I'm fascinated by prison. The idea of being locked up, handcuffed, possibly assaulted, all beyond your will...it's terrifying. Not surprisingly, prison plays a big role in The Conduct Series, my romantic suspense trilogy. My favorite cons, Grant and Sophie, are just starting their parole at the beginning of the series.
As my friend Janine commented on a chapter from my work in progress On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series Book 3), the question about authenticity in fiction novels struck me. In striving to create authentic worlds for our characters, do we risk confusing the reader? How "real" should our stories be?
I have another friend who's a psychologist at a prison, and I recently consulted with her about life on the inside. She kindly shared some slang from the women's prison:
Inmate = "Offender"
Corrections Officer = "Police"
Other cell block = "Across the street"
When I wrote a female inmate telling my main character Sophie that "police" escorted "offenders" "across the street", reader Janine astutely wondered why county police would take inmates outside the prison. Once the manuscript is complete, I have confidence my lovely editors will swoop in and ensure the terminology makes sense to the reader, but for now I ponder how authentic the prison culture should be in my novels.
At times I purposely choose not to be authentic in order to improve the story.
There are quite a few therapy scenes in the series, and I feel more comfortable portraying the psychological world due to my day job. Therapy can be dramatic and insightful, but it can also be plodding and quite frankly boring, and I don't want to put my reader to sleep by portraying the mundane with complete accuracy. The wonderful HBO series In Treatment depicted each therapy client as intensely challenging and dramatic, and real life therapy is just not that way. (Thank goodness! I'd rather not have clients regularly seduce me, attempt suicide in my office, or buy me elaborate gifts).
Real life conversations are also meandering, full of starts and stops. As writers we choose to drop all the "um's, likes, what's?" to create more interesting, active dialogue between our characters.
Authors, how authentic do you try to be in building your fictional worlds?
Readers, how authentic do you want your stories to be?
Lisa Sanchez and fellow authors invite you to be part of the Meet an Author Monday Blog Hop! Visit Lisa's blog for detailed instructions.
As my friend Janine commented on a chapter from my work in progress On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series Book 3), the question about authenticity in fiction novels struck me. In striving to create authentic worlds for our characters, do we risk confusing the reader? How "real" should our stories be?
I have another friend who's a psychologist at a prison, and I recently consulted with her about life on the inside. She kindly shared some slang from the women's prison:
Inmate = "Offender"
Corrections Officer = "Police"
Other cell block = "Across the street"
When I wrote a female inmate telling my main character Sophie that "police" escorted "offenders" "across the street", reader Janine astutely wondered why county police would take inmates outside the prison. Once the manuscript is complete, I have confidence my lovely editors will swoop in and ensure the terminology makes sense to the reader, but for now I ponder how authentic the prison culture should be in my novels.
At times I purposely choose not to be authentic in order to improve the story.
There are quite a few therapy scenes in the series, and I feel more comfortable portraying the psychological world due to my day job. Therapy can be dramatic and insightful, but it can also be plodding and quite frankly boring, and I don't want to put my reader to sleep by portraying the mundane with complete accuracy. The wonderful HBO series In Treatment depicted each therapy client as intensely challenging and dramatic, and real life therapy is just not that way. (Thank goodness! I'd rather not have clients regularly seduce me, attempt suicide in my office, or buy me elaborate gifts).
Real life conversations are also meandering, full of starts and stops. As writers we choose to drop all the "um's, likes, what's?" to create more interesting, active dialogue between our characters.
Authors, how authentic do you try to be in building your fictional worlds?
Readers, how authentic do you want your stories to be?
Lisa Sanchez and fellow authors invite you to be part of the Meet an Author Monday Blog Hop! Visit Lisa's blog for detailed instructions.
Comments
I'm with you all the way on weeding out the boring, mundane part of reality...yet I don't like it to be completely ignored either. I'm the kind of reader who appreciates a few summary sentences that acknowledge the mundane reality---e.g. It took several more sessions of slow progress for the therapist to extract his full background and begin to establish a rapport---to establish it happened but doesn't get into the detail.
As a reader, I like it to feel 'right'. As a writer, I don't feel comfortable until I can see or hear things clearly in my mind.
Luckily I know some wonderful medical professionals who help me make my writing sound realistic. But I've learned that not every little detail needs to be explained, and overlooking a few isn't the end of the world. Nicki's right - using the correct terminology goes a long way, just so long the reader understands the language.
I think it all boils down to doing your research so you know what's real, rather than just saying something that "sounds good."
I’m impressed when fiction about something-I-know is authentic; and, when I know it’s authentic, I’m interested to learn the jargon, etc. That said, if a novel isn’t authentic, it doesn’t niggle at me – as long as the storyline is captivating, I dismiss little inconsistencies with reality. In my favourite tv series (Prison Break) we’re frequently asked to stretch our imaginations or “suspend belief” – and that doesn’t bother me at all! ;)
To me, it’s important that the reader isn’t confused or misleading him/herself. In your “police taking the prisoner across the street” example, a less informed reader could erroneously believe that the novel is NOT authentic – because it’s unlikely that prisoners would be taken to therapy outside prison walls!(?)
I have no problem with characters rattling on, for a short while, in a discourse that goes over the reader’s head – as long as the purpose of the conversation isn’t the content of the convo, but that fact that the characters are rattling on in that discourse (e.g. brainy mathematicians!) If the writer wants the reader to understand the content of the convo, he/she’ll have to think of subtle ways to ‘teach’ the reader the discourse without them feeling as though they’re at a dry lecture.
Like most tricky topics, I suppose it depends heavily upon the context – writers will have to make a judgment call every time they face this issue!
Gabriella, it's good to have friends in high places. :)
Nicki, I'm the same way--I like to learn new things when I read and learning accurate information sure helps. Good idea with the summary sentences.
Robin, I've heard about some medical novels that drone on and on about medical details, so that is a dicey area. I've also consulted with some medical professionals (friends) to help make it more accurate.
Shona, I didn't mind those "Prisneyland" moments either even though they were so implausible that they were humorous. A hot leading man can make me accept ridiculous concepts, I guess. :)
JJ, thanks for stopping by! You have a great blog too.
Carol, furry blue anteaters? LMAO!