If I am writing a fictional story, but use information from websites, etc. should i have references?

Question

I am writing a book that includes information about wildcats, such as where they live, how they look, etc. I'm not sure if I should reference them because if I find out I DO need to reference when i finish, then i probably won't remember all the materials I used. Please Help!

Answer 1

Rememeber the Da Vinci Code....
Most of it are facts...
Nuthin stirs up a good controversy like a fictious story with a possibility of it being true...
And nuthin sells a book better than a controversy...

As for not remembering, Just paste the links into a document and save em... You dont want to get sued after you become a hit do u???

Answer 2

It's more common for this to be used in non-fiction publications. I personally have never seen anyone who writes a fiction story put references down in a biliography (go look in the sci-fi section at a book store. Most of those authors do research on topics before they actually write about them, as do fantay authors).

What I /have/ seen them do is write something for the front of their books, either in the dedication page or as an author's note about who helped them with their research (Anne McCaffery did that with the first Dragonrider's of Pern book).

References are used for non-fiction works mostly though.


...I went and asked a couple of people (who are editors/writers/bookstore owners) and what they said is: In fiction it is optional to make a bibliography for citing your research sources. What is more commonly practiced is an author's note that states what kind of material you used in your research and 'so-and-so helped me gather materials', 'such-and-such was an inspiration/gave me good informations about this topic'. If you do decide to do a bibliography/works cited page, you don't have to use footnotes.

Answer 3

Do like Crichton does and have a page of sources in the back of the book.

You can also have a character in the book go off on tangents about a given subject and then have him say something like

"According to Newton," he said, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." ok, bad example, but I am sure you get the point.

Answer 4

YES! If you are writing a fictional story, it is a must that you cite all of your resources, in the event that you need to recall some information, or if your work will be used for research. Even as fiction, it is definitely important that you cite your resources.

Answer 5

Hold on to all references and use them in a foreword or an appendix.
Even if you are not writing a scientific paper, it is common courtesy to mention sources to which you are heavily indebted for information.

Answer 6

I would, just in case someone wants to research the topic even though your work is fiction.

Answer 7

I say you should just in case. But to save time just to save time save um as favorites or something that way u wont have the chance of forgetting.

Answer 8

i believe that you are supposed to reference any source that you use, even if not as direct quotes. also, be sure to use " " if you do take a direct quote.