How much do you research your 'facts'?

[ElectricBlue]

Depends on the topic. For mainstream Australiana, sure, there are quite a few Aussies here who can help. But for something like "would an Islamic woman who plays D&D take a pause for Ramadan?" or "how would an Australian Aboriginal family feel about a woman getting into a relationship with her father's girlfriend's grown-up son?" (both things that I've encountered here) I'd be much less confident in going to AH for advice.

When in doubt, ask Bramblethorn.

Wait, what?

 

[oggbashan]

Depends on the topic. For mainstream Australiana, sure, there are quite a few Aussies here who can help. But for something like "would an Islamic woman who plays D&D take a pause for Ramadan?" or "how would an Australian Aboriginal family feel about a woman getting into a relationship with her father's girlfriend's grown-up son?" (both things that I've encountered here) I'd be much less confident in going to AH for advice.

1, Depends on how strict a Muslim (she or her family) are. For most westernised Muslims would not be an issue.

2. There is no blood relationship whatever. What might be more important is the tribal links.

 

[Bramblethorn]

2. There is no blood relationship whatever. What might be more important is the tribal links.

In this case, the issue wasn't the tribal link (IIRC one of the characters was white, with no Aboriginal ancestry) or the blood relationship (non-existent, as you say), but the moiety.

Some Australian Aboriginal groups, including the one that'd be relevant to this story, have complex kinship systems where people get classified into moieties aka "skin groups" that govern social interactions. A man might be prohibited from even looking at or talking to his mother's sister, and that prohibition would extend to anybody else from the same moiety, even if there was no traceable blood relation.

Outsiders tend to get assigned a moiety in these systems based on their relationships - so if a white guy marries an Aboriginal woman, he'd be assigned to a moiety which is compatible with hers. The implication is that if a man and woman are partners, their kids would probably be in incompatible moieties and a relationship between them would be similar to brother-sister taboo in Western culture, even though they're genetically unrelated.

Or at least, that's my understanding of it; I'm not an expert in such things but I happened to know a little bit about it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Or at least, that's my understanding of it; I'm not an expert in such things but I happened to know a little bit about it.

I have a similar understanding, although more from the pov of the incest taboo. One of the great tragedies of the Stolen Generation is that aboriginals taken into white fostering would not marry fellow aboriginals, for fear they might marry, unknowingly, their own kin.

A university girlfriend was half aboriginal, but never told me at the time - to explain her dark colouring she said she was half Italian, which was true, from her father. But when I met her mother, a decade later, I could clearly see their native blood. It was only years later, with the internet, that I discovered her truth, when she declared her Koori heritage. In the seventies, she hid it.

I write about us in my autobiographical story, Memory and Loss. She's my tragedy (the title is self explanatory).

 

[Kumquatqueen]

"would an Islamic woman who plays D&D take a pause for Ramadan?"

Are you using 'Islamic' to mean 'a Muslim who takes that as a political identity', or just as a synonym for Muslim? Generally Islamic is used to refer to the religion or acts in its name, and Muslim (or Muslima for a woman) is a person who follows Islam or the adjective for those people; some people use Islamic as a pejorative adjective.

Someone who calls themselves Islamic probably wouldn't want to join a non-Muslim D&D group in the first place, but assuming you have a devout Muslim in the group, it'll probably depend on whether she has family and a community nearby and how much effort they expect her to socialise with people who have come to visit and how much she wants to. She might go home after work, celebrate iftar, then turn up for D&D, or maybe take a week off to spend an evening of Ramadan with family, or might just turn up as usual for D&D with a huge pile of food to eat and share the minute the sun sets (so the time of year will affect her decisions, too). So you could swing the decision in any direction, I reckon, not knowing anything about Muslims in Australia.

I'm not Muslim but spent years sharing bedrooms with ones from round the world, not to mention many weekends at a hostel with some of them, having to pretend to be a devout Muslima, because only their nationality was allowed in and I'm blatantly white, so covering me up was the way to go...

 

[Bramblethorn]

Are you using 'Islamic' to mean 'a Muslim who takes that as a political identity', or just as a synonym for Muslim? Generally Islamic is used to refer to the religion or acts in its name, and Muslim (or Muslima for a woman) is a person who follows Islam or the adjective for those people; some people use Islamic as a pejorative adjective.

Yeah, should have been "Muslim" - I blame self-editing.

Someone who calls themselves Islamic probably wouldn't want to join a non-Muslim D&D group in the first place, but assuming you have a devout Muslim in the group, it'll probably depend on whether she has family and a community nearby and how much effort they expect her to socialise with people who have come to visit and how much she wants to. She might go home after work, celebrate iftar, then turn up for D&D, or maybe take a week off to spend an evening of Ramadan with family, or might just turn up as usual for D&D with a huge pile of food to eat and share the minute the sun sets (so the time of year will affect her decisions, too). So you could swing the decision in any direction, I reckon, not knowing anything about Muslims in Australia.

That's more or less where I ended up. Being queer, fairly Westernised, and with Sufi tendencies, she's not particularly orthodox in her religious practice, but family is important to her so she takes Ramadan off gaming for family time.

("This, she told me, was why Gandalf kept vanishing at inconvenient times...")

 

[oggbashan]

Most of my 'facts' are already in my head. Sometimes I have to look them up to confirm what I already know, but not often.

 

[KeithD]

only their nationality was allowed in and I'm blatantly white, so covering me up was the way to go...

I think you blew it at the end. "Muslim" isn't a race. "White" is. You can be Muslim from any race, and you don't have to cover it up for race reasons.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I think you blew it at the end. "Muslim" isn't a race. "White" is. You can be Muslim from any race, and you don't have to cover it up for race reasons.

You are of course correct that Muslims can be any race, but you missed the bit where I said only their nationality was allowed to stay in the hostel.

The white population of said country is approx nil, so my face would stand out a mile, not to mention being too tall, so bowing down every time the warden came round was the way to go. The other friend who got smuggled in was both brown and Muslim so could blend in much more easily - when the warden decreed morning prayer for everyone, I got smuggled back to a bedroom to fake being sick, because I could probably fake Muslim prayers well enough to fool non-experts, but not to anyone who's done the actions and words in either their language or Arabic all their lives. Of course then the cleaner came along and was very worried when all I could say was "me sick" in her language, while hiding under the duvet - luckily my friends returned before she could call the warden and a doctor!

In practice, Muslim is used as code for race in many places, in the UK because the vast majority of Muslims are south Asian (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh), aka 'Asian' in Brit-speak, and in this hostel because the country's majority ethnic group was Muslim and also visually distinguishable from others - the warden was distinctly unwelcoming to nationals of the other ethnic groups.

 

[R_M_M]

Maybe I'm a perfectionist, but recently I saw a movie set between 1938 and 1944. It was shot on location in a setting that existed back then, actors wore period dress, and there were period autos, bicycles, and motorcycles.

But the whole experience was ruined by the number of times that characters offhandedly remarked about events that happened, services that were introduced, laws that were enacted, and devices that were invented after 1944.

 

[oggbashan]

Maybe I'm a perfectionist, but recently I saw a movie set between 1938 and 1944. It was shot on location in a setting that existed back then, actors wore period dress, and there were period autos, bicycles, and motorcycles.

But the whole experience was ruined by the number of times that characters offhandedly remarked about events that happened, services that were introduced, laws that were enacted, and devices that were invented after 1944.

I remember a movie called The Vikings. Apart from an intrusive passenger jet in one scene, several of the extras were wearing obvious watches.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

For my story Mason and the Genie, I did a remarkable (for me) amount of research into the lore of genies and djinn. For my story My Sister the Christmas Cruise Slut, I did a lot of research into being on a cruise ship. No one made a negative comment like "genies are like that" or "you've obviously have never been on a cruise," so I guess that means I got it right enough to pass most readers' BS detector.

 

[oggbashan]

For my story Mason and the Genie, I did a remarkable (for me) amount of research into the lore of genies and djinn. For my story My Sister the Christmas Cruise Slut, I did a lot of research into being on a cruise ship. No one made a negative comment like "genies are like that" or "you've obviously have never been on a cruise," so I guess that means I got it right enough to pass most readers' BS detector.

I have two Genie stories - Genie, and Jeanie the Genie, For both I invented my own 21st-century rules for them, Some commented that the genies were not the usual 'slavishly submissive' but most accepted my version.

https://www.literotica.com/s/genie-1

https://www.literotica.com/s/jeanie-the-genie

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hmm... for my Sci-Fi stuff, there isn't much research to do as it usually happens in the future. But for those that happen in the near future, I do write about what I know. People, places, things. For those places I don't know about I do look up on the net to see if my impression of them is correct and what they looking like so I can describe them accurately.

All my other stories, I write about places and things I know, or I may not even mention places precisely. People, everyone I write about is someone I have met in the past, only the names were changed to protect the guilty. I do change their description and names, but how they act or what they may say is how I remember them doing and saying things.

For my Warrior series I did research the names of most of the ships and people. For others I winged things as they could be what the future will look like.

But as mentioned before... write about what you know. Otherwise, research the hell out of it until you feel you've been there.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I think this is a good approach. Almost any technical area (people have mentioned science, university, military (esp guns) is going to pose problems with the Gotcha! crowd if your detail is wrong. Sometimes you will not be able to win.

Once I worked with a couple guys who would spend their whole lunch hour talking about movie/tv soundtracks that got the 'car noises' wrong. I want to say (memory fails me as to exact details) that Hawaii Five-O reruns came in for a lot of derision.

'He's driving a Camaro on screen and they're using the sound of a 68 Ford Mustang 289! Can you believe it?'

I suppose the worst is inaccurate details that are entirely tangential to the story - ruins your credibility and a good way to lose your reader.

Movies and TV shows have budgets to meet (most of them, anyway) and compromises have to be made to deal with cost and time restraints. Occasionally something will an anachronism for an artistic reason. Alex Cox's film Walker seems to be set mostly in the 19th Century, but then it mixes in 20th Century scenes. It was sort of a one-off concept that may or may not have worked according to one's tastes as an audience member.

Oh yeah, Michael Cimino blew up the budget for Heavens Gate in his attempt at authenticity (for the Old West) and his general sense of perfectionism for nearly everything. At one point I think he custom ordered shoelaces that would have duplicated those used in the 19th Century.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Movies and TV shows have budgets to meet (most of them, anyway) and compromises have to be made to deal with cost and time restraints. Occasionally something will an anachronism for an artistic reason. Alex Cox's film Walker seems to be set mostly in the 19th Century, but then it mixes in 20th Century scenes. It was sort of a one-off concept that may or may not have worked according to one's tastes as an audience member.

Oh yeah, Michael Cimino blew up the budget for Heavens Gate in his attempt at authenticity (for the Old West) and his general sense of perfectionism for nearly everything. At one point I think he custom ordered shoelaces that would have duplicated those used in the 19th Century.

Makes sense. The foot fethishists would have roasted him over inauthentic shoelaces.

 

[Voboy]

I currently find myself combing the interwebz for an hourly rate for a male stripper.

Didn't reckon I'd ever find myself doing that. I can't imagine what it'll do to my cookies...

 

[KeithD]

I currently find myself combing the interwebz for an hourly rate for a male stripper.

Didn't reckon I'd ever find myself doing that. I can't imagine what it'll do to my cookies...

For twenty years after retiring from the U.S. intelligence community, I edited books for mainstream publishers--lots of books on terrorism were included. Lots of Internet checking for what was available in the public media was involved, as part of the reason books were given to me to edit was that I was to raise red flags if I thought secrets were being revealed. Three times during that period, I was connected by my former office asking for assurances that I was still doing this for publishers.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I spent half an hour this morning confirming that zygomatic fractures are a common injury from being punched in the face, "particularly common in young adult males", and what treatment is applied if surgery is not needed. Hopefully not knowledge I'll ever need again.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I read "The Golden Couple" by Greer Hendricks and I was barely into the book when I ran into a passage that said the main character, in her 30s, dated a super hot guy for a while. He was a tight end who played at the University of Maryland and he helped lead them to an undefeated season one year.

That made me stop. I'm a college football guy and I'm like, "Wait, what?" I disengaged immediately because Maryland football doesn't do that. Not at all. It was a throwaway line and simply added some color to a character that wasn't in much of the story but it had a major impact for me trying to get lost in the story.

This made me rethink my research and informational process when I'm writing my stories. I got criticism from several readers once when I incorrectly described the interior of a church. Now I'm on the straight-and-narrow to be as accurate as possible.

How much effort do the rest of you put into accuracy and correct facts and data when you're writing? I'm really curious.

About stuff I don’t know I try and keep it vague (like a good liar).

However in my last story I had to research forfeits and dares for a sex game and that was both entertaining and eye-opening.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I currently find myself combing the interwebz for an hourly rate for a male stripper.

Didn't reckon I'd ever find myself doing that. I can't imagine what it'll do to my cookies...

A couple of times when I had to describe prostitutes in the 1970s, I didn't bother to find out what they charged. I just wrote something like, "He paid the price she had asked for" or something else vague along those lines.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Makes sense. The foot fethishists would have roasted him over inauthentic shoelaces.

I've seen interviews with him, and although he didn't mention shoelaces, he did say that audience members would be pulled out of the story if they noticed details that were wrong. Possibly true to some degree, but what he did wasn't enough to save his movie.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Also, you don’t have to understand what you’re writing to do it well either.

I had to write some non-consensual/reluctant sex and hated every minute of it, but in terms of grading that chapter is rated as H.

I’m not a fan of BDSM but it worked in well with the story I was writing and I needed to research that as well.

Research helps but let’s face it most crime writers aren’t murderers, but research helps understand the motivations behind it.

 

[oggbashan]

Duplicate post.

 

[oggbashan]

A couple of times when I had to describe prostitutes in the 1970s, I didn't bother to find out what they charged. I just wrote something like, "He paid the price she had asked for" or something else vague along those lines.

In my Winchester Geese, I had fifteenth-century prostitutes charge a silver sixpence. The Bishop of Winchester's Geese were the highest of their profession at the time and sixpence would have been beyond most men. A penny a day would have been a good wage for a craftsman.

In the 21st century, a sixpence's purchasing power would be minute compared with 1410. But solid silver articles would still have value and be acceptable as tender for services rendered. Depending on how you calculated the then purchasing power of a 1410 sixpence it could vary greatly.

From my note at the end of the story:

If you want to compare the value of a £0 0s 1d Commodity in 1410 there are four choices. In 2020 the relative:
real price of that commodity is £2.68
labour value of that commodity is £28.28
income value of that commodity is £60.81
economic share of that commodity is £1,564.00