantasy books. In reality, people never wandered around in real life with like... full armor, a bow, and a sword and shield. That's just too much shit to carry around 24/7.
Jimmy
That was informative and entertaining. So, now I'm curious where I would fall. I have a lot of half baked knowledge about a lot of things, but I also know it is incomplete and I don't know everything. Would I fall in-between the professionals that actually know what they are talking about and the people who think they know everything that they are talking about?
