Clean Sheets and a Handy Vine

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My good friend had Sebastian Faulk’s Birdsong ruined for her because one of the characters managed to strip a bed, wash and dry the sheets and make it back up again in the course of an afternoon. “I have difficulty doing that now with all the mod cons in my kitchen How the heck could she manage that at the beginning of the 20^th century?”

While this niggle went right over my head when I read it, I do understand where she is coming from. In some books and movies there is often a small sticking point that we just can’t get over and spoils our enjoyment of the story. My husband can’t read fantasy novels involving swords and magic. “If they are so damn magical,” he asks, “why do they need swords?” My father could never watch a Tarzan movie. The lucky coincidence of a vine always being handy for the eponymous hero to swing from annoyed him so much he would have to turn it off.

My personal gripe is a thriller where the heroine dyes her hair in a filthy rest room with only a grime encrusted sink and no shower head. How the heck does she manage to rinse the gunk off? AND give herself a fabulous haircut while she waits? And people who are castaway or held prisoner: why does their hair never get greasy?

It is when ‘suspension of belief’ is broken that we can start to question the validity of all that we are reading or watching, and the spell between author/filmmaker and ourselves is shattered. As writers, is there anything we can do about this?

I think if we write in the fantasy or science fiction genres we have more leeway – a reader who accepts a talking horse or aliens breathing nitrogen will be more willing to accept it of the horse can also read or the aliens sweat diamonds. But how about those of us whose prose is more grounded in the here and now?

Getting our facts right using careful research is a good starting point. If I were writing a book where, for example, opera played an important part I’d make sure I attributed each opus to the correct composer. I would never set a novel in Ancient Egypt without getting my dynasties straight. Creating a timeline so that events happen in the right order could help here too.

It is on a framework of verified facts that we can then start to weave our stories. The data should provide the foundation for the fantasies we create.

So tell me, are there any techniques you use to ensure your readers stay with you? And what examples do you have of things that have made you want to throw the book at the telly?
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