On Vox: Doing your research
There's a really interesting post at Mark Athitakis' American Fiction Notes on an essay by Leon Wieseltier. Wieseltier was dismissive of novels which involved lots of - or perhaps even not that much - research, and Mark Athitakis makes some good points in response.
What I'm wondering, though, is why research specifically is being identified as a ( Read more... )
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I often find general fiction's casual foray into historical settings somewhat... er... well... amusing, but often the product is very very good and a brilliant read when well-researched.
It really is the details, the background, the 'getting it right' that can make a novel. The plot, the characters and so on is all very well, but if they are set unrealistically in an incongruous world (which is what you do if you write carelessly about the past) then it's thrown out of whack.
So... yeah.
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