Doing the research

Everyone knows that you should do research for any story to make sure you get the facts right.  Few people actually point out why this is an important thing, and why you shouldn’t slack off because it’s fantasy and it’s all made up anyway.  Case in point, bestselling author Beverly Lewis vs. my wife the horse person.  Now, after we met Mary Ellis at the Buckeye Book Fair, Michelle went and got hooked on Amish spirituals.  It wasn’t very surprising since, as you might guess, that genre has a lot to do with farming, livestock and the countryside, which happen to be three of my wife’s favorite things.  So, after she finished Mary Ellis’ Amish oeuvre and loved it, I went and bought her some of Beverly Lewis’ work.

Then, late one evening, I hear my wife cry out “Oh My God!”  I rush in, fearing that something awful had happened, and see her staring at the Lewis book with an expression of disgust.  I ask her what’s wrong, and she proceeds to read me a passage where a veterinarian is recommending to the Amish farmer that he bed down a foundering horse on black walnut shavings.  If you have anything to do with horses, yes you read that right.  If you don’t, let me ‘splain: Black walnut is toxic to horses.  In fact, I very much doubt you can purchase black walnut animal bedding of any sort.  And, ever since, my wife has been bitching to anyone who will listen about this and all the other horecare fails in the book.

Object lesson.  Whatever you write about, if you get a fact really wrong, someone will read it and feel strongly enough about it to regale all their friends far and wide about what you screwed up.  This is why you do the research, and do it in more than one place because if you have a single source in a community, they might just have a warped sense of humor.

(And no, I’m not immune from this.  I’ve been told about the Glock in Dragons of the Cuyahoga many, many times.  Firearms fail.)