Oh, absolutely; when doing serious stuff I find it most useful for giving directions to look - the notes and references can be extremely valuable.
What bugs me is that these people, who are writing historical fiction, don't take the couple of minutes to check readily available facts. Or to question their assumptions. One of them, thank heaven, is aware of the difference between Middle English and Modern English - so much as to agonise about how to represent it when her time-travelling heroine finds herself having to speak it - but she's an exception; some of them are under the impression that neither national frontiers (no, Ethelred the Unready would not view Carlisle as part of his realm at the relevant date*) nor languages (in my 5th century book I am repeatedly asked to make the language "sound more appropriate to the time") have changed significantly. Even when they do have some awareness, they do things like telling me my 5th century Saxon can't use the word "yard" because its first recorded usage is centuries later; I took some pleasure in telling them that in that case my character wouldn't be able to use the word "the" either.
Apologies for the extended rant.
*This writer also kept shifting the date. With regard to a scene where Ethelred is found in bed with a wench, I eventually had to ask whether he was supposed to be a precocious 13 year old, a normal Saxon 24 year old, or dead. Call me picky, but if you're writing about real historical characters, the least you can do, even if there is a question mark over their date of birth, is check out their date of death.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-12-01 06:59 pm (UTC)What bugs me is that these people, who are writing historical fiction, don't take the couple of minutes to check readily available facts. Or to question their assumptions. One of them, thank heaven, is aware of the difference between Middle English and Modern English - so much as to agonise about how to represent it when her time-travelling heroine finds herself having to speak it - but she's an exception; some of them are under the impression that neither national frontiers (no, Ethelred the Unready would not view Carlisle as part of his realm at the relevant date*) nor languages (in my 5th century book I am repeatedly asked to make the language "sound more appropriate to the time") have changed significantly. Even when they do have some awareness, they do things like telling me my 5th century Saxon can't use the word "yard" because its first recorded usage is centuries later; I took some pleasure in telling them that in that case my character wouldn't be able to use the word "the" either.
Apologies for the extended rant.
*This writer also kept shifting the date. With regard to a scene where Ethelred is found in bed with a wench, I eventually had to ask whether he was supposed to be a precocious 13 year old, a normal Saxon 24 year old, or dead. Call me picky, but if you're writing about real historical characters, the least you can do, even if there is a question mark over their date of birth, is check out their date of death.