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A few answers:

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I have read well-researched novels that include either long dedications or sections at the end in which they thank the authors of their research source materials.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:43 PM on September 9, 2009

You could just compile a normal bibliography and add it to the end with a note of explanation. I love it when fiction writers do that, especially when they annotate a bit, regardless of whether their sources are still alive.
posted by mareli at 1:14 PM on September 9, 2009

Not as far as I know, and I'm hoping to publish my first historical novel soon (big departure for me and I am thrilled). Because I am a crazy hyper-researching person I did immense amounts of research, and nobody has, to my knowledge, come up with a "best-practices" document about how best to acknowledge research sources in fiction.

Some people I think do it well are Pat Barker and Thomas Mallon.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:35 PM on September 9, 2009

So long as plagiarism itself is avoided, there is no expectation that an author must credit his or her research sources in fiction. Many fiction authors don't include any acknowledgment at all. However, it is certainly nice when an author acknowledges their sources, either in an acknowledgments page (this works especially well when the author's research was based in interpersonal interaction rather than book research) or a bibliography.

If you are questioning whether a specific source merits inclusion in such a mention, let your barometer be both the magnitude of the source's influence on the work, and the use to the reader in listing the source. For example, say you were writing a book about a firefighter in Victorian New York. If part of your research took up several afternoons of a fire chief's time, it would be good to include him in your acknowledgments even though knowing his name will be of little use to the reader. Conversely, if you ended up only explicitly using a nugget or two of information from a book on Victorian firehouses, but you know it to be an excellent resource on the subject, you might include it in your bibliography because of its benefit to the interested reader.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:08 PM on September 9, 2009

You probably heard about how the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail sued for a piece of the Da Vinci Code bazillions. Now, a good portion of the Da Vinci Code really is people sitting around talking about the speculative history developed in Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

They lost. They lost an appeal. They lost about a million pounds reimbursing Random House's legal fees. (All of which speaks somewhat more to legal than ethical.)

As a reader and writer, I'd consider an acknowledgement section in the work to be good enough.

The reference in your last paragraph to putting a real person's words into a fictitious person's mouth opens a whole 'nother can of worms, though. Are words are being quoted verbatim, and, if so, how many? Is it being done just once or how often? Does your character or his/her situation resemble the real person's? Are you presenting the character in a negative light? Is that person living or with an active estate?
posted by Zed at 4:45 PM on September 9, 2009

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One of particular interest imo is the one about Holy Blood Holy Grail. I read that book before The Da Vinci Code and I would have thought Dan Brown would've lost that case easily, but he won. If Holy Blood Holy Grail couldn't win that case, you might get away with copying a whole damn book. Take care. Vern

Rules, who needs them? Just text it in all lower case. Take care. Vern

Yes, I noticed. I was in the middle of a review. What happened to end of week? I thought it was a glitch till I saw this. Take care. Vern

Haven't read the story, but doesn't really matter since the real question is, "Do people meet, fall in love (or at least think they are) and after a certain amount of time decide to get married and live happily ever after?" Yes, they do. The number of days they spend together before making a lifetime commitment is irrelevant because that number just as well be random since any number of days you choose will have real life adherents from one day to many years before that decision is made and lived with. It happens in real life; it can certainly happen in a novel with no reservation. Anyone who says the situation is unrealistic is out of touch with reality imho. Good luck with the book. Take care. Vern

I think you have to sign up to put in your own stuff. I didn't see any place to do input. If you hit the "Explore" link then it brings up random items to diagram. If you click the "Learn more" link then it wants you to sign up, but still doesn't provide a means to insert your own items to explore. At least that's the way it worked for me. Take care. Vern

If they really thought he was Christ, you'd think they'd know He doesn't need their protection; more likely they need His. Amazing how some folks, the church, think God is helpless. Armed motorcades for Christ -- I suppose the noise will wake Him up in their minds. Just a thought in passing. Take care. Vern

As long as the stories connect in a reasonable manner in the end (the beginning would be a plus) then I see nothing wrong with the way you are presenting it. It's really a minimal version of a story within stories method of storytelling (The Arabian Nights being an extreme and well known version). Also, within most mysteries, separate parts of the solution don't come together until near the ending. The primarily separate story lines could be perceived as a "hook" for many trying to figure out how they will eventually connect. If you are convinced the story works as two halves, then that is the way you should proceed with confidence. Good writing. Take care. Vern

Number 5, nope, not true. I never quit. I POSTPONE for extremely long periods. Take care. Vern

Way to go, GP. I'll jump on it when I get back from the beach; going to play in The World Amateur Golf Tournament (about 3000 participants of all ages -- and gender -- and handicaps) up and down the Grand Strand. Looking forward to seeing what you've done. Take care. Vern

Hi, LL, it's a bit quiet in here. Still waiting on GP to post those Genesis chapters -- I'm starting to get gray, but other than that, all's well. Hope the rock is rolling down hill for you now. Take care. Vern

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Still not visible. Still makes no sense. Take care. Vern

So, the site was hacked and evidently some posts were deleted (among other actions) to counter that activity; I suppose that is why a post that used to be in this space is no longer here. Perhaps Putin needs some good stories to tell The Donald the next time they get together. Think he might pay royalties? Okay, this ain't a political post; it's the beginning of a mystery thriller. Stay tuned. Take care. Vern