A few months ago, I didn’t finish a general market book because of the setting and characters. Here’s what I believe happened:
The author did not want to write about where she lives, but she needed:
- A police force allowing a crime scene to be contaminated, along with other sloppy police work.
- A police force with corrupt and adulterous officers.
- A remote vacation spot.
- A coffee shop within walking distance of a vacation home.
- Another nearby town.
First, the setting. Judging from the plot, the author never set foot in the area where I live in Northern Virginia. The area the author described is not a rural vacation spot, but a gated community of residents. There is no coffee shop. The nearby town isn’t located where she said it is. I’m fine with some creativity regarding real settings, such as a fictional store, but the way the area was portrayed isn’t the vibe at all. The author apparently thought she’d found a backwater place she could abuse in her book. Abuse it she did, to total inaccuracy.
The portrayal of our local police reeked. I know some of our police officers, and they are people of the highest professionalism and integrity. While no profession is without bad players, the author wrote an insulting level of incompetence and immorality. Even worse, I didn’t see any upstanding officers to offset the poor ones.
The author’s disregard for me, a real person living in a real place, caused me to discard her book. Thankfully I had borrowed it from the library so I didn’t waste money, but I wish I could have kept it out of circulation.
So, what if you need incompetent, immoral people in your book? Balance them with upright people so you don’t paint an entire profession or group with a hateful brush.
What if you need a certain vibe in an area? Unless you know the area cold, create a fictional location. Offending local people or causing them to make fun of your writing because you’re so far off won’t sell books.
Bottom line? Always use care when writing about people, places, and even things.
