Have you ever read a book and found a glaring error? I’m not talking about a misspelled word or a grammar mistake. How does it make you feel as a reader if the author has obviously not done her research and weaves inaccuracies into the story–particularly if one of the main plot threads is built upon that faulty foundation? I’ve heard readers say they stopped reading a book because the setting was a location with which they were quite familiar and the author had taken such liberties, the reader was pulled out of the story. This is the reason I invent fictitious towns in which to set my stories most of the time. It allows me to lay out the town, name the streets, place buildings and business where I want to, and create long-time residents of said town without the fear that a reader will challenge any of it.
Researching for historically accurate information for a story can be challenging, especially when questions regarding obscure issues arise for which one can’t find answers. Sometimes it’s the trivial details that keep an author awake half the night. Those fine lines that become blurred in the interpretation make me crazy. The elements that make up a plot thread can seem incidental until I begin putting the pieces of the story together.
If it were something as simple as the location of the mercantile or post office, or whether or not the main street was called Main Street, I could probably dig up that information by talking to the local librarian or some sweet old soul who has lived there for 92 years. They are usually a wealth of information. However, all research isn’t that easy or that much fun.
For my current project, I’m trying to find out if there were any laws or ordinances that protected cemeteries from being disturbed (think dug up, moved, or built upon) in the late 19th century. In 2018, the very thought of erecting a building on top of graves is absurd, but a power-hungry character in 1886 might not think the same way. After all, there must have been a time when it became necessary to pass such laws. So. . . when was that?
I exhausted all my favorite “go to” sites — Library of Congress, historical societies local to my setting, chamber of commerce, local librarian, state historical sites. It’s a relatively minor detail, but historical accuracy is important because it gives my stories credibility. I never want a reader to find a mistake in my research and feel they can’t trust me as an author.
It finally occurred to me that I could create a plot twist to detour around making the cemetery the biggest point of conflict. Plot twists are just that–twisted situations and circumstances in the lives of my story characters that are developed for the purpose of complicating their lives. (Yes, authors can be heartless, sometimes.) What if there is a more pressing point of contention, a more urgent matter that draws the focus from the cemetery to the deep-rooted cause of the strife between the characters–especially if each character has their own personal reason for going to battle? Then, I’m shining the spotlight on the emotions, the goals, the motivations of each character. If I do that, the story becomes character-driven instead of plot-driven, and the issue with the family “plot” drops into the background.
Yep, that can work.