Writers use Google a lot. In fact, writers use Google so much that oftentimes there’s a legitimate worry that we might be setting off some secret NSA monitoring system when we search for things like “how long does it take someone to die of blood loss” or “historic poisons.” It’s for work! Really!
But sometimes, and I know this is scary to hear, things that we find online are not actually accurate. This appears to be what happened to the Irish novelist John Boyne, the author of The Boy In The Striped Pajamas and other notable works. In his latest book, A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom, a section regarding dyeing caught some readers’ attention on Reddit because it seemed familiar.
This novel I’m reading straight up lifted Breath of the Wild ingredients for a chapter about dressmaking lol from r/Breath_of_the_Wild
Writer Dana Schwartz further explored this discovery with a series of tweets, showing that, yes, these very weird ingredients were indeed … from a videogame.
If those ingredients look weird to you, it is because they are straight of out of the Zelda game Breath of the Wild pic.twitter.com/JpebdXJqP1
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 3, 2020
So: while John Boyne was doing a perfunctory google search for how to dye clothes red he found a site listing monster parts and accidentally put them in his Very Serious book. I am very embarrassed for him and this is my nightmare but it’s also very funny
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 3, 2020
Anyway. Let this be a lesson to all novelists to read the full context of the things you’re looking up for your books but if you do make mistakes, at least let them be hilarious.
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 3, 2020
The kicker though? That Boyne owned up to it pretty quickly!
LOL that is actually kinda hilarious. I’m totally willing to own it. 😂🤣Something tells me I’ll be telling this anecdote on stage for many years to come… 😂
— John Boyne 📚 (@john_boyne) August 3, 2020
This is honestly the best lesson about not just going with the first Google result when you’re doing your research.
(via: USGamer, image: Nintendo)
Here are a few other delightful things we saw today:
- Ready to be depressed? Read how the pandemic defeated America. (via The Atlantic)
- Less depressing is the fascinating oral history of Supermarket Sweep. (via Huff Post)
- Amy Adams’ thriller The Woman in the Window might end up on Netflix. (via Deadline)
- Talk about a one-woman crew …
I miss them all. 😩😩😩
Thanks, @aimeelajoie!pic.twitter.com/VIdrAnc4f7
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) August 3, 2020
- CNN’s Jim Acosta challenged Trump on hydroxychloroquine. (via Mediaite)
- Making the case for reexamining old sitcoms, via looking at Black people on Seinfeld. (via Vulture)
- Even Andrew Lloyd Webber thought Cats was a ridiculous movie. (via EW)
- And finally, Katie Ledecky can do this and I can barely sit upright to type.
This is Katie Ledecky swimming the length of a pool without spilling a single drop of the chocolate milk balanced on her head.
Sometimes you think you’ve seen it all in sports, and then you come across what might be the most athletic thing I’ve ever seen
pic.twitter.com/59RsjlouZ2— Joshua Axelrod (@jaxel222) August 3, 2020
What did you see today?
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