Thread: How accurate does the research need to be?

I'm taking a stab at my first fictional mystery, set at the turn of the 19th century and am concerned about some of the characters I've created and their interactions with other, real-life characters in history.

One of my research concerns is that the main character interacts extensively with the real-life Vanderbilt family. How accurate should I be to make the plot and actions believable? Do I need to research the Vanderbilt family in-depth to determine who was were at a certain time to ensure my character can meet up with them? This seems over-kill to me, but I don't want to be slapping my readers in the face with glaring historical inaccuracies that detract from the plot and characters.

Thanks to any and all for thoughts and advice!

Cheers,
B.

I was just thinking about this.

When I read For Whom the Bell Tolls I noticed a part where Hemingway's Robert Jordan was talking to the Karkov guy about the Alcazar and Karkov (A communist) referenced something of a success at the Alcazar. In real life the Alcazar was besieged by the communists and anarchists and other leftists in the Spanish Revolution but it was the Fascists (bad guys in FWTBT) who outlasted the siege and kept the landmark building in Toledo which became a massive victory.

That's a chapter or two after the part about the cowardly insurgent captain growing disillusioned toward priests after brutally murdering one with a pack of drunk anarchists.

It seems to me there are two issues here, the Vanderbilts and your readers. I know nothing of the Vanderbilts, but this is pretty recent history and it strikes me that a modern day member of the family could get upset by some sorts of inaccuracy; that might be inapplicable. Most general readers will have no idea where the Vanderbilts were on a particular day, you should have some conscience about feeding them gross inaccuracies but they will not notice the minor ones, and it is a novel. There will always be one person who is an expert on the Vanderbilts and takes exception to all but total accuracy, novel or not, personally I shouldn't worry too much about him (rarely her), any publicity is good publicity if he makes a stink, and most people can differentiate between a glaring historical inaccuracy slapping them in the face and nit picking overkill that destroys the flow of the novel even if they are not the most vocal.

Research always must be as accurate as you can make it.

The first question, then, is whether you mean the turn of the 19th Century or the turn of the 20th Century. The Vanderbilts were most prominent during the last half of the 19th Century and in the very early years of the 20th Century.

At the turn of the 19th Century Cornelius Vanderbilt was only five or six years old. His story is certainly an interesting one.

I don't know why you wouldn't want to be as accurate as possible. And considering the wealth of readily available information on the Vanderbilts, it shouldn't be too difficult.

Obviously, there's a point in historical fiction when you expect people to suspend their disbelief. Of course, that varies, depending on the story. You might invent a family member, for example. At some point it becomes alternative history or fantasy. But regardless, it shouldn't be from laziness.

Otherwise, I think if you have the majority of the timing and details correct, you'll be able to deviate from those at the critical points that involve your character.

I agree with Joe...if you are writing about a real, well-known family...do your research! If you are too lazy like me, make one up...

I recently read The Damned Utd by David Peace about a true football situation in the seventies. Most of the characters are still alive and in the UK pretty famous. I heard Martin O'Niell on radio complaining about the film and he asked why it's legal for someone to just make up conversations between two players that weren't even at the club at the same time. It offended a lot of people. Few characters were shown in a good light. There were several continuity problems and David Peace says he now sometimes wished he'd never writtten it. The MC, Brian Clough (now deceased), has a son Nigel, who outspokenly refused to see the film. Several players (now ex-players) saw it and were angry inthe press afterwards. As someone said before though - all good, money spinning publicity.

I suppose Peace had read all the autoB's but still got a few things wrong. Bloody good book though.

I wouldn't worry too much about the Vanderbilt family as long as you don't use anything that could have you being sued.

BeamerQ - You've still not clarified whether you really are writing about the van der bilt family at the turn of the 19th Century or if that was an error and you meant the Vanderbilt family at the turn of the 20th Century. Either would make good subjects for a novel, but for entirely different reasons.

How accurate your research needs to be depends solely upon you. You could, if that is your desire, merely allude to the Vandies and not worry about accuracy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, your personal integrity may dictate that you do extensive in-depth research into the family and who was where when, etc. (btw, did you know Anderson Cooper of CNN is a Vanderbilt? Gloria's cousin or something like that.)
My own moral compass requires me to do extensive probative research on anything historical simply because I hate --- HATE --- reading something and coming across a point which I know to be inaccurate. But then I also went to see the movie SALT the other day and was offended by the fact that the bad guy with the scar on his face from childhood still had a clearly visible scar some thirty years later and the scar had grown with the rest of his face. Inaccuracies like that just ... ooooh! to me. So I'm obviously not the best yardstick by which to judge your own work. So back to my initial response... Just how accurate do YOU want it to be? How much do you need to finagle the truth to get what you need for your story? And, given that there are countless members of the Vanderbilt family still alive, you might want to tread carefully on the family history. You would not want any of them to take offense. The last thing you need is a best-seller and a major lawsuit!

BeamerQ - You say the turn of the 19th Century and you've not responded to my question about whether you mean 19th or 20th Century I'm going to assume you stated your intentions correctly. I have quite a file on the family from about 1780 well into the 19th century. Those were the foundation years for the family in the U.S. I'll compile it and forward it to you.

Lol. thick reply.
At least get some information prior to deciding on your encounters, for all the reasons you said yourself.
it could and would also help you develop plot.

I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my own writing, so understand that I bring that with me to any discussions like this. I have to agree with what has already been said. If you are going to write a book based on real historic people you need to know those people. The internet makes research of that nature allot easier then it used to be. And while details on the history of the Vanderbilt family are not common knowledge it still is not professional (in my opinion) to ignore the research required to get to know them as characters in your story. If you don't want to do the research then make up an imaginary family from that period of time. Write using an alternate history you create yourself.

I also agree that you should not have all the historic information you research slapping your readers continually in the face. But what turns people in history text-books into real living breathing characters in your story is the details you will unearth during research. No matter what you write you will have to figure out a clever way to explain the setting you are writing in. Whether it is science fiction or modern fiction or whatever. The readers need to know what is going on in the world of your characters and how it effects their lives and motivations. In this case that means presenting a few bits of history in an interesting way.

It's really frustrating.

I'm trying to get an answer to one simple question.

I have material that I gathered years ago that is hard to come by. You're not going to find it on the Internet - I dug it out of libraries because I became interested in the Dutch and Flemish families who migrated to the U.S.

BeamerQ says he wants to do a novel about the Vanderbilt family at the turn of the 19th Century. Before I go to the trouble of digging out what I have I want to be sure he means 19th century and not the turn of the 20th Century. That's a one hundred year difference.

At the turn of the 19th Century the van der bilt clan were just another immigrant family in New York. At the turn of the 20th Century the Vanderbilt family were at the peak of their financial and social success. Both periods are filled with interesting incidents that could serve as background for a novel.

But I can't get an answer so I give up.

Originally Posted by garza

I can't get an answer so I give up.

Hey friend,

Although you’ve been a member longer than I, you haven’t surfed around here as much. Which means you prolly haven’t learnt the nesting habits of the species known as Vanishing Poster.

Forums are awash with them. Well, this site is, anyway. They make one post then vanish, never to be seen again. I’ve had the same experience you've had, happen to me, time and again, and in Workshop of all places. It’s enough to make one say, to hell with all of them.

The post count of the Beemer was a clue.

Look, what might work, if he has his email notification of PMs enabled, is to send him a PM. I wouldn't hang by the short and curlys, though. He possibly isn't the type to have too many refinements added to his basic settings.

I'm assuming he's a he. He might be a she.