Grammar question! thanks all! :)

I think Jane it would depend on what's meant by "It." A single idea derived from all those books of course takes "was". More manifold results might take "were" but still not collo

The critic will argue that given all such results as a unit It's still singular anyhow

The first one, Jane.

It's speech, spoken, not written English, so it all depends on how your character would speak. If he's from the (UK) home counties he'd say the former, if he was from Bristol (UK,) he'd probably say the latter.

Izzy the flip flopper on the right side for once.

Was not were.