Quote:
Originally Posted by Penforhire
Some good ones already mentioned. I will add factual errors. When an author uses incorrect details it distracts me. It can happen to the best of them.
Robert Ludlum, rest his soul, was a great novelist. But he mentioned someone driving a fifth generation Corvette Z06 convertible in one of his thrillers. That vehicle was only ever offered as a FRC (fixed roof coupe). D'oh!
Or if your character activates a manual safety switch on some unspecified modern revolver. That is an rare feature in this type of firearm, almost unheard of after the early 1900's.
These are simple factual errors to anyone who knows a particular topic, item, or place.
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This kind of error is especially annoying in modern books written after such information became easily findable via a quick Google search.
In one book I read, a character's car was described with a color, model and year. I actually owned a car of this model and year and it was never available in the specified color. Another novel I read was set in my city. A character drove "a few miles" from point A to point B, when in actuality the distance is a mile or less. It would have taken so little time for the author to look this up on Google or Mapquest.