The Devil In The Details

To be a writer is to be a researcher. No matter if it's about finding who represents an author or bringing accuracy to a manuscript, there's work involved.

Heather Barbieri, she of international short story award fame, managed to snag Emma Sweeney's interest with a manuscript, so my research began with reading her debut piece.

Bringing accuracy to a manuscript isn't all that.

I've known since I was small that you don't call those who roam Ireland's roads "tinkers" as it's considered an insult. They like to be called Travellers. With two 'L's.

That minor point slipped past the editors and Ms. Barbieri, who opens the novel with a character who describes himself as a traveler. One 'L'. He's driving his caravan, makes a living fixing things (that's where the tinkering comes in) but he's not a card-carrying member of the Travellers, not one to support Pavee Point's quest for Travellers' rights. Is he truly a Traveller (and they're not gypsies either) or just a man who likes to roam?

Unfortunately, such small errors set the teeth on edge and make it harder to read. There's an ongoing awareness that things aren't quite right, and if it's all about suspending disbelief, even that becomes hard work.

The story is set in the west of Ireland, but it's in a Gaelic village.

What might that be? Is Ms. Barbieri referring to the Gaeltacht? If so, the folks would be speaking Irish and all the signs would be in Irish and the local newspaper would be in Irish.

But there's no one in the entire novel speaking Irish. They're all talking another language called Gaelic.

The fact is, the great majority of Ms. Barbieri's readers wouldn't know that. They wouldn't cringe every time the word 'Gaelic' was used when 'Irish' was the more accurate word. They've most likely never heard of the Gaeltacht and have no idea how restrictive the places are, how little English is heard.

Outside of the details, the story is well told. The plot revolves around loss (mother dies) and finding a new man (post-break-up) and there's the usual female problems tossed in to the subplot (wife abuse).

With a bit of clever phrasing, I could probably come up with a query letter that claims my manuscript would be snapped up by Ms. Barbieri's readers. Except my manuscript has a few more words of Irish in it.

The devil's in such details.