YouCaxton’s list of works of local history has been building steadily and writers often approach us with interesting, well-researched projects. Two particular problems sometimes delay publication. The first is caused by the, understandable, reluctance of some writers to exclude hard-worked-for research in the interests of a coherent narrative; the second lies in a tendency on the part of some writers to indulge in a little too much ‘telling’. The rules of fiction apply to non-fiction as much as to fiction if the writer, too frequently, attempts to ‘tell’ the reader how he or she should respond to things related in the text. In general, we prefer it if the facts are left to speak for themselves.
