I just haven't really found that this is a problem. Occasionally an American reader will query something or leave a comment that shows they didn't quite get something, but on the whole, it seems to be fine. Maybe there's a whole host of Americans out there who've never read more than one chapter of my stories because they had no idea what was going on! But as a reader (of novels set in other places, rather than fic) I've never really struggled either. My natural tendency is always to let the context dictate and not worry too much if I don't get every detail. And if there's something I really don't understand, I'll look it up. I wouldn't expect an author to 'dumb down' by explaining everything for me, and I wouldn't do it for my readers either.
You know, I am beginning to suspect that I agonise over things that may not really be such issues; will anyone die if I misrepresent the Anglo-Finnish relationship?
I'm a journalist in real life and spend a lot of time ringing people to check that I am not misrepresenting them. It is quite possible that this dribbles out into my writing ...
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Date: 2008-12-18 03:29 am (UTC)LOL. If in doubt, go straight to the snogging.
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Date: 2008-12-18 03:42 am (UTC)I'm a journalist in real life and spend a lot of time ringing people to check that I am not misrepresenting them. It is quite possible that this dribbles out into my writing ...