The importance of checking facts when editing fiction
By Christine Ma
Have you ever been in the middle of reading a novel or a short story, when you happen upon a mistake about something you’re familiar with and get so annoyed that you don’t even want to finish the book?
Copy editors, who are among the last to review a manuscript before it goes to print, should watch out for any factual errors that might turn off readers and make them put down the book.
For instance, if you’re familiar with Philadelphia, and a character walks down Walnut Street and makes a left onto Fourteenth Street, you might wonder if the author has even been to the city. (There’s no Fourteenth Street in Philadelphia. The street between Thirteenth and Fifteenth is Broad Street.)
If you know a lot about weapons, and two characters are facing off in a duel in 1810 and one pulls out a Colt revolver, then your spidey senses might start tingling. (Samuel Colt wasn’t even born until 1814.)
Fill 7 If you’re familiar with Philadelphia, and you read about character walking down Walnut Street and turning onto Fourteenth Street, you might wonder if the author has even been to the city. That’s because there’s no Fourteenth Street in Philadelphia.
Fill 7
Copy editors working in fiction should definitely check proper nouns, including real people’s names, places and brand names. I also encourage them to verify anything that might be incorrect, such as whether Fourteenth Street exists in Philadelphia or when the Colt revolver was invented. Can a character turn left onto A Street from B Street? Can you transfer at the Times Square subway stop onto the 6? Is that museum open on Mondays? Was Pearl Harbor bombed on a Saturday or a Sunday?
One thing I always check is whether quotations are precise, especially ones in epigraphs. These are often either not attributed to the right person or completely made up and perpetuated by internet memes.
When you’re fact-checking, don’t forget that you can always call or email someone who might be able to tell you what you need to know. There are a lot of resources online. Here are some of my favorites:
- Google Maps: Good for verifying directions and street names. You can use Street View to check some amazing places around the world, even go inside some buildings and museums.
- Google Books/Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature: Use them to verify quotes from original sources.
- The local library: For many libraries, your card will give you access to online databases, including newspaper archives. I’ve also checked out e-books to verify quotes.
- YouTube: Good source for checking recorded speeches or well-known quotes from movies and TV shows. Don’t forget to take advantage of your Netflix and Hulu accounts, too.
- TimeAndDate.com: Great for verifying sunrise and sunset times, what day of the week a date was, moon phases, and the number of days between two dates.
- Wikipedia: Though I wouldn’t use this as a primary source, often the reference lists can lead you to some good resources.
It’s important to remember that even though our job is to bring errors and inaccuracies to the author’s attention, in the end, it’s the author who get to decide whether to fix them or leave them as is — perhaps to further the story or seal a gap in the plot. All we can do is our job, and then, as they say, let it go.
Christine Ma (@mschristinema) is a copy editor and proofreader specializing in children’s and young adult books. Prior to starting her own freelance business, she was an in-house copy editor/senior production editor at two major book publishers, a metropolitan newspaper, and an educational magazine publisher. Among the books Christine copy edited are three Caldecott Medal winners, two National Book Award finalists, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book, and numerous New York Times bestsellers.
