Quote:
Originally Posted by jbcohen
I am finding several authors seem to have a nasty habit of introducing concepts and places as if their readers understand wether they do or not in reality. Most recently one author talked about matchlock pistols and some places in northern germany and historical figures without explaining first. Fortunately for me I have a blackberry on my hip all of the time which was able to explain quite easily. When the author talked about antique wheel lock pistols the blackberry   was able to show a picture of one and explain all about it. The author talked about debating Dr. Harvey as if I already knew of the man, the blackberry was able to explain, he was noted for being the first to describe how blood ciruclates through the body. |
I think we need to be careful here. Unless the specific operations of a matchlock are crucial to the story, you probably don't need to know more about them than they are a very primitive firearm (I didn't know they ever made them as pistols). Same with historical figures and places.
Sometimes, when this info is important to the story, the author will reveal the information slowly. It requires more work on the reader's part, but often results in less distraction.
You think this is bad with historical fiction? You should try it with science fiction... sometimes you can't look up the info.
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Bill