Many years ago, I received a message from one of my readers. She was a scuba diver, and she loved stories that took place underwater, but she often found herself disappointed by how the divers were depicted. Still, she gave my novel Salvaged a chance.
Her "well-done" message was to tell me she knew I'd done my homework when I strapped weights to the belt of my female character before her dive.
The story was over seventy thousand words, but it only took five words to give credibility to my character: strapped weights to her belt.
Details are important to stories, and those details need to ring true to the readers who know what you're taking about--and there will always be one reader who knows better.
A beginner writer who's never seen snow asked me to review one of her scenes. It went pretty much like this:
The character left home and drove to the airport in the middle of a snowstorm. Lighting and thunder strike in the dark sky as the snow fell. The character landed an hour after leaving home.
Anyone reader who's ever driven in a snowstorm or flown anywhere is bound to notice the inconsistencies in that scene. Left uncorrected, the scene would have buried the story's, an author's, credibility deep in the snow.
Weather or Natural Disaster:
If there's a snowstorm, a tornado, a forest fire, a tsunami, etc... in your story, and you've never experienced such phenomenon, make sure you research it. No one is expected to know everything, that's why google exists.
In the middle of a snowstorm, the sky is kind of white, not dark. There isn't any lighting or thunder, but there can be lots of wind.
Severe weather often affect transportation, any kind of transportation. Plane, ferry, car, train...
If your character is flying somewhere during a snowstorm, his plane will likely be delayed, if not canceled. If if he's flying in the middle of a thunderstorm, the plane won't land or depart until there's no more lighting risk for the ground crew.
Elapsed Time or Time Zones:
Google Map and Airline Sites are great tools. They will tell you how long it takes to travel from Point A to Point B using different modes of transportation.
If you're traveling by car, and Google Map tells you it'll take ten hours, it's doubtful you'll be there ten hours later--unless you don't need to stop to fill up on gas, don't encounter traffic or construction, and don't need to pee or eat. So, remember to factor in the stops along the way.
If you're flying, and the flight is four hours, you won't arrive at destination four hours after leaving home. You need to drive to the airport, be there at least an hour ahead of time, and after landing, you may have to wait for your luggage or go through custom.
A character flying commercial cannot arrive at destination an hour after leaving home.
The greater the distance your character travels, the more time zones he/she will go through.A non-stop flight from Calgary to Montreal is around 4 hours. If the plane departs at 2pm, it won't land around 6pm, it will land around 8pm, because there is a 2-hour time difference between Calgary and Montreal.
If a character living in Vancouver wants to chit-chat with his mother living in Finland, then the character may not want to call her after 1pm unless mom is a night owl, or it's an emergency. When it's 1pm in Vancouver, it's already 11pm in Finland.
Time zones affect not only travel but also communication.
The stories may be fictional, but they still need to be credible. The veracity of the details is important. It only takes a few words to hook -- or lose -- a reader.
Happy Reading & Stay Safe! J.S.
