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7.
AOTW: Do you keep notes on the details of your character's so you don't accidentally misstate something? Have you ever made a mistake and gotten away with it?
Carolyn Hart: Oh, I wish I did. If only I were tidy, meticulous, organized, and orderly. Alas, I am not. When writing, earlier books are tumbled about my office, earmarked here and there to check a character's appearance. And, of course, I make mistakes which readers catch. Mystery readers are a delight because they are highly intelligent, but they have the memories of elephants and they don't hesitate to tell you when you err. In some of the early Death on Demand books, Annie's bookstore assistant, Ingrid, is known as Ingrid Smith. Later, she is Ingrid Jones. (Or maybe it was vice versa but I don't have anything written down and I just tried to check in the earlier books and couldn't find it. Sigh.) Anyway, I solved that one. She met Duane Webb in Honeymoon With Murder and she is now Ingrid Webb. I'm afraid I will continue to be my slapdash self and write fast and furiously, pawing through past books to jog my memory, and there will be mistakes. But hey, authors are human, too.
Robert B. Parker: I don't keep notes. I haven't gotten away with a mistake I can remember. In Pastime I said Spenser was motherless. In God Save the Child, I had him remember his mother's cooking. I didn't get away with it... even blind Homer nods.
Nevada Barr: No notes. I make MANY mistakes and, sometimes, get away with it. Usually readers write and tell me where I screwed up but by then it's too late.
Ian Rankin: I don't keep notes, and probably should. I've found myself shifting a character from one police rank to another and to another in the course of a story. Those errors remain extant and a few eagle-eyed readers have spotted them.
Ridley Pearson: It becomes increasingly difficult as the series grows. I'm going a little crazy with trying to track it all given the expanse of the seven Boldt books.
George Pelecanos: I don't keep notes, but I often go back to the books for reference.
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