Writing and Research
- hbkiser
- Oct 19, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 20, 2024
A letter to the editor from the November 2008 edition of Harper's Magazine:
"In Thomas Frank's recent essay ["The Wrecking Crew," August], I am quoted as saying, "We can now go to students at Harvard and say, 'There is now a secure retirement plan for Republican operatives.'" There is only one problem with this quote: I did not say it. It is instead a quote from Grover Norquist that appeared in One Party Country, by Pete Wallsten and Tom Hamburger. It was erroneously cited as coming from me in a review of the book by Mark Schmitt that appeared in the October 2006 issue of Washington Monthly. If Frank had used the original source material rather than the review, he might have properly attributed the quote.
For the record, I have never worried about the retirement needs of Harvard graduates. For some reason, they usually tend to do well enough in life.
--Karl Rove"
Not everything we write needs to be researched, of course. And I don't believe the adage that writers should restrict themselves to writing only "what you know." How many wonderful things would have never been created if we took imagination and the play of invention out of the equation?
But when facts are important, whether we're writing fiction of nonfiction, we should do our homework. Research primary source material whenever possible.
Yes, it takes time. Yes, it's often a challenge. Yes, it's necessary.
Assuming a piece is competently written, with an engaging narrative/topic and good technique, the quickest way to ruin a reader's experience is to present information or details that simply aren't true.
This doesn't have to be only in the case of "serious research."
Having no knowledge of the size and heft of cupcakes at Washington DC's Baked and Wired can make the detail that your character ordered a boxed dozen and ate them alone in one sitting laughably false and take us immediately out of the narrative and into the Land of Negative Judgment and Annoyance (i.e., where I was firmly planted after reading this improbability in a recent novel).
