Chapter 8: Copley Square

Chapter 8 is online at http://www.WebFeats.com/Transition/8.html.

This chapter is a dialogue between two new characters, one of whom will be a supporting character throughout the novel. (I sound like I'm describing a recurring character on a sitcom.)

In this chapter, we learn that the governing body of triathlons in the United States is the American Triathletic Council. Actually, there is no such organization. Twenty-five years ago there were two competing organizations that claimed to govern triathlons in the United States: the U.S. Triathlon Association (USTA) and the American Triathlon Association. The latter was quickly merged into the former, which subsequently changed its name to Triathlon Federation USA (Tri Fed) and then again to USA Triathlon (USAT). I was thinking of using one of those names in the book, but in end I decided to make up my own.

I raise this issue not because I think that you actually care about the name of the organization that happens to be governing triathlons in the United States right now, but to bring attention to the question of how much reality you should inject into your fiction. Should I have had Valerie receive a call from the USAT instead of the organization I made up? Would it have added a touch of realism to the story, or would it have unfairly maligned a very real organization? Or am I making too much out of what is essentially a non-issue? Leave a comment, let me know what you think.