(Originally posted on LiveJournal)
So, after complaining about faulty research for an episode of NCIS a couple of days ago, it occured to me that I needed to check on a couple of details for my novel on Godiva.
In an early scene, before she goes to meet the Earl of Mercia, I have Godiva sitting in her home in London, wearing a velvet gown. But then it occured to me that I should check when velvet was introduced to England. Alas, that was in 1278. So she can’t wear velvet. Silk was known and very rare, so that’s one possibility. But I suspect, I will have to change that one little mention to having her gown made of a fine wool. There was plenty of that in England in the 1040s.
Then there was the matter of the construction of Coventry castle. Hmmm. No stonework (that came in with the Normans). I need to check my descriptions of the keep.
Fortunately, these are minor tweaks that I have to make. But I still need to make them. I much prefer to have these details correct. Perhaps it’s all those years fact checking for Jeopardy! Either way, getting the details right adds to the subtle sense of reality, I think.
You know, such things are a bit easier when you are writing about a fantasy world — you don’t have to worry about when a particular fabric or style of building was introduced to a culture. But real historical periods require a bit more attention.
Hey ho.
Comments
lisa_marli – Apr. 16th, 2009
Actually, Fantasy fans who are historic costuming nuts, have been known to bitch if something is Way Off from the “period” it is set in. Yeah, the writer can claim “It’s a Fantasy” but fans will still complain when it shows sloppy research. But another rule we’ve learned, if the research is That Sloppy, then the writing usually is as well.
It’s Not That Hard in this day and age of computers and the Web!
And Thank You for caring and correcting the errors. It does show a level of neatness that makes the rest of the work better for it.
scribblerworks – Apr. 16th, 2009
I’m not going to claim that some errors like this won’t creep in. And some things I just have to guess at – such as Coventry castle being of the motte-and-bailey type in that period.
But it’s just more satisfying to me to get things as right as I can.
wild_patience – Apr. 16th, 2009
Thank you for checking. That kind of thing throws me out of the story. Sometimes I even wonder if it’s accurate and stop to go look something up.
scribblerworks – Apr. 16th, 2009
Something like whether velvet was present in the Anglo-Saxon period wouldn’t have occurred to me usually, simply because I like the fabric. But because so much of the story deals with economic issues, and I wanted to show Godiva’s wealth in various ways … well, that did trigger the question of “Did they have it?”
jpantalleresco – Apr. 16th, 2009
You should go to George RR Martin’s FAQ page. He has a great list of books he researches.
