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Originally Posted by HarryT
....all too many authors don't bother. I read an interview with an author recently who said "I never do any research for my books", and I was disappointed that an author would take that attitude.
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Hmm, I don't know why they wouldn't. It drives me nuts to write something and not know that I'm doing it accurately, or as accurately as is relevant to the scene/character. That likely comes from the fact that I hate reading stuff that someone says is gospel fact, and you know is dead wrong. So if I hate it being done to me, why would I do it to others?
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Originally Posted by nobicus
Have you noticed that the "baddies" always have a British accent? But please feel free to leave the 'americanisms' as they are.
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I actually try to avoid the "americanisms" whenever possible. Now some things are so embedded in the culture that even the supposedly foreign shows, books, and magazines are littered with them so much so that you can't tell if that's actually used in another part of the world or not, or if it's uniquely american. That's why I do so much research to ensure that I'm culturally accurate.
One author I admire a lot who does exactly that (ie, lots of foreign culture research) is Tim Lahay, one of the writers of the Left Behind series. There were things he brought out in his book that were culturally specific to certain areas of the world (like the term "Early Fruit", which is apparently used in the middle east to refer to fruit that appears in the spring at the same time as the flowers. Don't ask me how that works, but apparently it happens over there), and even a few regionally specific items in the US that I didn't know about.
So he's been one of several inspirations in that regard, as far as getting your characters culturally correct. I don't always hit it spot on, but I try to get as close as possible. Speaking of which, I've got some characters coming up in book 5 of my series I may have to let you guys check out for me too. One's a German, another is Scottish, and the last is Irish, and they're all from the 1799-1810 period, as book 5 is a flashback prequil that goes back into the roots and founding of Earthfleet.
And as mentioned in another post, I had to do a crazy amount of historical research too in order to make sure that Edmond, the main protagonist in the book, was speaking correctly for his time period since he draws right out of New England culture.