Once upon a time, I spent an entire afternoon researching the railroad lines in Nebraska in 1894. I’d written a story that largely took place in a cave system, but I placed it in Nebraska before giving it any real thought. Nebraska is known for its flat plains, so cave systems aren’t as prevalent as other places, so it took some time and reading to locate the area I needed. Was it vital that I spend so much time on this? Maybe not. I don’t know how many people might read this story, and if any of them will be familiar enough with Great Plains geography to care.
Back in March, at the SAGA Conference, I talked with attendees about a book I once read. The main character was a young woman camping in a national forest alone when bad guys targeted her. She fell into a spiked pit trap, broke a leg, and had one arm blown off in a shotgun blast, yet was able to climb out of the pit and trudge through the park to her car. Things like snapped bones and catastrophic blood loss didn’t bother her much. It ruined the story for me. One of the attendees asked me why. In his opinion, if the movies get away with bad science and faulty medicine, shouldn’t that mean books can, too?
There’s an intimacy between the reader and the story that movies lack. When I’m immersed in the pages of a book, I need things to make sense. When natural laws break without explanation or science is ignored, I stop caring about the story and start listening to all the questions my brain is posing. It’s the writer’s responsibility to make my experience rich and encompassing. I don’t expect the writer to spend days on research, but at the same time, I’m going to respect them less if they don’t do the bare minimum. If your character is a gunslinger, you should know about weapons. If your character keeps a horse, you need to know basic equine biology. If your story takes place on a space station, the rules of gravity matter. One thing I like to tell new writers – never give a reader a reason to put your story down. Getting the details right is one easy way to keep a reader’s attention.
Not to mention you’ll end up with enough trivia knowledge to beat a Jeopardy champion.