Such quotes always stir a large dose of envy in me. What I wouldn't give to have a friend of such expertise, someone who would supply me the information I would never be able to gather in the local library.
How do you think a writer gets to know such people? I've been thinking for a while to write to some expert or another and ask them about some things but the truth is why would that person want to waste their time with someone like me? And even if they did, the ammount of info written down in one e-mail would hardly be enough. That's where friendships help, I bet.
Any thoughts?
I have emailed more than one author of a nonfiction book to ask about ideas I have had from reading their books. And I have heard back each time with useful information.
If you don't email or write to them, you'll never learn anything from them anyway, and if the worst thing that could happen is that they will ignore you or ask you not to bother them, what can that hurt?
The possibility of a response and the possibility that a response might lead to a continued discussion certainly makes the effort seem worthwhile to me. I'd be willing to bet that most of those acknowledgements are in reference to relationships that started in exactly this way.
So, go for it.
I think they would be eager to reply in many cases, even if only briefly. I mean this is their work, who doesn't want to talk about their work?
In graduate school, I was responsible for creating a software program to teach something (I was studying for my current profession - building educational software for corporate clients.)
My partner was in charge of building the technology to make the thing work. I was in charge of finding the content.
Together, we selected the topic of Aztec culture and art as our subject matter. We both thought it would be fun to learn more about it.
I borrowed books from the library. I learned as much as I could. (This, FYI, was before the internet was a useful tool.) I found I still had questions, and we had placeholders in the computer program for video-based content.
So I looked in the phone book (literally) for the phone number for the department of History for our university. That phone call led to the actual department (archaeology) where I found one very receptive professor. He gave me the names/numbers of another three or four within a 60 mile radius, including the curator of the Mesoamerican Art exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago.
I ended up with the greatest content you can imagine. The curator took me through the exhibit, then showed me an Olmec mask that they had taken off exhibit a few years before when they had discovered that the mask was an elaborate and well-done fake. A local professor of mesoamerican art took me to the Mexican Fine Arts museum in Chicago, where we talked to him and other experts.
Universally, every single person I spoke to was happy to share their expertise. I was just a graduate student, I wasn't doing anything exceptional. But these folks are in the business of sharing knowledge, spreading information. I was polite, I was respectful of their time, and I thanked them each profusely when we were done.
I'll never forget the look on my professor's face when we presented the final course. "Where did you get all of these interview subjects?" (after first asking if we had just invented names for our experts, he thought we had asked other graduate students to read scripts we had written.)
My answer? I just asked.
So call or email, and find yourself some experts! Be kind, be effusive with your appreciation, and if one seems less interested in helping, move on to another (or ask if he/she knows anyone else in the field they could recommend you speak with. Then you get to drop person A's name when you call person B, even if person A didn't help you much!)
Good luck!
I also suppose that it's kind of an ego-boost for some, like getting a letter in a newspaper or magazine. (I've done that, too.)
Further supposition...a simple thank-you in print might be quickly forgotten, but if, say, the book it's in takes off, well, who knows what it might lead to. (Did J. K. Rowling thank anyone in the Harry Potter books?) I wouldn't want to become one of the new Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses out of a misplaced sense of kindness---my own for helping, and whoever's for thanking me in print.
Respectfully,
Dr. Bob
Most experts are passionate about their field and love to have someone listen to them about it. I know I love it when someone asks me about writing, although I'm hardly an expert I love to talk about it. (That is why we are here isn't it?)
quote:
I suppose this is the easier route.
But I would suggest this is best after one's own research, becoming an expert (or at least as far as the story requires, and outside affirmation and suggestion is best relegated to after the tale is written.
I agree. Having someone to consent that the details in your story are in fact correct is a valuable resource, but the onus of research should still belong to the writer.
The merits of seeking professional counsel have been posted (and in many cases are very beneficial). The alternate side is that many professionals will help out of a feeling of sympathy or obligation and in a sense are taken advantage of by the writer who finds it easier to type an email than to go to the library and read a book about the subject matter.