Reading Books
I am a reader.
I read any and everything. But mostly I read fiction books -
mysteries, westerns, adventure, thrillers, and a few romance novels.
I do read a few nonfiction books especially those about pets, dogs,
cats, horses and wildlife as well as gardening, photography and once
in a while a cookbook.
As a small
child I couldn’t understand why I needed to learn to read when I
had two parents to read stories to me. After refusing to read in
first and second grade my mom bought a third grade reader and we
spent all summer reading that book. I got to where I really disliked
those stories. But by the time third grade started I had found other
stories in all the kids books we had and was reading away. I never
stopped.
I think all
people that read a lot, at some point, want to try their hand at
writing stories, novels, or articles, or just keeping a journal or
blog. I know I have. I have this blog and a couple of others. I have
written two novels that have never been published except on my blog.
I have written lots of what is called fan-fiction. Another words
these are stories that people write that are based on TV shows. It is
legal to write them. You just can’t sell them as the TV shows
actually belong to someone.
All of this
being said has just been to let you know that I do know quite a bit
about reading and writing, including having several classes in
literature and writing while in high school and collage.
Now that I am
retired I find I am reading more all the time. And it is easy to read
now without even having to go to the library or buy books. The
internet has made it so you can get books for free or for only a few
dollars. And this has caused more and more people to try to write
fiction books.
And a lot of
those books are really good. But---------
And this is the
problem. Many of those want-to-authors don’t know what they are
writing about and don’t do the research to find out. This means
they are putting out miss-information. It may be a fiction book but
if it is not labeled as science fiction or fantasy it should hold
true to what we know is true in our lives.
So you ask –
what are the problems or untruths I am referring to? Well, most of
them are not major things. Most of what I see that is wrong are just
minor, nit-picking things. But to me if you don’t know when a plant
blooms – don’t put it in the story. If you don’t know about
horses, even if you like them, don’t write about them. If you don’t
know about how a car works- don’t write about it.
One of the
biggest mistakes I have seen and my husband caught this one when he
read the same book, was a mystery novel that mentioned when Al Gore
was president. NOT. Al Gore was a vice president under Bill Clinton
and ran for president, but was never president.
Several years
ago one of the first mistakes I caught was a cozy mystery that said
that a horse was a stallion at the beginning of a paragraph, then
called the same horse a gelding, and then again called him a
stallion. NOT. All males horses are born as stallions but most of
then are then castrated making them a gelding. He can’t change back
and forth. This told me the author did not know what she was writing
about. I didn’t read any more in that book.
I have seen
many authors describing a landscape and not knowing what plants were
native to the area. One person wrote that there were wild sunflowers
blooming in Montana in March. NOT. Montana does have wild sunflowers,
but in March they would just be starting to sprout and grow with the
flower coming on in July or August. Even March can be a little early
for any flower to start coming out.
Recently I read
a mystery where the author had the main character remembering that
she had taken “dressage” lessons at the tinder age of five which
is why she know knew how to ride a horse. I child of five can take
horseback riding lessons, but ---- “dressage” is the most
advanced form of horseback riding – not anything a child would
learn at age five. Very few casual horseback riders ever even try
this.
Back to
nonfiction books. Seen in a cookbook.
The recipe said
to bring the eggs to a boil and boil for three minutes and they would
be done. And this would be true if done at an altitude of less that
1000 feet or so, which is most of the eastern United States,
California and a few other places. But – if you lived at the 6500
foot altitude, as I did at that time, it takes about 20 minutes to
boil an egg. Pasta is another food that takes much longer to cook at
a higher altitude. Even just water takes longer to boil at the
different altitudes. Most food cooked at a high altitude takes longer
to cook that it does at a lower altitude. I have only seen this
mentioned in a few cookbooks. You will find it added to the
instructions of most cake mix boxes that you get at the store.
I am not the
only reader that notices minor mistakes in books. I have talked to a
lot of other people who mention seeing these kind of problems and
then not reading the rest of the book. A friend
said she read a book
where the author said something about the way a car operated. She
asked a mechanic and he said it wasn’t so. I didn’t read that
book so I can’t comment on if it was or not.
In another book
the author wrote that someone was using thousand dollar bills to buy
an older car. Being a cashier for a very long time I decided to find
out when the last thousand dollar bill was issued. It was back in
1946. Plus I found out that most thousand dollar bills are in museums
or in private collections. My five minutes of research also informed
me that if you did have even one of those thousand dollar bills it
might be worth more to a collector. A whole lot more than that
thousand dollars.
I am not trying
to keep people from trying to write a novel. But do remember to check
out the little things as well as the big things. Write and write and
write some more but be aware of what you are writing. Go back and
read some of the great mysteries if that is what you are writing, or
find out more about pets or plants before writing about them. Even if
you know a lot about a subject. If you arn’t sure, check it out.
With the internet there is no excuse for not finding out about
things.
I have read all
of the books by good mystery writers like C. J. Box, A. J. Jance,
Steven Havell, Sue Henry, Nevada Barr, Craig Johnson, and Dick
Francis, as well as a lot of others. I have read all of the books by
Zane Gray, Louis L'Amour, Luke Short, and many other Westerns. I have
to say I do not remember ever reading anything by these famous
authors that made we wonder if it was true. In fact I have read and
re-read and read again many of the books by these authors.
If I were to
actually write a book I would want it to be their kind of books. In a
way these are some of my heroes because of the kind of books they
wrote and some of them are still writing. They are the kind of
writers I will pay good money to get a new book when it first comes
out. Don’t be a person who writes books that are free. Write the
good ones.
