I’ve mentioned in some previous blogposts how accuracy can be difficult, and I’m by nature someone who wants everything in my books to be truthful and factual where it can be, but there are a couple of exceptions.
In tEXt me, there were a couple of points raised by my beta readers, over when Googling became common parlance, when MP3 players came and when ‘LOL’ became a term. All of these were actually accurate, and I had experience of them at the time the novel is set, but it was a red flag that more than one reader found the references jarring, as they didn’t feel they were mainstream enough to be believable in the early 2000s. None of these things were central to my plot, so I took the decision to replace them in the narrative, as, well, that’s partly what beta readers are for; to pick up on things I’ve missed and provide a reader’s view.
A bigger issue was with The Raven Sound though. For readers outside Liverpool to easily understand the location, I refer to Toxteth as being the setting. The problem is, people who lived in this area prior to 1981 would never refer to it as that, it was simply ‘L8,’ and recognised as that term in common parlance. While the area of Toxteth (like neighbouring Smithdown) has a history going back to the Domesday Book, no-one would ever have used that term prior to the media coverage of the riots. I don’t know if it’s unique to Liverpool (and parts of London), but the postcode itself was the place you said you lived, or were going to. I finally had to accept that this isn’t a history book, and I could either be accurate for readers in Liverpool over the age of forty, or use an alternative which is better known for everyone else. I’m still a bit uncomfortable about that, but have to accept that readability sometimes, just sometimes, has to trump accuracy.
Stay safe,
Kit