One way to add realism to our fiction

On this day, November 30, 1959, production on the film "Psycho" began.

Now you may be wondering why I began my blog with that tidbit of information. The reason is that I discovered a new research site. If you've read my earlier blogs, you've read about my fascination with research. I'm sure you can imagine my excitement at being able to add another one to my list. : - )

I got the above information from the web site of the History Channel by clicking on "This Day in History" and choosing the Entertainment category. I checked out the Literary category first, of course : - ). I learned that on this day in 1835, writer Mark Twain was born.

But while I was browsing the site for fun trivia, it occurred to me how useful this site could be for writers. It got me thinking about how we can use "day in history" information to add realism to our fiction.

The goal in writing fiction is to suspend disbelief. Writers want readers to believe that the story they're reading and the people they're reading about could really exist. It doesn't matter when or where our story happens. If our readers don't believe what we're writing, then our fiction has failed.

Referencing people who lived during a given time period helps our readers identify with the people we've created. Including events which actually took place at the time of our story is one way of making our fictional world familiar. Maybe even a place that readers will want to go to. : - )

In case you'd like to take a look, here's a link to the site:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

Regards,

Karen