‘Her taste exact for perfect fact amounts to a disease’ W.S. Gilbert (The Mikado)
I hope that my novels are historically accurate and that, by and large, the facts within them are correct. I regret to say however that I have spotted one or two small mistakes in my first published novel, Small Acts of Kindness, but none so far in the second, Fortune’s Price.
These little faults seem to have gone undetected by readers, probably because the truth is unlikely to be generally known. One error, for example, concerned the inaccurate siting of a controversial pair of statues in Saint Petersburg In 1825. I discovered this not so terrible mistake several months after the book had gone to press, so it was too late to change the text. If there is ever a second edition I may do so, but I probably won’t. I don’t want to lose the impact that the sight of these muscular male statues had on the sensibility of the naïve young woman who observed them with interest. To read about the statues and see them in all their manly glory follow this link: http://www.saint-petersburg.com/buildings/konnogvardeyskiy-manege/
I have learned that there are some areas where an erroneous fact is bound to be called out. These are generally fields of interest where a lot of nerdy people (usually male…just saying!) take a fanatical interest in the subject. A good example is that of trains and old railway timetables. There is obviously a group of people who (inexplicably) spend their time reading these for fun. I have been told by more than one writer that if they inaccurately include a train leaving Paddington (pictured above) for Reading at 6 p.m. from platform 5 in July 1880, they will be assailed by several well-meaning enthusiasts quick to inform them that the train would definitely have departed from, let us say, platform 12.
The area in my books that presents a similar minefield is that of weaponry, and in particular guns. Uniforms come a close second. These are matters of which I was entirely innocent when some years ago I started to write of military exploits in early 19th century Russia. Unfortunately this lack of knowledge cannot be extended to some of my readership, who I am sure understand every detail and application of each gun and bullet mentioned. As a result I regularly have to turn to a very kind friend who is expert on these matters and is always keen to put me right.
I was recently reminded of this hazard when exposing the first five hundred words of my current work in progress (working title: In the Shadow of the Flames) to a writing group. The very first sentence contained a terrible blunder! I had sent my hero, Pavel, out duck shooting with a rifle! This, I was swiftly reminded by a member of the group, should not have been a rifle but a SHOTGUN! Oh horror.! I might have had a mistake in the very first sentence of the book. Anyway, thank you to the kind gentleman who saved me from potential humiliation.
The issue of the choice of rifles versus other forms of gun is actually very interesting when looking at the weaponry used by the French, English and Russian armies in the Napoleonic era. Since this is such a vital element of my WIP, I shall expand on it next month in my blog.