The buzz over the Da Vinci Code has brought to mind the importance of telling truth–even in fiction. I hear people saying to those that are upset over the misinformation that is being passed off as truth in this book to, “Get over it. It’s fiction.”

Okay, but where do we draw the line? How many people are reading this, and other books, and believing what they read? The line between fact and fiction becomes fuzzy and readers can’t tell the difference. As writers we have a responsibility to present truth.

Historical fiction writers do research to make sure that what they are presenting is as close to what actually occured as they can make it. They study language. Did that word even exist back in 1897? Could the main character have picked up a gallon of milk at her local grocery store in 1900? When was sagebrush introduced into the U.S.?

Most fiction writers that I know do as much research to make sure the facts in their books are as acurate as the nonfiction writers.

Why? Because we know the power of the written word. It’s easy to pass along misinformation to our readers. We also don’t want anyone putting our books down because they know we got the facts wrong–a doctor or nurse would know if we misstate a medical fact.

Dan Brown purports that his book is fiction. Okay, the characters are made up. But the facts behind his story must be historically acurate. No one should read his book and come away believing something that isn’t true. He owes us truth.