I was reading this entry earlier, about mistakes that can pull you out of the story when the author hasn't researched properly. It made me think about how frustrating I often find research
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It's just so satisfying when a story (or show or movie) gets it right. And you can look, and say "Yes, that's it, that's what it's like if you live here." Especially with the tiny obscure details, or with the nebulous feel of a complex system/location/culture.
But of course it's so hard to research. You can look up train schedules and google endless points and get three different betas from the right region, and it's still hard; what if you misinterpret? What if this particular bit is something your beta happens not to know? (I wouldn't know anything about local tv stations, for example, because I hardly ever watch tv.) What if this is something city-specific and your beta only knows the wider state/country default, or vice versa? I'm sure this is the kind of mistake I make all the time, whenever I write stories set somewhere I don't know, no matter how hard I try to avoid it; all I can do is hope I guess right
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I recently saw "Gone Baby Gone" and you definitely knew the director had a feel for the neighborhood there! Most of the extras were from the area, and they filmed there a lot. Sometimes Ben Affleck felt he almost felt like he ought to pull back because it was too cliche, but since it was real he'd just go for it. I remember the co-writer or somebody was like "I just love the way you don't just have everybody standing around talking about chowdah because it's Boston." He said that was his backup was to have them talk about chowdah.
But then some writers have a real flair for doing that sort of thing in general, so if it's where they come from it's extra rich. I think Susan Cooper, when she wrote The Dark is Rising, was already living in America, so when she writes about England there's an element of homesickness to it that gives all the details that much more emotion.
I have a friend who's a lifelong Bostonian who says that the only time she hears movie Boston accents done right is in Ben Affleck and/or Matt Damon films. (I'm not as much of a moviegoer and a more recent Boston transplant, so I don't have as sharp an ear for it, nor as long a list of ones that did it wrong.)
And yes, very much so, to Susan Cooper's depictions of England. On the other hand, Will's American Aunt Fran is one of those British-created Americans that hits a jarring note now and then, for me. There are a few of her turns of phrase in Greenwitch that are just utterly wrong for the American she's supposed to be.
I was totally thinking of Fran when I wrote it! One thing that always sticks out for me is that she hasn't got that many lines, and yet in one of her lines she uses the word "shall." I always think she must have picked that one up from her husband.:-)
I remember hearing a lot of people in Zimbabwe were thrilled by Leonardo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond." Somebody said he wasn't perfect on all of his vowels, but all in all he was really good and they were just amazed to hear their accent represented in a movie at all.
Well, and not just the accents but also the geography-their movies would never make that "Enchanted" mistake. One of my favorite things about Good Will Hunting was how faithful it was to the general layout of Harvard Square, as well as very tiny things about being a student at Harvard that Damon would of course know-when I saw it there were a few little things that only I and like, six other people in the theater laughed at.
Yes, in GBG Ben Affleck points out the one bar that a guy goes to that isn't in the neighborhood. But he even gave him a reason for it--he said he'd figured he'd want to have this meeting where nobody would know him. I loved that he was always thinking exactly where he would be.
Unlike, for instance, the TV movie of Salem's Lot I remember Stephen King said he laughed at. Although SL isn't a real place, he knew basically where it was--there's a real town that's geographically where Castle Rock is supposed to be, for instance. Anyway, in the TV movie he said there's a place where characters get into a car and blithely head off to see a movie in Bangor, which he figures will be something like a 5 hour drive.
But of course it's so hard to research. You can look up train schedules and google endless points and get three different betas from the right region, and it's still hard; what if you misinterpret? What if this particular bit is something your beta happens not to know? (I wouldn't know anything about local tv stations, for example, because I hardly ever watch tv.) What if this is something city-specific and your beta only knows the wider state/country default, or vice versa? I'm sure this is the kind of mistake I make all the time, whenever I write stories set somewhere I don't know, no matter how hard I try to avoid it; all I can do is hope I guess right ( ... )
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But then some writers have a real flair for doing that sort of thing in general, so if it's where they come from it's extra rich. I think Susan Cooper, when she wrote The Dark is Rising, was already living in America, so when she writes about England there's an element of homesickness to it that gives all the details that much more emotion.
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And yes, very much so, to Susan Cooper's depictions of England. On the other hand, Will's American Aunt Fran is one of those British-created Americans that hits a jarring note now and then, for me. There are a few of her turns of phrase in Greenwitch that are just utterly wrong for the American she's supposed to be.
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I remember hearing a lot of people in Zimbabwe were thrilled by Leonardo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond." Somebody said he wasn't perfect on all of his vowels, but all in all he was really good and they were just amazed to hear their accent represented in a movie at all.
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Ooh, neat! I hadn't heard that about "Blood Diamond," but that's very cool that they tried to get the accent right, and that he was passable at it.
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Unlike, for instance, the TV movie of Salem's Lot I remember Stephen King said he laughed at. Although SL isn't a real place, he knew basically where it was--there's a real town that's geographically where Castle Rock is supposed to be, for instance. Anyway, in the TV movie he said there's a place where characters get into a car and blithely head off to see a movie in Bangor, which he figures will be something like a 5 hour drive.
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