An Author Complains

Being a historical author is so hard sometimes.

I trust the Faodail citizens that come to me with their stories, obviously. But I will also fact check things like name brands, music, television shows, and movies. Anything that wouldn’t have existed before a very specific point.

Because while I trust them, I also trust that sometimes we get confused or mixed up or we simply misremember things. This happens quite often! But this is why I double check. We don’t need someone who’s allowed me to publish their history as a novel telling everyone that Bridgerton premiered three months before it actually did. (This happened in Coven Chronicles: Magickal, Alena mixed up a bunch of period dramas she liked to watch.)

While I’ve been working on Clara, I’ve had to check Leo’s story multiple times. It’s been a very long time since then, and of course his memories are a bit muddled by now. Helping him put everything in proper order is my job, as is making sure everything in the novel is factually correct.

Due to this, I know so much more about the Edwardian and Art Deco eras of New York City than I ever expected to. This isn’t me complaining, though. I love having knowledge.

Drilling down a bit, a particular area of New York City that I never expected to be doing a deep dive about is Coney Island. A prominent memory for Leo happened there, so it’s in the novel. However, since he had been to Luna Park more than once in his lifetime, Leo mixed up which rides and attractions were in place during each visit.

That’s where I come in, and that is what led me on my deep dive of not just Luna Park, but Coney Island as a whole. I wanted to make sure he hadn’t confused it with a ride at a different park, or meant Steeplechase Park instead.

I found this article that has so much information on it, and was a godsend for writing this scene accurately. However, it is genuinely very badly formatted. Which led to this conversation:

He gave me permission to post this, don’t worry. I wouldn’t turn him into content without his approval. Sínead would.

As you can see, you can’t always fully trust old memories. But! Here on Faodail, we are doing our best to preserve everything as accurately as possible. Which sometimes means texting Leo in the middle of the night and telling him he’s wrong about something he was so, so sure about.

I wouldn’t trade this part of my work for anything. I love helping Faodail citizens preserve memories and keep them safe. I just wish human memory itself were a little bit more reliable.