Writers Tips - Authenticity

In any artistic endeavour it is important to create an illusion. In books, film and television a story transports the reader or the viewer into a different world. In music a wrong note can completely destroy the mood. To help sustain the illusion, writing a book requires a great deal of research to make every detail as authentic as possible. Research was covered at more length in the CRA Writers Tips dealing with that topic. Its importance cannot be overestimated.

But there is more to this than just researching information. In addition to research into real circumstances, there is another kind of continuity that is also vital if a book is to be convincing. All the details within the world of the book itself have to be consistent. Details of characters can’t be contradictory. To give an obvious example, an orphan can’t visit his or her mother. Physical characteristics, tastes and habits, ambitions and anxieties, everything about a character must be consistent.

Writing a series makes this kind of continuity even more important – and far more difficult. Without detailed records, it becomes impossible. Keep a record, whether physical or electronic, of dates, locations, characters and relationships. In a stand alone book you may be able to manage unaided. In a series, it’s far too risky to rely on your memory. Not only do you need to make notes, but you have to be able to access your records when you need them.  You never know when you might need to check some small detail. Electronic storage is probably the best, as you can search for names or key words. Some authors display charts, or use exercise books. Experiment with different systems and use whatever works for you.

No detail is insignificant, however trivial it might seem.  A reader somewhere will notice slips, and if an error is spotted by a reviewer, that can colour their impression of the entire book. A friend of mine described a train journey one of her characters took. Because the journey was a familiar one, she didn’t bother to check it and by mistake transposed two of the stations on the route. A reviewer in the Guardian liked her book, but criticised her heavily for failing to research the details. As a result the review was less than complimentary.

If, like me, you have every minutiae of your work in progress in your mind, but might forget details of earlier books in your series, thorough record keeping is essential. And if, like me, you find yourself writing a spin off series as well as a first series, consistency becomes doubly complicated. Fortunately my editor has a good memory, and is quick to pick up any inconsistencies. Don’t rely on yourself to remember everything.

Make notes, keep records, and find a trustworthy reader with a good memory to help you create consistency in your characters and locations.

This article was first published on the CWA website

978-1842433546

Once I shared an embarrassing ‘secret’ with a group of friends. I was a tad tipsy at the time. ‘Don’t you find that always happens?’ My question was greeted by blank faces and a chorus of ‘No’s. So I’m not going to stick my neck out here in public and suggest that every published author reacts like me on seeing their first ISBN number.

I danced round the room (only my devoted husband would acknowledge my clumsy gyrations as dancing, but still….) I learned my ISBN number off by heart, wrote it in my diary, displayed it on my desk – I was as silly with it as I had been with the name of my first boyfriend, which I scribbled in the back of my school books and inside my pencil case. (In case you’re wondering, I can’t remember that particular ISBN number any more. Or the name of my first boyfriend.)

The idea for an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was dreamed up in Britain in the mid 1960s. It rapidly caught on as an international system for identifying individual books, to avoid the confusion of books being allocated different codes by each distributor. 150 agencies now issue the codes worldwide, one per country. With so many books uploaded daily, a uniform means of identification would seem more necessary than ever. Yet paradoxically, with the phenomenal growth in digital self-publishing, there is discussion about whether ISBN numbers are necessary or relevant today. Publishers buy blocks of ISBN numbers, but for an individual writer self-publishing their own book, it is an additional cost they might not wish to incur for a title that is unlikely to enter large distribution chains.

A further threat to the uniform system was introduced when Amazon established the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). Other suppliers followed suit. A brief scout online revealed four separate codes on UK sites alone for one of my novels in ebook form. That’s just the ebook. Including different editions of the paperback, audio books, large print, and the rest, worldwide, I can’t imagine how many codes must exist for just one book. As the system fragments, the notion of an ISBN number does begin to seem a little outdated.

Seeing my first ISBN number was genuinely thrilling. It signalled the transformation of my words into a real book with an independent existence. With so many books published, it is likely there will be another book with the same title, maybe even written by an author sharing your name. But an ISBN number was once a unique tag, ensuring an individual book could be correctly identified anywhere in the world without risk of confusion with another title.

It is true that if we abandon ISBN numbers it will make no difference to books per se. Perhaps the system is becoming unworkable with so many outlets globally for so many more books. Maybe I’m being sentimental over the memory of my excitement at seeing my first, special, ISBN number. Yet for me as an author ISBN codes represent more than a practical function, facilitating communication along the distribution chain. I can’t help feeling that something significant will be lost if we abandon the ISBN number. It’s nothing tangible. But like cloned life forms, books will lose a touch of magic in relinquishing their unique DNA.

PS
Ironically, the ISBN number in the title of this post is sadly not the original ISBN number of the first edition of Cut Short which is now out of print. The cheap initial edition has been replaced by a glossy B format edition.