Oh no what have I done!

RichardB · Jun 11, 2009

Check out the following Wikipedia article on Buono da Malamocco. Sorry, it's in Italian.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_di_Malamocco

Somebody took character descriptions and plot from my website-- thought they were real -- and wrote up a Wikipedia article!

Now, Buono and Rustico were real people. But no one knows ANYTHING biographical about them. I made it all up!

Check out the list of "crew of the San Nicola"

Equipaggio della San Nicola:

Buono da Malamocco (Capitano) Andrea da Torcello, " Rustico" (Primo Ufficiale) Pietro, (Secondo Ufficiale) Giacomo (marinaio) Emilio (marinaio) Giuseppe Baseio "Giusto" ( legato dogale) Brutus, "Brutto" (militare) Hubert di Gascoyne "Franco" (militare) Elihu ben Moische (medico di bordo) Rebekah ben Moische (assistente del medico di bordo) Nikos (marinaio) Medes (marinaio)

The San Nicola: I made up the name. I have no idea what the ship was called.

Andrea "Rustico" (first officer) Rustico existed. I made up his given name Andrea.
Pietro (second officer) - completely fabricated!
Giacomo, Emilio, Brutus, Nikos, Medes (sailors) - all completely fabricated!
Hubert (soldier) - guess what? completely fabricated!
Elihu, Rebekah (physician and assistant) - completely fabricated! (and no, I did not call Rebekah "son of Moses" Another mistake by the Wiki writer)

I suppose I should go into Italian Wikipedia and tell them that I'm an author and I made up all these people and the story... but it's just too funny!

It's official: this made my day.

veinglory · Jun 11, 2009

That's priceless

cooeedownunder · Jun 11, 2009

RichardB · Jun 11, 2009

It even mentions Buono's wife Magdalena and their three daughters, and how Buono fought against Pepin's invasion in 810! (the subject of the ongoing webnovel prequel)

I can't stop laughing. I wish I could read Italian better.

Now... how do I work this into a query letter?

Suse · Jun 11, 2009

Well done, Richard!! You've made history. :hooray:

firedrake · Jun 11, 2009

Awesome!

Captain Scarf · Jun 11, 2009

Use this when you send the work off for publication. You can say it seemed so plausible and interesting that someone wrote a wikipedia article on it.

angeliz2k · Jun 11, 2009

Fabulous.

This is why you can't trust Wikipedia all the time. And also, congrats for convincing some poor fool that your fictional characters were real. The person who posted it must have thought you'd done some amazing effing research and found these names, haha.

Millicent M'Lady · Jun 11, 2009

What, you mean Wikipedia isn't always accurate?! I know some college students thats in troubles! That's great though. Must be proof that you're a very convincing writer. Kudos!

bettielee · Jun 11, 2009

So Awesome! Congratulations! You are part of the mis-information super highway!

veinglory · Jun 11, 2009

Make sure you get a screen cap, I think this incident would liven up a query letter no end

RichardB · Jun 11, 2009

Translation!

Best I could do with minimal Italian skills. Helpfully color-coded so you can see the parts that are (my) pure fabrication.

http://saintmarksbody.com/buono/?p=63

pdr · Jun 12, 2009

!!!

I haven't laughed so much for ages.

See why I say never trust Wiki, oh my students. I shall use this as a shining example, Richard. If I can stop laughing enough to tell them straight.

roonil_wazlib · Jun 12, 2009

Screencap it and save it forever because that is priceless. :ROFL:

I actually had a professor in college use material from Wikipedia for us to study. He never quite understood why we refused to use it.

RichardB · Jun 12, 2009

I can't wait until I get my manuscript rejected because an editor looks it up on Wikipedia and says, "you got it all wrong! Buono had three sons, not daughters, and you misspelled his wife's name!"

Perks · Jun 12, 2009

That is absolutely incredible. Wow.

Soccer Mom · Jun 12, 2009

OMG! Laugh of the week! That is too wonderful to be real. :ROFL:

BAY · Jun 12, 2009

RichardB my spidey skin is tingling. I'm smelling the first wisps of a best seller! What till this starts making the rounds through writer's blogs. Go Buono and Rustico!

OpheliaRevived · Jun 12, 2009

LOL !!

three_act_climax · May 4, 2012

I just saw this now, and it's incredible! It's like a Jorge Luis Borges story come to life!

Fins Left · May 4, 2012

Suse said:
Well done, Richard!! You've made history.

Technically, he's made up history.

There's no reason that they would link the wikipedia page to your book. Just send them an explaination and the link for the book.

As for the blurb, you can say your account is so authentic that it has been mistaken for a real life account.

Puma · May 4, 2012

In case you hadn't noticed, this thread is three years old and RichardB has not been on AW for a year and a half. There are many, many more recent threads to look at. Puma

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