Today I am excited to introduce you to author Joshua Silverman. Joshua is the author of Legends of Amun Ra: The Emerald Tablet. See the entire blog tour on Promotional Book Tour.
I’ve always thought that the reader can tell when a book is well researched and when it’s not. Even a good plot can be ruined by inaccuracy. I know that writing a book is a long process, but if you want to do it right then research is an essential part of that process. And as the saying goes – if you’re not going to do it right don’t bother doing it. Or in my home growing up – if you’re not going to do it right be prepared to do it over and over until you get it right 
(Lots of time has been spent rewashing dishes at my dad’s house!) I’m glad though that I’m not the only one who lives by this creed. Author Joshua Silverman shares with us just how important research is for an author.
There are several keys to writing. Some I’ve covered, some I haven’t. Some are easy, some aren’t. But one of the most overlooked areas of writing fiction is research. Most writers I’ve come across
don’t think of themselves as “researchers”. They just want to tell the best story they can. And that’s admirable, but I believe that to make a story convincing it has to be realistic. To be realistic, it has to be researched. Most research is simple, straightforward, and can be found through a Google search in less than ten to twenty minutes. If a book is not properly researched, as a reader, it takes me out of the action. Here are some things that I’ve found in other people’s books which a simple internet search could have avoided.
1. A man hears a shot from a gun then sees the victim fall. If properly researched, the author should have known most modern day ammunition travels twice the speed of sound so the action would have happened in reverse. The man would have fallen and then the witness would have heard the gunshot. [Read more...]
