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Writing tip...
Dec. 31st, 2022 09:22 pmKnow your period. And never *assume* that you know what something is because you've heard it mentioned, but never seen it.
What sparked this was a fantasy I'm reading. Setting is sort of psuedo-Japanese (samurai period, not modern).
A couple of characters had gotten together at a closed-for-the-night bath house one of them had access to. After having a very enjoyable time, one wakes up to find the other gone. But said character has left a note on the driest bit of the rock they could find (hotsprings and very steamy).
The other character finds the note and is despairing because not only is the dampness making the ink run, but it's causing the parchment to come apart into fibers...
BZZZT! Obviously the author thinks parchment is some sort of paper. It's not. It's basically very thin *leather*. (Vellum is another animal product used for writing. I'll let you look that one up)
Note that big an oops... unless your reader happens to *know* what parchment is. In which it jerks you ought of the story as your mind goes "But it doesn't *do* that!".
Other eras/settings, other mine fields to trip over.
What sparked this was a fantasy I'm reading. Setting is sort of psuedo-Japanese (samurai period, not modern).
A couple of characters had gotten together at a closed-for-the-night bath house one of them had access to. After having a very enjoyable time, one wakes up to find the other gone. But said character has left a note on the driest bit of the rock they could find (hotsprings and very steamy).
The other character finds the note and is despairing because not only is the dampness making the ink run, but it's causing the parchment to come apart into fibers...
BZZZT! Obviously the author thinks parchment is some sort of paper. It's not. It's basically very thin *leather*. (Vellum is another animal product used for writing. I'll let you look that one up)
Note that big an oops... unless your reader happens to *know* what parchment is. In which it jerks you ought of the story as your mind goes "But it doesn't *do* that!".
Other eras/settings, other mine fields to trip over.
