I'll start by telling a story about my dad. He was an avid reader, grew up dirt poor. One of his brothers also loved to read and they had to share whatever cheap paperbacks they could find. My dad was a fast reader, so he tore the pages out as he went and handed them to his brother. Lol. I was appalled by that story of course as I treasured every book I could get my hand on, and until I went to school all my books came from the city dump. Later I learned that Dad also read the ends of books first to see whether he was going to like them or not. He taught me to read when I was four. We both read everything in view, including can labels, cereal boxes, old newspapers.
As for books being ruined for me, it doesn't often happen because of details, or my knowing too much, or the author's personal life (the less I know about the author the better usually). But I do require good writing and correct grammar (unless it's dialogue).
I read at least a book a week. I read poetry every morning, and fall asleep reading a book.
As for movies and TV, I will drop someone in a second and never look back. Woody Allen was the first to go, and I was a HUGE fan of his work. My list of never watch again grows daily. Thankfully, there seems to be a never-ending stream of new things to watch.
Thank you so much for Spark! I look forward to it every week.
I try to get the details right when I'm writing about something I'm not totally familiar with because it bugs me when someone-even one of my favorites like Elmore Leonard-gets something wrong.
One that recently made me toss the book to the ground was a teen character in Victorian England who compared something to the behavior of an aquatic animal on the ocean floor. All I could think was "Watch that on a National Geographic special on London Cable, did ya?"
Funny that this came up today because in a rush last night I may have made the name of a character somewhat implausible based on ethnic roots. I really try to get those types of things correct, though the American melting pot allows for some wiggle.
May 21, 2022·edited May 22, 2022Liked by Elizabeth Marro
I was reading a crime thriller and the author called a Glock semiautomatic 9 mm pistol a revolver and it nearly ruined the book despite it being quite good up to that point and beyond. Worse still, it's the thing I remember most, not the twists and turns. I have a hard time with most crime and medical shows for similar reasons. Crime shows love to nemd/brak/mutilate basic procedures and only once have I seen CPR simulated reasonably accurately on a medical show. When these obvious details are ignored or just gotten wrong it breaks our suspension of disbelief. It's quite jarring, especially if it's something that is really trivial like a style of gun or not compressing chests from your elbows.
A author, John Harvey, who writes Resnick crime novels, and used to be a neighbour, described a chase in our inner-city area, a place called Lenton, concluding in the stabbing and death of the young man being chased. It was graphic to the point that I physically felt the pain, so I know exactly what you mean when you write ‘ they get them so right I feel the horror of them too deeply’. Robert
Oofta - like writing a historical novel about the Revolution with a great part of your readers being Revolutionary War reenactors . . . Talk about putting your head in the lion's mouth.
Sometimes it is hard to separate the art from the artist. I have found it daunting when I have loved a movie or show and then find out something distressing about one of the directors or actors. Reality ruins my fictional escape!
I never really look to dismiss a book because of factual errors. I just skim over them usually unless they ruin the plot. Which honestly, rarely happens. Mostly a book is ruined if the plot seems implausible.
I will say one thing that ruined some books for me; meeting the author. I hate saying it though, because almost all of the authors I have met are fabulous.
I won’t say who it was, but it is a famous female author who cranks out a multitude of books, many bestsellers, who is not nice in person. I have not read any books from her since then. Call it a grudge perhaps, but now I just find her work distasteful.
I haven’t run across a book that got something so wrong I didn’t pick it back up or it ruined things. I try to zoom out a bit, remind myself it’s a story, and continue. The author is likely trying like hell to get a lot of things right at once.
As a writer, I try to get things right. One short piece I’m doing now is taking a surprising amount of research and even small details have to be confirmed. Should I bother? Why not set the story in someplace familiar? I could, but it’s both challenge and practice. There’s value in embracing that, especially for short works.
While in a writing group, one thing that captured me was a member accurately described the smell of decomposition. It delighted me and made me all the more interested in the piece. Perhaps it was a lucky break, but makes a difference.
I think if you can do it right, go for it. If you can’t, try as hard as you can. If you don’t think you can do it right, maybe fall back and take a different angle.
I can't remember when I knew some facts were wrong and it ruined a story for me, but I do remember reading that early 80s Civil War historical fiction -- "The North and the South" when I learned a few "facts" that I hadn't known, and in fact, remember one more than I remember the characters in that trilogy (I think I only read the first book). The fact was about when matches were invented.
I read somewhere that a novelist of some repute told about a letter he received from a reader who informed him that a particular tree he'd mentioned in his book didn't, in fact, grow in Kansas. "It's fiction," he replied. But still, getting the facts right is what makes an author an author-ity.
Oh, and PS I've never read the end of a book before I come to it. Sometimes the tension keeps me up way too late, but there's never a sleep-deprived next day that I regretted staying awake to find out what happens.
Thanks for this thoughtful newsletter, Betsy. As alwasy.
As an aside, I had my second Covid booster which was the Pfizer one, after having Moderna for the first 3 shots. I was sick after the first three but didn't have any reaction after the Pfizer shot. Go figure.
When I read a book, unlike most people I don't notice grammar errors, I don't try to guess the ending, I don't get caught up in the little details and whether they are right or not. I read for the enjoyment and pleasure of going on a journey the author wanted to take me on. I never see the surprise or twist coming and most times I don't contemplate what the ending might be. Some people call that "oblivious," I call it bliss. lol
May 22, 2022·edited May 22, 2022Liked by Elizabeth Marro
To answer the three questions. Never. Never. Never. We are all mortal, blessed with fragility. I choose not to read horror or stories about abuse. I suspect many readers are drawn to such things for the same reason they are drawn to TV soaps - they find comfort in knowing there are people out there, real and imagined, living lives far worse than their own. - Robert
I'll start by telling a story about my dad. He was an avid reader, grew up dirt poor. One of his brothers also loved to read and they had to share whatever cheap paperbacks they could find. My dad was a fast reader, so he tore the pages out as he went and handed them to his brother. Lol. I was appalled by that story of course as I treasured every book I could get my hand on, and until I went to school all my books came from the city dump. Later I learned that Dad also read the ends of books first to see whether he was going to like them or not. He taught me to read when I was four. We both read everything in view, including can labels, cereal boxes, old newspapers.
As for books being ruined for me, it doesn't often happen because of details, or my knowing too much, or the author's personal life (the less I know about the author the better usually). But I do require good writing and correct grammar (unless it's dialogue).
I read at least a book a week. I read poetry every morning, and fall asleep reading a book.
As for movies and TV, I will drop someone in a second and never look back. Woody Allen was the first to go, and I was a HUGE fan of his work. My list of never watch again grows daily. Thankfully, there seems to be a never-ending stream of new things to watch.
Thank you so much for Spark! I look forward to it every week.
I try to get the details right when I'm writing about something I'm not totally familiar with because it bugs me when someone-even one of my favorites like Elmore Leonard-gets something wrong.
One that recently made me toss the book to the ground was a teen character in Victorian England who compared something to the behavior of an aquatic animal on the ocean floor. All I could think was "Watch that on a National Geographic special on London Cable, did ya?"
Funny that this came up today because in a rush last night I may have made the name of a character somewhat implausible based on ethnic roots. I really try to get those types of things correct, though the American melting pot allows for some wiggle.
I was reading a crime thriller and the author called a Glock semiautomatic 9 mm pistol a revolver and it nearly ruined the book despite it being quite good up to that point and beyond. Worse still, it's the thing I remember most, not the twists and turns. I have a hard time with most crime and medical shows for similar reasons. Crime shows love to nemd/brak/mutilate basic procedures and only once have I seen CPR simulated reasonably accurately on a medical show. When these obvious details are ignored or just gotten wrong it breaks our suspension of disbelief. It's quite jarring, especially if it's something that is really trivial like a style of gun or not compressing chests from your elbows.
A author, John Harvey, who writes Resnick crime novels, and used to be a neighbour, described a chase in our inner-city area, a place called Lenton, concluding in the stabbing and death of the young man being chased. It was graphic to the point that I physically felt the pain, so I know exactly what you mean when you write ‘ they get them so right I feel the horror of them too deeply’. Robert
Oofta - like writing a historical novel about the Revolution with a great part of your readers being Revolutionary War reenactors . . . Talk about putting your head in the lion's mouth.
Sometimes it is hard to separate the art from the artist. I have found it daunting when I have loved a movie or show and then find out something distressing about one of the directors or actors. Reality ruins my fictional escape!
I never really look to dismiss a book because of factual errors. I just skim over them usually unless they ruin the plot. Which honestly, rarely happens. Mostly a book is ruined if the plot seems implausible.
I will say one thing that ruined some books for me; meeting the author. I hate saying it though, because almost all of the authors I have met are fabulous.
I won’t say who it was, but it is a famous female author who cranks out a multitude of books, many bestsellers, who is not nice in person. I have not read any books from her since then. Call it a grudge perhaps, but now I just find her work distasteful.
I haven’t run across a book that got something so wrong I didn’t pick it back up or it ruined things. I try to zoom out a bit, remind myself it’s a story, and continue. The author is likely trying like hell to get a lot of things right at once.
As a writer, I try to get things right. One short piece I’m doing now is taking a surprising amount of research and even small details have to be confirmed. Should I bother? Why not set the story in someplace familiar? I could, but it’s both challenge and practice. There’s value in embracing that, especially for short works.
While in a writing group, one thing that captured me was a member accurately described the smell of decomposition. It delighted me and made me all the more interested in the piece. Perhaps it was a lucky break, but makes a difference.
I think if you can do it right, go for it. If you can’t, try as hard as you can. If you don’t think you can do it right, maybe fall back and take a different angle.
I can't remember when I knew some facts were wrong and it ruined a story for me, but I do remember reading that early 80s Civil War historical fiction -- "The North and the South" when I learned a few "facts" that I hadn't known, and in fact, remember one more than I remember the characters in that trilogy (I think I only read the first book). The fact was about when matches were invented.
I read somewhere that a novelist of some repute told about a letter he received from a reader who informed him that a particular tree he'd mentioned in his book didn't, in fact, grow in Kansas. "It's fiction," he replied. But still, getting the facts right is what makes an author an author-ity.
Oh, and PS I've never read the end of a book before I come to it. Sometimes the tension keeps me up way too late, but there's never a sleep-deprived next day that I regretted staying awake to find out what happens.
Thanks for this thoughtful newsletter, Betsy. As alwasy.
As an aside, I had my second Covid booster which was the Pfizer one, after having Moderna for the first 3 shots. I was sick after the first three but didn't have any reaction after the Pfizer shot. Go figure.
When I read a book, unlike most people I don't notice grammar errors, I don't try to guess the ending, I don't get caught up in the little details and whether they are right or not. I read for the enjoyment and pleasure of going on a journey the author wanted to take me on. I never see the surprise or twist coming and most times I don't contemplate what the ending might be. Some people call that "oblivious," I call it bliss. lol
To answer the three questions. Never. Never. Never. We are all mortal, blessed with fragility. I choose not to read horror or stories about abuse. I suspect many readers are drawn to such things for the same reason they are drawn to TV soaps - they find comfort in knowing there are people out there, real and imagined, living lives far worse than their own. - Robert