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mvccd1000

(1,534 posts)
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 09:09 AM Dec 2011

Quibbles... minor factual errors you notice that distract from the story

Thought it would be fun to read a thread of little errors people notice that undermine the premise of the fiction they read. For me, these often involve machines or mechanical devices, as I'm a mechanic. Others might be historical in nature, or political, or what have you. I'll list two from a recent book I read:

1) The protagonists end up in a large city that has not been inhabited in approximately 60 years. Most of the buildings have crumbled to the point that walls are gone and may of the concrete floors in skyscrapers have fallen through, while trees grow in the streets, etc. My quibble with that is that it doesn't seem to stand up to much scrutiny. I recently saw this tour in the Detroit News of abandoned skyscrapers in Detroit; many of them have been abandoned since the early 70s (going on 40 years), and are in nowhere near as poor condition as the author supposed buildings would be in a snowy climate. http://multimedia.detnews.com/pix/photogalleries/newsgallery/detroit_emptybuildings110711/index.html

2) They later find themselves in a desert area with some cars that had not been driven in the same amount of time. Supposedly all of the tires had rotted away to the point that the bare rims were resting on the desert floor with nothing but rubber crumbs around them (and the rubber figured prominently in the story). As an old car hobbyist who enjoys trolling out-of-the-way junkyards on weekends, I've come across many cars that have been sitting in the same spot for 40-50 years in similar climates... all of them were still sitting on their own tires (flat, but complete).

Fabulous stories, but the incorrect (or unlikely) facts keep popping up in my mind as I continue to read.

What have you noticed in your fiction lately?

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Quibbles... minor factual errors you notice that distract from the story (Original Post) mvccd1000 Dec 2011 OP
I agree, that stuff can be really annoying for some of us. Starboard Tack Dec 2011 #1
I think it was "The Persuaders" by Lee Child; a Jack Reacher novel MaineDem Dec 2011 #2
Too bad. getting old in mke Dec 2011 #4
Bad computer stuff getting old in mke Dec 2011 #3
what book is this? beyurslf Dec 2011 #5
Series I just started (and have almost finished). mvccd1000 Dec 2011 #8
I don't so much notice such things SheilaT Dec 2011 #6
The early Reacher books were bad about things like that. mvccd1000 Dec 2011 #7
I like the series MaineDem Dec 2011 #9

Starboard Tack

(11,181 posts)
1. I agree, that stuff can be really annoying for some of us.
Sun Dec 25, 2011, 01:45 PM
Dec 2011

How much are we expected to suspend our disbelief, especially when there are other more credible ways to tell the same story. I can't think of a particular book off-hand that bugged me, but my wife and I watched a movie the other night that really bugged her. The movie was "The High Cost of Living", which I thought was excellent, but troubled my wife because she couldn't get her head around the premise of doctors allowing a woman to keep a dead fetus inside her for up to two weeks without removing it. Must admit, it troubled me too at first, but after doing some research, it seems quite credible. And in this case, it was integral to the plot.

MaineDem

(18,161 posts)
2. I think it was "The Persuaders" by Lee Child; a Jack Reacher novel
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 01:12 PM
Dec 2011

It's set in Maine and he has the geography and details wrong. It was very distracting.

getting old in mke

(813 posts)
4. Too bad.
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 06:41 PM
Dec 2011

I'm lucky that I don't know Maine well, because I think _Persuader_ has the best open sequence and surprise of any thriller I've read in a couple of decades--and it conveniently fit on side one of the unabridged audio book.

I'm guessing that those of us who only know Maine from _The Ciderhouse Rules_, _Persuader_, _M*A*S*H Goes to Maine_, and Stephen King may have a pretty skewed view.

getting old in mke

(813 posts)
3. Bad computer stuff
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 06:35 PM
Dec 2011

always annoys me and jerks me completely out of a story. Computers that are too magical or problems that are solved too simplistically.

I don't mind it so much if it's in SF and things are supposed to be advanced, but when it's in a mystery and plugging in a thumbdrive somehow sucks down the entire contents of a hard drive in seconds without, for instance, issuing a copy command, then i have to take a break.

The author I treasure most for getting the tech always dead on right is John Sanford. (Well, at least in the Davenport/Flowers series. Kidd is a bit more fantastical, but that kind of goes with the book.)

mvccd1000

(1,534 posts)
8. Series I just started (and have almost finished).
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 03:01 AM
Dec 2011

The first book was $0.99 on kindle and it hooked me well enough that I bought the other two in the series. (I'm on the 3rd one now.) Author is Patrick Lee, books are: The Breach, Ghost Country, and Deep Sky. Little bit of sci-fi, mostly modern day thriller/adventure-type story.

 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
6. I don't so much notice such things
Mon Dec 26, 2011, 11:33 PM
Dec 2011

in novels, but movies are rife with stupid errors.

Oh, the Jack Reacher novels do periodically have minor stuff wrong about airports or airline stuff. I forget the details, but in one he either had an airline flying into DCA that never did, or the wrong type of equipment, or some such. Whatever it was, I could tell he really had never flown in and out of DCA and didn't bother (nor did the editors bother) to fact check whatever it was.

mvccd1000

(1,534 posts)
7. The early Reacher books were bad about things like that.
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 02:58 AM
Dec 2011

For example, I'm about Reacher's size. They often mentioned him jumping into a Humvee, or sliding across the back seat; not at ALL possible. It's more of a contortion act for someone that size to get in, and there is no "sliding across the back seat," as the transmission tunnel comes up to elbow height. (Humvee's don't spin the tires on acceleration very well, either.)

I had to cut him some slack, though, as he's a British author writing American adventure stories, and doing a heck of a job at it, in my opinion. I do remember those facts grinding a bit as I read, though.

MaineDem

(18,161 posts)
9. I like the series
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 08:22 AM
Dec 2011

And the distractions are just that. Nothing that would put me off the books, though.

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