Again according to her intro and some on-line interviews she did let some UK-based friends read it and they seemed to pat her on the back and say 'jolly good'.
Of course, friends are bound to be supportive and she would have been better advised to have the draft beta-read by someone impartial who could point out the flaws.
I think I'd twitch the whole way through watching a girl be called Pete, unless there's a bloody good explanation for that. I can't even work out what it'd be short for. When's it supposed to be set?
It is short for Petunia - I think her folks were old hippies as her other sister was called Morning Glory (she shortened hers to MG).
Strangely the author has given her an Anglo-Saxon surname (I have a friend with this surname) and then decided her family is from Ireland. Not impossible but with all the surnames available that can be attributed to the Irish Republic it seemed weird.
The setting is suppose to be contemporary as there is gravestone linked to her Dad which reads January 2003 and earlier Pete says that he died 8 years ago making the setting 2011.
Strangely the author has given her an Anglo-Saxon surname (I have a friend with this surname) and then decided her family is from Ireland. Not impossible but with all the surnames available that can be attributed to the Irish Republic it seemed weird. Perhaps it's because whenever Americans say their family is from Ireland, they tend to mean those who left around the time of the potato famine :P
Maybe though Petunia refers to her summer visits to Grandmother Caldecott's house in Galway. I had to wonder if she'd even googled Caldecott's origins or just thought it sounded cool. There is no indication if she was born in Ireland or UK.
The Irish connection is a little strange as Jack seems to practice a form of Irish magic and does all his incantations in Irish.
I do understand your point about Americans with Irish ancestors and I expect that she fell back on this tradition because it was familiar rather than researching English magical traditions.
I see she has a LJ as well and claims that people think she's English because she swears a lot. My mind is boggled.
Edit: Now I've read her LJ and seen something of the writing process including her research trip to London in 2007. It is always dangerous reading something like this because then you see the ups and downs of bringing a book to birth.
Fanfic writers though often are more disciplined and also are more likely to use a forum. I did read back on her LJ and there was an appeal for her friendlist in the UK to 'tell me all about...' - not really how it works. :)
Yeah, I think there's something about becoming professional that just makes research go out the window for some odd reason.
Considering that for one fanfic I wrote my notes were longer than the actual story, I have very little tolerance for published books who don't do the same.
A little Mary-Sueish though early on it is stated she worked day and night to secure the position. Strange then to go off book so much when Jack appears.
I do have some empathy for the author in terms of her desire for a London setting - I also fell in love with the city when I first visited in from the USA (I was born in England but raised in N.Am) and was determined to live there - which I did a few years later.
Still, it is a difficult task for any writer on a short visit to capture a city to the satisfaction of someone who has lived there. I read authors like China Miéville and Amanda Craig and more recently Erin Kelly and it is so obvious that they are Londoners because they just so effortlessly capture a sense of it.
I would think the same might be true of a writer based in New York being able to capture a sense of its streets and rhythms.
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Of course, friends are bound to be supportive and she would have been better advised to have the draft beta-read by someone impartial who could point out the flaws.
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Strangely the author has given her an Anglo-Saxon surname (I have a friend with this surname) and then decided her family is from Ireland. Not impossible but with all the surnames available that can be attributed to the Irish Republic it seemed weird.
The setting is suppose to be contemporary as there is gravestone linked to her Dad which reads January 2003 and earlier Pete says that he died 8 years ago making the setting 2011.
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Perhaps it's because whenever Americans say their family is from Ireland, they tend to mean those who left around the time of the potato famine :P
Morning Glory...I don't even.
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The Irish connection is a little strange as Jack seems to practice a form of Irish magic and does all his incantations in Irish.
I do understand your point about Americans with Irish ancestors and I expect that she fell back on this tradition because it was familiar rather than researching English magical traditions.
I see she has a LJ as well and claims that people think she's English because she swears a lot. My mind is boggled.
Edit: Now I've read her LJ and seen something of the writing process including her research trip to London in 2007. It is always dangerous reading something like this because then you see the ups and downs of bringing a book to birth.
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Ugh, when I think of all the fanfic authors who use little_details to get even the tiniest facts straight, it makes me cringe.
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Considering that for one fanfic I wrote my notes were longer than the actual story, I have very little tolerance for published books who don't do the same.
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(The comment has been removed)
I do have some empathy for the author in terms of her desire for a London setting - I also fell in love with the city when I first visited in from the USA (I was born in England but raised in N.Am) and was determined to live there - which I did a few years later.
Still, it is a difficult task for any writer on a short visit to capture a city to the satisfaction of someone who has lived there. I read authors like China Miéville and Amanda Craig and more recently Erin Kelly and it is so obvious that they are Londoners because they just so effortlessly capture a sense of it.
I would think the same might be true of a writer based in New York being able to capture a sense of its streets and rhythms.
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