Have you ever included something in a story that didn't quite agree with known facts, then gone to great lengths to prove it could be true? Me neither . . . well, okay, yes.
One of my stories describes identical twins as brother and sister. Impossible! Or is it?
The story required identical twins, and because of transpiring events, I wanted them to be a boy and a girl. When confronted with the impossibility of the situation, I resorted to research on the internet to support my "truth".. (If you read it on the internet, it's true, right?) Also, a fellow author, a surgeon, gave me a plausible explanation on how it is possible.
What I read on the internet, put simply: when one egg is fertilized and splits, you have twins. If one egg is fertilized twice and splits later, this results in what could be considered identical twins even if the twins are of opposite sex. Possible or alternate facts?
Recently I read an author's disclaimer that could benefit many writers. This is me paraphrasing: Some facts in the novel are questionable but my alter ego decided they were beneficial to the story so I made no changes. Works for me.
To rephrase my original question: have you ever admitted to going to great lengths to prove your facts are true, especially if the story is already published?
*****
Haha, we have twins, a boy and a girl, and it always amazes me how many people ask if they are identical...!
ReplyDeletehttps://iainkellywriting.com/2021/04/10/the-state-trilogy-a-z-guide-i/
Ah, the question suggests I'm not the only one who was hazy on the creation process of "identical" twins.
DeleteI may have to filch that.
ReplyDeleteGood for a laugh. Thanks for visiting today.
DeleteIt works for me too! :)
ReplyDeleteI was going to make the same comment as Iain. I can't tell you how many times I had the conversation...
ReplyDeleteSomeone in the supermarket: Ooh, twins! A boy and a girl?
Me: Yes!
Them: Are they identical?
Me: .... No.
I've never fudged that sort of fact, but I have fudged details of real-life locations to make them work better for a story.
That disclaimer is hilarious, and it works for me.
ReplyDeletegoing to note the disclaimer for future reference. It is great. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI always feel bad about pulling something like this, but then I think about how much of this movies and TV shows get away with :D (everyone in a medieval show just *happens* to have perfect white teeth, because they are just randomly genetically blessed? sure...)
ReplyDeleteThe Multicolored Diary
A great disclaimer - I can't any way in which it could be challenged!
ReplyDeleteReading this post has put me in a pondering mood...Hmmm...how much of fiction can be fictitious?
ReplyDeleteQuite like the disclaimer.
It would seem that everything that can be imagined is true in some form. We only embellish the truth for the sake of entertainment. Thank you for visiting, Arti. I enjoyed you post today about Julie.
ReplyDeleteNo, I can't say I've ever tried to alter any such fact. *laugh*
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if it's writer's prerogative or just writer's ignorance, but it drives me batty when someone alters the landscape (landmarks, towns, relative distance between locations) of a specific geographic area I'm familiar with. People make up all kinds of things about Seattle, for instance, and when I read it I'm like NOPE.
(But if an author made up stuff about Austin, TX or Orlando, FL... I wouldn't care, because I wouldn't know the difference!) ;)