| Author |
Message |
    
Mary Erickson
Wandering Member
Post Number:
207
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 08:44 pm: |   |
When writing a novel, how important is it to be authentic about places. For example, my protagonist has been convicted of murder (wrongfully, of course) and has to go to the penetentiary (until he's cleared). I've searched the web for some details about penitentiaries in Colorado and get some answers, but others I can't find. For instance, what are the cells like? Do prisoners have jobs? Can they wear watches. What about visitors? Can they have contact? And is there a real threat of rape by other inmates in today's prisons? How about phone calls. Can they receive calls. Is there a limit?
If it is important for a fiction author to be authentic about such details, how does one find out? It is difficult for me to call a prison and ask such questions. Has anyone else contacted organizations such as prisons, hospitals, doctors, etc. for information. And what is the response?
Thanks for any input.
www.merickson.org
www.behlerpublications.com |
Gloria Marlow
Unity Member
Post Number:
1522
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 09:12 pm: | |
Mary,
I think the best way to get around that is to make up a name for a penitentiary. That way you don't have to know all the details of an existing one.
Gloria
The Butterfly Game
Flowers for Megan
Shades of Silence (coming soon)
|
Joyce Scarbrough
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
602
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 09:18 pm: | |
If you plan to use a real place, contact the prison (via e-mail maybe?) and get actual details if at all possible. Readers who don't know the difference won't mind the specific descriptions, and those who do will appreciate your accuracy.
If you're not able to find out about a real prison, I'd suggest inventing your own for the story. Try to make it as similar as possible to what you know about the real ones, but you'll have more freedom to describe it as you need to. You might also see if there are any non-fiction books featuring the prisons you're writing about (Google their names with a "book" qualifier) and see how the authors describe them.
Toyce
True Blue Forever
Read the first chapter at http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Read two chapters of Different Roads at http://www.authorsden.com/visit/mtr.asp?id=7737&loc=ShortStory
Pour yourself a glass of bubbly and check out Champagne Books http://www.champagnebooks.com
Our children have only one childhood, so do whatever it takes to make it happy! |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2183
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 09:29 pm: | |
Mary,
1) For instance, what are the cells like?
Cells are typically 8 feet long x 6 feet wide, at least here in Nevada. They have a toilet, a sink, a tp roll a day, and usually have two bunks equipped with two blankets, and a pillow and depending on the prison, one or two sheets. In a penetentiary where he would be a lifer, usually only one cellmate per cell. Prisoners are called "Cellies."
2) Do prisoners have jobs?
Most have a job or go to school because they typically only get about 1 hour per day outside in the exercise yard, where they exercise and play basketball or other team sports or use weight equipment. Jobs are run by the prison system and vary as to types, some do mechanical work, some work in the kitchen, the school as teachers aides, the library, the license making dept, etc. depending on the prison and what it consigns for. All of the jobs are run by a company called Prison Industries. They also used to have prison inmates doing phone research and telemarketing, but that has largely stopped in the most recent past, because the inmates were using information for ID theft and other potentially dangerous things against the people they were calling. The pay is very miniscule, and usually only buys cigarettes or candy at the commissary. If they have a "touch" on the outside who will send them money, they don't need to work and some stay in their cells all day and read or draw or write or do legal research for themselves or other inmates.
3) Can they wear watches.
Some prisons allow watches, some do not. Depends on the Warden of the prison and what he considers a dangerous threat.
4) What about visitors? Can they have contact?
There again, even in jail, some places do NOT allow contact, some do. In prison, you usually can sit across a table but not beside the person, but you can only touch hands and always have every part of the person that is visiting has to be visible. You can have a kiss and a hug when leaving and upon entering, but no prolonged touching. If you are a wife or husband, you can hold hands across the table. Children can sit on knees of the father and in some settings, are able to be very close to the parent jailed. But there again, that is up to the Warden and how he wants to run his prison.
5) And is there a real threat of rape by other inmates in today's prisons?
There definetely always is a threat of rape by other inmates in every prison system. Homosexuality is rampant in most prisons, and the guards and other prison employees tend to look the other way, as it makes their job much easier.
6) How about phone calls. Can they receive calls. Is there a limit?
Typically they can't receive phone calls, they can make "collect" calls out when the phone is NOT busy, which is very seldom. The collect calls usually cost anywhere from $.95/per min for a local call on up to whatever the rate can be charged for long distance calls. It is extremely expensive to receive those calls. It is also run by the Prison Industries and they make a lot of money off of calls out by the inmates. There is no limit to the amount of calls out they can make, the only limit is what the person receiving the calls wants to pay each month for "collect" calls, and it mounts up really quick.
The reason I know these things is that when I first met my oldest son, he was in prison, and I visited him there and talked to him as frequently as my financial position would allow at the time. The visitor always gets patted down upon entering. You can't take anything (except a plastic purse full of quarters for the food vending machines), not even a purse, into the prison, unless you are acting as an attorney and then you can have your briefcase and paperwork and sometimes a tape recorder. In those cases, usually there is a glass wall between the inmate and the visitor. Otherwise all personal property of the visitor is left in a locker at the gate, even before entering the actual prison area.
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Mary Erickson
Wandering Member
Post Number:
208
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 10:37 pm: | |
Gee thanks, gals. Claudia your firsthand knowledge is invaluable. I've been really stymied about this and now I can proceed with my novel. One other question. My protagonist is an attorney and in order to buy protection he starts helping one of the more powerful inmates with some legal work. I'm pretty sure I've read that prisoners do their own legal work and that there are law books available. Is this information right?
www.merickson.org
www.behlerpublications.com |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2184
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 11:08 pm: | |
In some cases, where they have an adequate library, they, the inmates can do their own legal work, or pick another inmate to help them and they put their pleas and appeals together pretty well, because they have the time to do it. There are law books and computers available in SOME places, in others, nothing is available, and that depends on the state, how much they budget for the inmates. A lot of guys use that very method to "buy" protection, or some other methods, like woodworking or drawing pictures, writing letters for people who are not literate, etc. Or trading cigarettes and commissary privileges and money.
Another thing about the cells, they usually are made of plaster over cement walls, have a few hooks imbedded into the cement walls for clothing, as the prisoners are NOT allowed hangers, (too lethal) and some sort of shelf for shaving things and toiletries, with maybe a cubby or two for storage of clothing, but nothing that can be removed and made into any sort of weapon or device to harm themselves with, as in suicide attempts. There are usually cell doors with bars on them and a slot for food trays when a prisoner is in solitary confinement and sometimes there is a solid door for solitary confinement, so that the prisoner cannot see or talk to anyone else. Many times in a prison environment, a prisoner will force the guards to put him into solitary for his own protection, if he feels threatened by someone, and the forcing is done by causing a problem to get himself locked down.
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2185
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 11:11 pm: | |
And go rent and watch the movie The Green Mile to get a pretty accurate description and look at a real prison cell and environment. It is pretty well depicted.
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Mary Erickson
Wandering Member
Post Number:
209
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 07:07 am: | |
Thanks again, Claudia. You and the other people on this board are a fantastic source of help for writers. When all else fails I come here and, invariably, I find the info. I need.
www.merickson.org
www.behlerpublications.com |
Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
1219
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 09:49 am: | |
Claudia,
Where did you serve time? That all sounds like insider info. to me.
Bill Nelson
RISEN, ISBN 1-93301616-4
Behler Publications |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2186
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 10:40 am: | |
amidst my resume, everyone forgets tht there is a portion of time way back when, that I was out of communication with the rest of the world. I was serving time in San Quentin back then. For the murder of my husband. But I got out on a technicality, he was insane and I was brutally competent.
Actually, I have, over the years, had friends and immediate family members that have served time and since they were people I considered worthy of a better chance and place, I went to visit them or have written many letters back and forth and got to learn a lot about the prison system in this country.
My stepson is currently in one of the Texas prisons, forget which (he was transferred back in February-March this year) one now, but he was at Huntsville for a long stretch, and Tyler in the course of the 22 years he has been locked up. And my son was in prison when I met him after giving him up at birth, he had served the better part of 10 years by that time for various charges, and a person that married my one-time best friend spent a long duration of time in prison. So, the knowledge comes firsthand and from countless conversations and visits with those that are behind bars. I will not defend why they are there, or pre-suspose that they are innocent, as I have learned by hard experience that many are deservedly where they should be and really have to pay the price for what they have done, but it still hurts to see the system the way it is, and the lack of viable means of reform of both the inmates and the system, that is rampant throughout the various places. There is much that could be gained from people learning more. The saying goes that 1 in every 10 people will be affected or have direct family they live with or know someone who is in prison within the next decade, if the laws continue to replace good sense and common concern and just lock people up.
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Tom Elkins
Wandering Member
Post Number:
134
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 03:36 pm: | |
My son spent a night in jail (not to be confused with prison). I think he was 15. The Maui County Police called me out of a sound sleep at about 1 a. m. to tell me they had him for "possession" and I could come get him. I asked if it would be inconvenient for them to hold him until morning, explaining that I thought he needed to meditate about what he'd done. The officer said it would be no problem. So the next morning, after a good night's sleep and a leisurely breakfast, I drove to the county lock-up, picked him up and took him home. He's now 47, and has never been arrested since. Don't know if it was right or wrong, but it seemed right at the time, and apparently it worked.
te
Tom Elkins
NORTH of TEXAS |
Mary Erickson
Wandering Member
Post Number:
210
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 07:17 pm: | |
I agree with what you're saying, especially when it comes to young people sent up for drug dealing, drug theft, etc. These kids need to be sent to a rehab, not prison. I have a friend whose son is now 47. He was sent to prison for stealing drugs from a store when he was 18. He's been in and out of prison ever since. My friend's life has been hell, since she worries what he'll do when he's out. She says she feels better when he's back in prison. This should have never happened, but when he was sent to prison as a kid, it ruined him. Claudia, it sounds like with your experiences you should write a book on this subject.
www.merickson.org
www.behlerpublications.com |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2189
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 10:57 pm: | |
I kind of touched on it a bit in Notes. But of course, Notes was about another subject altogether. I have had several experiences with the probation, parole and prison systems, and not much of it has been good. I do intend to write a book about the justice system in these United States beginning with the corruption in the local jurisdictions of highway Patrols, Sheriffs, and police forces, the city and county courts and going up from there all the way to the federal level, someday. It won't be pretty, but it will be a load of very interesting facts and truths about all the corruption and the ways they don't give a rats ass about telling or hearing the truth themselves but enforce it from the defendants. And YES, I have several axes and sharp blades to grind.
Someday, someday........
Claudia
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
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Joyce Scarbrough
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
603
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 27, 2005 - 09:38 am: | |
My son was arrested for Reckless Endangerment for doing donuts in his truck on the school grounds before leaving the campus after an altercation with the principal. When they took his mug shot at the metro jail, the female officer told him he had beautiful, straight teeth and needed to thank his parents for paying for his braces. All charges were dropped at the judge's command once he heard the case.
I'll save the story of when the Secret Service came to our house for another day.
Toyce
True Blue Forever
Read the first chapter at http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Read two chapters of Different Roads at http://www.authorsden.com/visit/mtr.asp?id=7737&loc=ShortStory
Pour yourself a glass of bubbly and check out Champagne Books http://www.champagnebooks.com
Our children have only one childhood, so do whatever it takes to make it happy! |
LaurieAnne
Unity Member
Post Number:
1965
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 27, 2005 - 01:22 pm: | |
Mary,
If you are having a female visitor to a male prison, you might also keep in mind that women should know not to wear underwire bras. Those will set of the metal detector, and you will be required to undergo a further search. (The girl who did this just opted to remove the offensive clothing at the guard house. LOL)
LA
OPEN SUBMISSIONS: Random Acts of Kindness
Available now:
THE BUTTERFLY GAME, Gloria Davidson Marlow ISBN 0-9722385-4-9 |
Stacy Anderson
Wandering Member
Post Number:
160
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 27, 2005 - 04:37 pm: | |
Hi Mary,
As a fiction author too, I believe you should be as trutful as possible about things like places, time zones, languages etc. Now in terms of prisons, I believe that if you can't find something on a specific prison, you can apply the rules from what you know generally. For example: Most prisons are run the same way in terms of what prisoners can't wear, what visitors can't wear, activitis etc. It is perfectly fine to just go with what you know with subjects like this as long as you have SOME truth to it. As long as you don't have your prisoners leaving and coming when they want, LOL, it's fine. Luckily since the Internet you can find tons of information that wasn't available to the public without leaving the computer. If it becomes a hassle to write then you're working too hard on a certain part.
Mary, think about the novels you've read. Have they always done everything accurately? I'd have to say of course not. It's just like with movies. Books are for entertainment. Sometimes sticking to the reality of every little thing locks a writer and tends to lessen our room for creativity. I have read books by veteran authors where people were shot in their legs then got up the next day walking. I've read books and seen movies where people killed someone were convicted of murder but the story had been written where they didn't get a day of prison time. My point is that in fiction, we have the room to create and yes to be unrealistic at times. And if we're going by things like soap operas, oh boy! All they do is rely on unbelievable stuff.
I try to be accurate with the most important things but if I want to break a rule for a story I do it. Mary nine times out of ten your readers won't know anymore about the Colorado prison system's rules than you do. And if you're as good of a writer that I think you may be, they won't care. Keeping the audience entertained and keeping the story moving is the most important thing. Like I said, I've read books that do things you know wouldn't be done in real life but once again, this is not real life, it's a novel. And it didn't once deter me from continuing. I enjoyed the book just the same. It didn't effect the story at all for me. Go with your common sense and work from there. You don't have to work your fingers to the bone looking for every little fact when it's not that important. If you can write around it, do it. That's the difference between fiction and nonfiction. So have fun!
One last thought:
I've heard people say: " This is a good read, kept me interested. "
I've never heard anyone say: " Hey this book was good but only if she'd known more about the Colorado Prison system, it would have been better. "
LOL, get my meaning? Mary I was reading BEFORE I came out of my mother's womb. I spend a lot of time in the bookstores. I know what makes a good book and I know what a lot of other people like. Go with your talent and trust that you're on the right track. There are rules to fiction but being accurate about every little thing is not one of them.
Stacy
http://www.stacy-deanne.net |
Mary Erickson
Wandering Member
Post Number:
211
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - 07:29 am: | |
Stacy. Thanks, your post gave me a good common sense approach to my dilemma.
www.merickson.org
www.behlerpublications.com |
Stacy Anderson
Wandering Member
Post Number:
162
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - 10:50 am: | |
I'm glad to help you, Mary.
Stacy
http://www.stacy-deanne.net |
Fred Dungan
Unity Member
Post Number:
1116
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - 01:50 pm: | |
I have an article about California's prisons which can be read online at http://www.fdungan.com/prison.htm. I receive email from both guards and ex prisoners concerning the validity of what I have written.
Before writing my first novel, The Gospel According to Condo Don, I spent approximately a year doing research, much of it about solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison. According to the email I've received, I got it right. To me it was worth the effort.
http://www.fdungan.com |
Joy Lee Rutter
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
606
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 06:38 am: | |
This is to Tom who left his son in jail for the night and then wrote: "So the next morning, after a good night's sleep and a leisurely breakfast, I drove to the county lock-up, picked him up and took him home. He's now 47, and has never been arrested since. Don't know if it was right or wrong, but it seemed right at the time, and apparently it worked."
These days, Tom, it's called TOUGH LOVE and it works. Too many parents want to bail their kids out and the prisons are full of those repeat offenders.
Back to the original topic, I agree with Stacy. Not many people actually look up rules and regs in the prison handbook to find an error while reading fiction. Now if the book was non-fiction, and Mary was writing an advice book about prison etiquette (it would have to be tongue-in-cheek humor) or "How to Make the Most of Your Prison Time", yes, she would need accurate details about the system.
Too many small details can make a novel tiring. Just my opinion.
I've missed you guys and thought I'd drop in. 
Joy
Joy
http://behlerpublications.com/titles-rutter.asp |
Frederick A. Babb
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
384
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 06:47 am: | |
Joy,
Good to see you back. I know you must not have too much free time during domestic rabbit hunting season. Thanks for dropping in.
I also agree with Stacy. General guidance is available at the fingertips of anyone on the internet these days. Unless you want extensive research, go with what you know.
Preview books: http://www.frederickbabb.bravehost.com |
Joy Lee Rutter
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
607
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 07:26 am: | |
Thanks Frederick. (I gave up rabbit hunting when I discovered they taste like chicken)
About extensive research and finding what you need online, you're so right. You can find anything you'd ever need to know and tons of stuff you never thought you needed to know. Not to mention everything you never wanted to know and then there's the stuff you wish you knew but now it's too late...and so on.
I'd like to share a little tidbit about something I had to research for my first book "A Disturbing Presence". Not knowing much about funeral homes and morticians, rather than walk into the local mortuary with notepad and camera in hand, I researched embalming methods and printed it out. I then took the document to work so I could read then highlight key points during my break. Unfortunately, my co-workers gave me odd looks when they read my disturbing notes over my shoulder. You know the look. Raised brow, crooked lip curl thing, a few steps away as if my face had just sprouted black flies...
My point? I gleaned very few items from my "intense" research. Since my book was meant to be dark humor and not a "How-to" manual for the do-it-yourself mortician, most of my research was for appropriate wordage (is that a word?) and one small scene where the taxidermist witnesses his first human embalming. Oh, and I learned that an Undertaker is the cemetary (sp?) groundskeeper, not a mortician.
Joy
Joy
http://behlerpublications.com/titles-rutter.asp |
Harry Simenon
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
743
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 04:40 pm: | |
Several writers first design the whole scenery with surroundings and personalities, and only use part of it. But it helps them to bring some realism into their story.
If I read something that is too fantastic I lose all interest in the story. As long as it is unlikely, but still possible it’s OK. Too much realism can be boring again. |
LaurieAnne
Unity Member
Post Number:
1975
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 07:16 am: | |
Joy,
"These days, Tom, it's called TOUGH LOVE and it works. Too many parents want to bail their kids out and the prisons are full of those repeat offenders."
Personally, I agree with you whole-heartedly, and when my son was arrested, my husband and I both agreed that since the entire community (I don't have the gumption to list everything this kid has gotten away with) has decided that they 'don't want to get the parents involved' so many times that he had decided he was invincible, then he could sit there for the night to await his hearing and we would pick him up after the judge decided his fate.
Unfortunately, the entire community (again, don't know how to mind their own damnable business when they should but have no problem ignoring people when they actually DO need someone to stick their nose in) started quibbling over who was going to go over to pay his bail. I even had to go to my mother-in-law and list for her everything that we've gone through with this kid (my in-laws don't like me, so they don't communicate with my husband unless necessary) for her to realize why I absolutely REFUSED to take her money to bail him out. If she wanted to go after him, that was her choice, but I was leaving him sit. Period.
He was home by 10pm. He still thinks he's invincible. He is now graduated and reached age of accountability. I've washed my hands of responsibility.
"Back to the original topic, I agree with Stacy. Not many people actually look up rules and regs in the prison handbook to find an error while reading fiction. Now if the book was non-fiction, and Mary was writing an advice book about prison etiquette (it would have to be tongue-in-cheek humor) or "How to Make the Most of Your Prison Time", yes, she would need accurate details about the system."
LOL. Didn't Martha already do that one. LOL.
Back to work.
LA
OPEN SUBMISSIONS: Random Acts of Kindness
Available now:
THE BUTTERFLY GAME, Gloria Davidson Marlow ISBN 0-9722385-4-9 |
Fred Dungan
Unity Member
Post Number:
1130
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 12:12 am: | |
Stephen Crane was too young to fight in the Civil War. Nonetheless, Red Badge of Courage is one of the great war novels of all time. What made it great was that young Mr. Crane spent years interviewing Civil War veterans to make sure he got his facts right. Consequently, it is as fresh today as the day it was written.
Contrast this with Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Although a bestseller with enormous social impact, it has not stood the test of time. What a pity! With a little more research under her belt, Ms. Stowe could have been one of the all time greats.
Take the time to get your facts right. If you have unanswered questions in your head, resolve them before you begin to write. You can't do too much research.
http://www.fdungan.com/vigilantes.htm |
Joy Lee Rutter
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
608
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2005 - 02:38 pm: | |
"LOL. Didn't Martha already do that one. LOL."
Yup, so guess we've solved all of Mary's problems. Tee hee. Next?
Joy
Joy
http://behlerpublications.com/titles-rutter.asp |
Tom Elkins
Wandering Member
Post Number:
172
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2005 - 04:21 pm: | |
Joy -
Unfortunately, TOUGH LOVE is not hereditary. That same son received a similar call years later, in which the police advised him that they were holding HIS son (my grandson) for DUI. He got dressed and drove to the station in the middle of the night and bailed him out. Sigh. The grandson seems none the worse for it, however. He graduated Boston U. at age 20 and is currently, at 25, a middle management trouble-shooter for a restuarant chain. To his discredit, he is also a flaming liberal. But I chalk that up to his youth and inexperience.
te
Tom Elkins
NORTH of TEXAS |
Joy Lee Rutter
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
609
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - 06:26 am: | |
Kids! You gotta love 'em, eh? (Psssst: if I had it to do all over, I'd adopt a puppy instead)
Joy
http://behlerpublications.com/titles-rutter.asp |
Trina Green
Wandering Member
Post Number:
197
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - 01:52 pm: | |
As a fiction writer I do a fair bit of research. That being said if I can't find it, I make it up. |
Fred Dungan
Unity Member
Post Number:
1142
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 11:43 am: | |
So did Heroditus, Josephus, and Marco Polo and they are much the worse for not having spent more time on doing research. My point is that should your work stand the test of time and become a classic, it will be irreparably harmed by errors that are "discovered" by nitpicking scholars in future generations who attempt to build their reputations by undermining yours. Be creative with the storyline, not the facts.
http://www.fdungan.com/bushwhacked.htm |
Trina Green
Wandering Member
Post Number:
198
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 12:57 pm: | |
I am being creative, that's why it's fiction. Not True. |
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