worst factual error you've ever written?

[Kumquatqueen]

Yeah, well, umm...you can pass the ticket along to him and gently remind him that reality has to pass the sniff test as well.

No chance. Reality is distinctly warped around here. As long as I don't get a whale or unexpected bowl of petunias landing on my roof, I think we're doing OK.

 

[MrPixel]

I just discovered a factual error today in a story recently published (...of course). I happen to have been driving down a highway far away from home, but still familiar from previous outings, so it was described in detail in the story. The mistake was attributing a notorious speed trap on this route to the wrong town.

Oops. "I'm sorry, guys."

 

[Duleigh]

I thought I made an error, but I was mistaken.

One of my characters was a New York Supreme Court justice, and a reader pointed out that there was no such thing. He did a very untroll-like thing and provided me with a link to the court system in New York. So in future episodes I just referred to her as Judge. Then after publishing I saw on CNN - New York Supreme Court Justice on the cyron... CNN make a mistake? Never! So I looked it up, and sure as shootin' the link the helpful reader sent me was for the New York City justice system, not the New York State system

My opinion of Manhattanites has been verified and confirmed. They are New York, everyone else is Upstate.

 

[lovecraft68]

This is where the Kiss principle really helps.

I don't think I've made any of these, but I also won't explore any type of scenario that I don't have some familiarity with, or know someone I can ask, or just wiki or google it to make sure I have it right.

The only thing I have ever really dug deeper into in a story is the occult which I'm fairly well schooled in, at least or the topics I write about, and some psyche issues which I imagine I know more about than most people here would think. Us drop outs like to be underestimated.

 

[SimonDoom]

I thought I made an error, but I was mistaken.

One of my characters was a New York Supreme Court justice, and a reader pointed out that there was no such thing. He did a very untroll-like thing and provided me with a link to the court system in New York. So in future episodes I just referred to her as Judge. Then after publishing I saw on CNN - New York Supreme Court Justice on the cyron... CNN make a mistake? Never! So I looked it up, and sure as shootin' the link the helpful reader sent me was for the New York City justice system, not the New York State system

My opinion of Manhattanites has been verified and confirmed. They are New York, everyone else is Upstate.

New York is confusing, because in that state "Supreme Court" typically refers to the trial court. In most states and in the federal system, "Supreme Court" refers to the highest level court of appeal.

In New York, Cases that are appealed from the trial court are heard by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. Cases appealed from the Appellate Division are heard by the Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in New York.

In New York, trial court judges are, I believe, referred to as "justices," so you would be correct in referring to someone as a "New York Supreme Court justice" if you meant a trial judge or an intermediate-level appellate judge. A justice on the highest court would be a justice of the Court of Appeals.

 

[Duleigh]

New York is confusing, because in that state "Supreme Court" typically refers to the trial court. In most states and in the federal system, "Supreme Court" refers to the highest level court of appeal.

In New York, Cases that are appealed from the trial court are heard by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. Cases appealed from the Appellate Division are heard by the Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in New York.

In New York, trial court judges are, I believe, referred to as "justices," so you would be correct in referring to someone as a "New York Supreme Court justice" if you meant a trial judge or an intermediate-level appellate judge. A justice on the highest court would be a justice of the Court of Appeals.

Actually I never made the distinction. Blurred ambiguity is an awesome writer's tool. It was just a title for a retired justice and her actual court history was never discussed, but the reader jumped so I go back and forth between calling her Judge or Justice. It depends on how many syllables are needed to balance the sentence. She will come out of the woodwork and assist the local DA in an upcoming criminal trial, but that's in Chapter 12. I'm still slogging through chapter 11 where she only appears in a phone call.

 

[nice90sguy]

I got Halloween and Walpurgisnacht mixed up. Disastrous for my Goth cred.

For fuck's sake, they don't even have the same number of syllables...
unbelievable...

 

[LetsMisBehave]

I set many of my stories in the UK in the 1970s and early 1980s. I had just finished a story in which the main joke was that some of the main characters modelled themselves on the A-Team, only they called themselves the DP Team (for obvious reasons on this site). It was only when checking my memory of the intro for the purposes of fine tuning the spoofing it that I discovered that the program only started running in 1983 - I could have sworn it was around the same time as The Six Million Dollar Man or Charlie's Angels.
I just decided to acknowledge the error in the introduction (and, in effect, said that the series belonged in my mind to the late 70s), but it bugged me that I had ridden 10,00 words or so before checking.
I normally do things like check the UK release dates for films or the singles in the top 40 in the months I set my stories in as I'm writing them. For most readers, it probably passes them by or even irritates them, but I know that for me, sometimes an accurate and obscure reference can act like Proust's Madeleine (that's half in joke, wholly in earnest) and is a cookie for readers who remember those times.
One of my favourite comments on my stories had someone reacting to the description of an old-fashioned corridor carriage on a train and the potential for fun they offered.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I just discovered a factual error today in a story recently published (...of course). I happen to have been driving down a highway far away from home, but still familiar from previous outings, so it was described in detail in the story. The mistake was attributing a notorious speed trap on this route to the wrong town.

Oops. "I'm sorry, guys."

Of course, how many readers here would even know where it was supposed to be?

 

[gunhilltrain]

I thought I made an error, but I was mistaken.

One of my characters was a New York Supreme Court justice, and a reader pointed out that there was no such thing. He did a very untroll-like thing and provided me with a link to the court system in New York. So in future episodes I just referred to her as Judge. Then after publishing I saw on CNN - New York Supreme Court Justice on the cyron... CNN make a mistake? Never! So I looked it up, and sure as shootin' the link the helpful reader sent me was for the New York City justice system, not the New York State system

My opinion of Manhattanites has been verified and confirmed. They are New York, everyone else is Upstate.

I remember we once discussed where "Upstate" is supposed to be. Does it start with Yonkers and Mount Vernon? Does it end in Rouses Point? Does it go as far west as Ripley, NY but not over the state line to North East, PA? (Yeah, I did have to look at a map for the latter three. )

 

[MrPixel]

Of course, how many readers here would even know where it was supposed to be?

If they paid even scant attention, the whole series is set in real places with real names, with no attempt to obscure or fictionalize. They're just not "famous" or otherwise memorable locations. I'm shootin' for that "Oh, gawd, I know where that is!" from the 1% of 1% of readers.

Certain details - like some of the specific businesses - are pure fiction. The trick is discerning which ones.

 

[Whanmore]

Yeah these are interesting. I don't know that I have these or else I have plenty of these.

My stories are set in a fictitious version of a real American State. So I've given myself leeway to error wildly. Like My Prison in Evansville is actually not there but in Terre Haute, But I write it there anyway So I don't have to move my characters too far. I've had movies playing on TV that (based of another movie that a character saw in theaters) Wouldn't have been out yet.

I think of shows like Parks and Rec or The Middle. These are also set in Indiana but I can tell you that have no real Indiana things in them. S In that Hoosier Spirit I'm doing the same thing but Using USI (a real college in a real city) But fictionalizing the dates and Locations. I guess if its an alternate reality it isn't really an Error.

I learned that you don't ever hit a woman's cervix with your dick so I've went and changed all of those references. I do a lot of research when I'm writing so I can have my characters be as knowledgeable as the reader. One of the joys of writing is researching and learning random things.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I once used hypotrochoid when I of course meant epitrochoid. I posted an edit, but you can imagine my embarrassment.

Emily

EDIT and I spelled epitrochoid wrong initially

Another case: how many people would have even noticed?

 

[gunhilltrain]

If they paid even scant attention, the whole series is set in real places with real names, with no attempt to obscure or fictionalize. They're just not "famous" or otherwise memorable locations. I'm shootin' for that "Oh, gawd, I know where that is!" from the 1% of 1% of readers.

Certain details - like some of the specific businesses - are pure fiction. The trick is discerning which ones.

I rarely write about those 1% of 1% places because, well, I don't live in one. In a recent story, I didn't bother to say much about Reno, NV, even though I went through it years ago. U.S. 50 through the desert was the important setting.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah these are interesting. I don't know that I have these or else I have plenty of these.

My stories are set in a fictitious version of a real American State. So I've given myself leeway to error wildly. Like My Prison in Evansville is actually not there but in Terre Haute, But I write it there anyway So I don't have to move my characters too far. I've had movies playing on TV that (based of another movie that a character saw in theaters) Wouldn't have been out yet.

I think of shows like Parks and Rec or The Middle. These are also set in Indiana but I can tell you that have no real Indiana things in them. S In that Hoosier Spirit I'm doing the same thing but Using USI (a real college in a real city) But fictionalizing the dates and Locations. I guess if its an alternate reality it isn't really an Error.

I learned that you don't ever hit a woman's cervix with your dick so I've went and changed all of those references. I do a lot of research when I'm writing so I can have my characters be as knowledgeable as the reader. One of the joys of writing is researching and learning random things.

Sit coms like Parks and Recs really don't need much in the way of real settings. (Like the City Hall establishing shots are in Pasadena.) In any case, most of them are filmed in a studio. Thus they can seem rather generic many times. Seinfeld was an exception in that it did depend on capturing a New York "feeling," which it mostly did.

Cop and mobster shows often do more location filming. For a while, one could take a bus tour of Sopranos New Jersey settings.

 

[Duleigh]

I remember we once discussed where "Upstate" is supposed to be. Does it start with Yonkers and Mount Vernon? Does it end in Rouses Point? Does it go as far west as Ripley, NY but not over the state line to North East, PA? (Yeah, I did have to look at a map for the latter three. )

Everything east of the Hudson, that's TPRONY, then Orange County and Ulster County is "Upstate," Plattsburg is "South Quebec," Rochester is supposed to be Central NY along with Syracuse and Rome but everyone in Rochester has Bills and Sabres tickets so they're Honorary WNY, and Niagara Falls is the headquarters of the Niagara Frontier which includes... Niagara Falls.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I just realized that my new story mentions a commercial wok burner is 30,000 BTU. I know very well that they're actually three, sometimes four times that. Wahhhh....

Console me with tales of your own mistakes, please.

I never would have noticed that, because I know nothing about wok burners.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My character was driving a stick shift and put it in park.

I think it's supposed to be left in first unless you really trust the parking brake. If the car is facing downhill, then reverse gear is best. How did people drive those things in San Francisco or as taxis in Manhattan? It's what you are used to.

"Oh, the engine will stall out if I don't depress the clutch when coming to a stop? You're kidding, I hope?"

 

[gunhilltrain]

Referring to a 50-caliber machine gun as "50 millimeter".

I don't make a lot of factual errors but I do attract readers who like to try and prove me wrong at times. It seldom works out for them.

Erotic stories should have machine guns in them.

 

[gunhilltrain]

One of my MC's is only 6" tall, and it's not a Sci Fi/Fantasy story...

You must have seen This is Spinal Tap?

 

[gunhilltrain]

I put Shepherdstown in Maryland when it's across the Potomac in West Virginia when I damn well knew where it really was. A reader called me on it. Sorry, that's as big a factual error in Literotica copy that I can remember.

In the mainstream, in a bible study I was writing with my minister sister, I wrote an entire section referring to the wrong Judas. My sister didn't catch it before it went to print.

Don't mess with people from West Virginia. They created their own state in 1863 not necessarily because they were against slavery, but because they disliked the other Virginians so much.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Let's just say that the stories you may have heard about nuns at Catholic schools contain a certain amount of truth.

Yes, I met a woman who mentioned the "paddle rooms" that were common in Catholic schools before about 1965. She didn't say if the priests or the nuns used them most often or how gender "assignments" were made in such matters. I only went to "religious instructions" one afternoon per week at my local parish; otherwise, I was in my public school.

 

[Azuldrgon]

In one story, I started with the main character having a certain name.
In the crossover, he introduced himself differently.
Tried to fix it in the story after.
I hate plot holes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Well, now, this is an intriguing peek a little deeper into your personality. I'm interested in the relationship between religious experience and S&M. But I've never brought it up here because my sense is that religion is so out of style that there just wouldn't be any people who knew what I was talking about. Do you?

Decided to edit this one. Look it up online and you'll find plenty of evidence for what you are asking about.

 

[32aa]

My character was driving a stick shift and put it in park.

That's funny