Should Readers Be Expected to Do Research on the Topic Before They Read Your Book?

Sunday

Sep042011

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Guest Post by Irene Watson

Some of you are probably saying "huh?" That's what my first reaction was too when I received this email from an author who wrote a true crime story and received a review from us:

I am puzzled by the comments about credibility. In the back of the book I have explained who the sources were. I have a feeling the reader is not well versed on the [removed] or the [removed.] [At this point she gave a run-down of justifications. Then she said] It seems like the readers should look into such things before they denounce the credibility of what the author has written.

This comment was to a reviewer's response after reading the book:

The lack of credible, named sources made the story less than convincing...[the book] was an amusing, entertaining book, and if taken as light reading, quite charming, but I would certainly not risk quoting it as an authoritative source on anything [removed]-related.

In defense of the reviewer she is well versed about the murder of a well known politician the author referenced in the story. Regardless, the author should never expect the reader to know about every incident that is referred to in the book. Actually, in many cases readers want to know more so that's why they choose to read the specific book. It is extremely important to let your reader know where the actual information came from. If it's your own experience, say so...if it is given to you by an anonymous informant then say so but qualify the informant. Don't just write it as fact because in reality, you don't know it is fact.

The author sent me another email:

I write True Crime stories. They are actual cases, usually cold cases, that I have been hired to solve.
The last two books have involved [removed.] It is important, if I want to earn my pay, to find people who know what really happened. ANYONE, who is willing to talk to me, to give me facts, about the case IS NOT willing to give me their real name or they expect me to honor their wishes to remain anonymous if mention in the book. They want to continue living and I don't want sued! In my last book, [title removed,] I was criticized for not using actual names of my sources. One of them I never saw as she had a room partition between herself and me. She was a show girl with [name removed] in Vegas and knew [names removed.] At the time of the interview she was in her 80's. Willing to tell me what she knew BUT without her name being used. That was just one example...there are so many others. The same thing is true with the current manuscript I'm writing and I keep thinking back to the person who said I must identify my sources....I DON'T THINK SO !!!
Do readers and reviewers understand that my credibility and trust is gone with the wind if I do? Trusting your advise and expertise, I'm asking you how to get around this?

Irene, please know that I appreciate your time in this! But apparently, it is a problem that, surely, others have faced with reviewers. True crime is not a novel and the research is generally exhausting and often compromising. To give the actual names of sources can be as deadly as the crime itself.

Actually, no...your credibility or trust is the last thing readers are thinking of. Sorry, but that's a fact. They want "true" facts and the only thing they want is informant credibility. Informants are just that - informants and their identity is to be kept a secret, however; there are ways to get around that and give the reader the credibility they are seeking. Some suggestions are:

1. Let the reader know that the informant is confidential - and explain, for e.g. that there was a wall between you and the informant. Explain how the interview was arranged in the first place and give enough detail about the person to make her or him a real.

2. Give the informant a name, explain it's a pseudonym but reference to an explanation. (Using footnotes or glossary.)

3. Explanations/glossary could be at the back or front of the book but when the reference is made in the story there needs to be place the reader can go to find out about the informant. (These can be numbered.) Also explain why the informant doesn't want his/her name used.

4. Give as much information as possible about the informant without disclosing a name. If in the case of a show girl, because there would be a lot of them and not only one, some detailed info can be given to make the informant more plausible.

5. Explain reasons why they want to be kept confidential - who they feared and what they feared would happen if their identities became known. Don't assume the reader would have guessed they would be killed, deported or imprisoned.

6. If using information from a newspaper or any other written words be sure to reference. Even images of the article would give credibility readers are seeking.

7. Use pictures that would depict informants with their faces blurred. There are a lot of royalty free images that can be purchased very inexpensively online. Even though the face can't be seen there is a picture that gives credibility. The TV series "Dateline" does this all the time. They show people with faces blurred - we never question if it's the actual person and we assume it is. Maybe it isn't, who knows? We accept the blurred out face as being credible.

8. Always think of "justification" when giving true claims....and explain they are only claims.

And remember, readers/reviewers will not research - they expect to get the truth from you, however; the truth has to be justified and authenticated.

Do you, as a reader, research the topic before you read? Do you, as an author, expect your readers to do research before they read your book?

Do you have any other suggestions to add to this list?

Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

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Reader Comments (8)

I'm with you on every point except #7---and that one I would strongly urge you to reconsider. The issue is establishing the author's credibility. The use of a photo that is not what it depicts to be, to me, runs counter to that purpose. I'd delete #7.

September 5, 2011 |

Jennie Miller Helderman

As the author of a fictionalized account of a true story, I found myself verifying that the information obtained from my recordings remained true with the historical, cultural and setting facts of the era, in order to make my "fictional account" credible.

When writing under the "True Story" banner establishing the facts as true becomes imperative. Many times this can be done by including in the story how informants and information were verified. I wonder if the author included his verification process in the story, especially with the anonymous informants.

Weaving within the story the steps that were followed to ensure the informants connection with the facts, and the truth of the revealed information would have definitely helped to achieve credibility from the reader.

September 5, 2011 |

Susan Violante

My training in biography writing was with Stephen B. Oates, who wrote several historical biographies including To Purge This Land With Blood, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. One of his main rules was that NO fiction at all may be introduced into a work of nonfiction. All statements of fact must be clear, put into a clear context, and be verified. In spite of his very strict adherence to these rules, Mr. Oates was unfortunately accused of plagiarism by persons who had a professional investment in a new computer program which was designed to scan texts to find similar phrases and thus "detect plagiarism." Mr. Oates' professional reputation was compromised, and he had to spend countless hours defending his exhaustive and accurate bibliographies.
Whether a reader or critic likes the writing style of a particular author, the question of factual accuracy is always going to be hovering over works of nonfiction. This is where fact checkers come in, although ultimately the author is responsible for inaccuracies. Good writing and continuity may help give a true story extra points in the critical department, but if more than one reader brings up questions of fact in any text, then it is the author who needs to take serious consideration. A reader is reading the nonfiction with expectation of learning something from it; why would one read a nonfiction book already knowing the entire subject, except to verify or criticize?

September 5, 2011 |

Stephen V. Masse

Irene, I agree with you. Nonfiction writers have rules to follow. They have to disclose to the reader the reasons why they can't be more specific in their identifications of their witnesses. If that's too much trouble, though, they can always opt for fiction. They can even choose a world (prehistory, in my case), where they'll need no proof of anything except that their story was possible. After that, all they'll have to do is make their story beautiful. So which of us has the heavier burden -- and enjoys more delight?

September 5, 2011 |

Ron Fritsch

All of my novels are based on real life. The have 'feet' in both worlds, fiction and, and in five cases, true crime. I didn't expect readers to bring anything but their eyes to my books. So, when I started writing, I believed it was my responsibility to give them whatever background they needed to enjoy what I had to say. Many were not happy with my efforts.

My first two novels were heavily footnoted in an attempt to provide readers with background, references, facts, and other information I thought would help them understand the 'real life' portion of the story.

In addition, in my second novel, Frozen in Time (Book I of the Antarctic Murders Trilogy), some footnotes contained text translations from Spanish to English; I used Spanish in this novel for realism, given that it takes place both in Chile and the Chilean Antarctic. As well, this novel, which was a myster/thriller, contained many photographs, half of which I took. My editor, Michael Garrett, who prefers that authors not use POD publishers, told me to 'lose' the footnotes and photographs (both of which I decided to keep). But many readers also said they didn't like them (for different reasons...they said it broke up their 'read'). In one case, a newspaper reviewer who had reviewed my first novel (and liked it) refused even to review the second because of the footnotes and photographs.

What to do? Well, in the four novels I wrote that followed, two being Books II and III of the Antarctic Murders Trilogy, and two that focused on corruption in the US government (Death by Wall Street, and now, House of Cards, which will be published later this month), footnotes were cut to a minimum, and in some cases, none appears in a volume. Facts are presented within the text, and no translations are provided if a foreign language is used. (Sorry, readers of the Antarctic novels will just have to figure out the Spanish, French, and Portuguese, and in my latest novel, the Farsi that appears shouldn't be a bother. (;>)).

I've basically decided that I can't please everybody. To do so would make me and my work medicore.

I am what I am. My books are what they are.

I can live with that.

September 10, 2011 |

Theodore Jerome Cohen

I agree that sources must sometimes remain anonymous for a variety of reasons, but it is imperative that an author of true crime (or any other type of nonfiction) distinguish the difference between what is fact and what is viewed to be fact, because there is a difference.

One of my freelance jobs is writing entertainment news. If John Q. Blogger starts reporting that he spoke with the producer of Twilight and learned that the story has been changed so that Edward Cullen dies at the end, you can bet I'll write about it. You can also bet that I'll say something about the info coming from another source and that no official statement has been released on the issue.

There are a lot of true crime fans out there, and many are so passionate about it that they do their own research. If you reveal info that's contrary to general knowledge, then you need to back it up, even if it's just saying that a source that wishes to remain anonymous revealed X. That way, if the info is incorrect, it falls on the source and not on you.

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