Getting It Right

I've based all my books in a landscape, or landscapes I know, or get to know in the course of writing a book.  Research is important. I check descriptions, names of town and villages (if they exist). If I've invented a village, town or district and made up the name, I check to make sure no where in the same area has that name. If I'm describing techniques, processes, rules - I make sure I've got them right. If a reader spots a mistake, the spell of fiction is broken, and I've failed.

It's a hangover from my days as a reporter - checking the spelling of names (even apparently straightforward names such as Mary, John, Susan can have different spellings) and places, correct modes of address, and so on. Checking if it's possible, for example, to travel from village A to town B by public transport. Checking for typos - typing errors.

A story in this morning's newspapers reminded me how important it is to get the tiniest detail right.  A family business - Taylor and Sons, in Cardiff - went into administration because Companies House (the UK government's registrar and register of companies) added the letter 's' to the name of a company which had been wound up. 

That's why good, eagle-eyed copy editors - or line editors as they are sometimes described -  are so important to novelists. No matter how meticulous we are, chances are, we've missed something. It may not be costly in terms of money, but it damages the currency of fiction.