Yes, I watched the Netflix series The Keepers. And, of course, I was revolted to wonder how the types of crimes covered in the show could exist within such an organization. But thinking that all I needed to know about the Catholic Church could be had by watch this show would be like thinking all I needed to know about the FBI could be gleaned from watching the movie Silence of the Lambs.
Absurd, I know.
I have done enough research to be competent in how the Church works for the story itself, and I have a disclaimer stating that I know I didn't get everything right.
However, how far can one take creative license? I just finished reading a thriller, based on a town not far from where I live. In fact, the title of the book is also the name of the town--for reasons that will soon be clear, I am not naming it here. Why? Because I hated it. I know hate is such a strong word, but I felt it was one of the worst books I had ever read. The only reason I read it to the end was because of the town.
In the end, many of the events that occurred became clear due to an unreliable narrator. Books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train also had unreliable narrators, and were also books I disliked and had a difficult time reading. But this one that I recently read was so unbelievable that there was no way things like that could happen. Ever!
This might be a longer than usual post today, so please be patient.
I also recently read a thriller about a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco area. The killings spanned across a few decades, with a quiet period in between. The detective, new to the position, took on this killer's case as it became personal, for her father was the one who investigated the crimes years before. Now, where the creative license comes into play is at the end. The detective is immediately recruited into the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. Sorry, anyone who knows anything about the FBI knows that this would NEVER happen. That is not how they get recruits for the BAU. The author could've mentioned this, how unusual the recruitment was, but failed to do so.
And with that, it fell short.
This other one, about the town close to where I live, just had one event after the other that just would NEVER happen. One or two things, I can overlook it. But every single chapter had event after event that was completely unbelievable. The narrator, an author herself, actually used her father-in-law's name as a villain in a book, portraying him as this cardboard 2-dimensional evil bad guy--sorry, if that happened, she would've been sued big time. Also, apparently, a big name actress loved her book so much that she called the author personally to say she wants to make it into a movie. Sorry, this doesn't happen either.
It's okay to take creative license. And if you feel something it out of the norm, take a moment and mention that. There is so much more I could say, but I may speak about it again on a later post, one dealing with the notion of an unreliable narrator.
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