storytelling

I generally avoid reviews, but yesterday I did come across one for Queen of Swords at the Romantic Times Book Reviews site.

RT has been pretty kind to the Wilderness novels as they've come out, and as I like romance novels and romance readers, that means a lot to me. But there is something in the QoS review that has had me thinking:

You'll enjoy immersing yourself in their sometimes predictable soap opera world and glory in their triumph over tragedy.

Anybody who has to write recommendations for employees or students is familiar with the subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) coded language when you don't want to come out and say something negative. When I was reading applications to the graduate programs at the University of Michigan I saw a good number of such letters. For example (and I'm making this up):

Mr. Smith is very dedicated to his work. He never missed a class or a deadline, and he listened closely to constructive criticism.

To me this says: the guy's heart is in the right place, he's a hard worker but he just doesn't get the basics, no matter how much time I spent with him.

So now back to the quote from the RT review. There are a couple of very loaded phrases there, specifically predictable and soap opera. Let's look at these separately.

Predictable is one of those words that is positive only in a limited way. You want the person who delivers your newspaper every morning to be predictable. You want your accountant, your dentist, your bus to be reliably predictable. But predictable is never used as a positive in book reviews. It's a kind of all-purpose meh, that passive agressive sound you make when you're irritated.

The truth is, most fiction is predictable in at least a couple ways. You can predict that a romance novel will have a resolution that makes the primary couple happy. You can predict that the detective in a hard-boiled series will clobber the bad guy in the end. You can predict that if Stephen King puts a pie in a story, it will be a strawberry pie. You can predict that the novels that win certain literary prizes will not have happy endings. Thus, predictable is one of those terms that says: there were things about this novel I didn't like, some turns the author took that didn't sit right with me. But it would take a lot of time and energy to sort that all out and tell you about it, so here: predictable.

In a historical romance, what would be the opposite of predictable? One possibility: the main character dies on the last page, which pretty much rules out a happy ending. But then it wouldn't be a historical romance, anyway. In a crime-novel series such as Lee Child's wonderful Jack Reacher novels, unpredictable would have to involve something like Jack finding religion and enrolling in a seminary. Or Jack coming out of the closet. These things would make the novels less predictable, but they would also ruin all the work Lee Child has put into establishing Jack's character and m.o.

Soap opera isn't passive agressive, it's plain negative. Many people love soap operas and can provide lots of solid reasons for this affinity, but in a book review the term brings with it a whole slew of less than wonderful associations: contrived, repetitive, lurid plots; silly complications; iffy dialogue; over the top melodrama, shallow characters. It is as pejorative a term as bodice ripper, which is shorthand for a love story set in the past, of primary interest to women.

Here's what I wish: that reviewers would drop the shorthand. Instead of predictable or bodice ripper or soap opera, write a sentence that gets to the heart of the problem, the reason the story didn't work for you. That would be a useful review, for potential readers and for the author, too.

Posted by at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

1. Have I mentioned that I really dislike snow?
2. It is snowing again.
3. The Girlchild's computer is still not here, but according to DHL, will be arriving before the end of the day. If I had a chicken I'd sacrifice it to the road gods.
4. If you haven't been watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC) you should go download the first ten episodes from iTunes, because it's really good. Jody P. suggested it to me and I finally got around to watching the pilot, and I was hooked. Excellent writing and a fantastic cast.
5. I've been having some success with the opening of Six, mostly because Carrie barged right in and started telling me what's on her mind.
6. Good news: heard from my editor at Putnam, and she really, really liked Pajama Jones on her first read through.
7. Some new Wilderness sketches are up. To remind you of a couple things: I am at best a very amateur artist, and make no claims to excellence. These are just the way I see the characters, and every reader is entitled to their own vision. Also, as unprofessional as they may be, the drawings are my copyright and shouldn't be used in any way without my explicit written permission.
8. Just yesterday somebody brought the relatively new Romance Wiki to my attention. If you have information you'd like to share, get on over there and edit, add, be creative. I added some categories and basic information, but there's tons of stuff to be done if you're so inclined.
9. I have to get back to work.

Posted by at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The good thing about all this snow, in my view: nothing. I grew up in Chicago, and there is not one jot, not one iota of snow-love in me. I cannot romanticize the stuff, not even at Christmas.

The good thing about all this snow according to the Girlchild: three cancelled school days.

Sunday night when it was established that there would be no school on Monday but the roads were still passable (if you have four wheel drive and antilock brakes and aren't afraid of the occasional tree in the road), the Mathematician drove the Girlchild to a sleepover, the really good kind where there are just four friends. This was in town so they could tramp through the snow to the grocery store where they bought all kinds of teenager-feed, and then trooped back to cook and eat and watch television. Monday night (last night) she came home, and not unhappily which had less to do with seeing us, her doting parents, than the fact that today her new computer was supposed to be delivered.

Except today the temperature dropped and the slushy roads turned to ice. The kind of ice you don't mess with, especially if you live on a windy county road like ours. You may remember this map from the story of the the bat, the knee, the bicycle helmet, the husband and Dick, the doctor. Now in the winter there's less worry about bats, but ice is no fun either. These last two days people have been skidding off road and down into ravines, over and into cliffs, and when none of that is available, into ditches. Some of them fatally.

So we're stuck here in the county, while in town the Girlchild's friends have got another sleepover going because again tomorrow: school cancelled. And the insult on top of that injury? DHL is not delivering her computer today. They don't like the idea of skidding off the road into the bay either.

Now what we have on our hands is a very unhappy, very vocally furious seventeen year old who declared she was going to walk into town. Seven plus icy miles in the snow drifts and dark is nothing if her friends are waiting for her. She scoffs at the lack of boots. She sneers at the idea of broken bones. None of that is relevant when her best friends are all together in one place without her. Overnight. With junk food, and movies.

Sometimes you just gotta say no, and then ride out the consequences. What I'm really worried about is the power going out, because then she wouldn't even be able to talk to her friends online, and I fear she would simply... implode. And that would be a shame. A very messy, very loud shame.

So wish us warm temperatures and melting ice and power lines that stay where they are supposed to be. Because truth to tell: after three days of on again-off again power and imploding teenager, my nerves are shot.

Posted by at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

There's a poll up in the forum to gauge interest in a chapter by chapter discussion of Queen of Swords.

If you aren't registered on the forum, you'll have to do that to take part. Registration is a two step process: you sign up, and I get an email asking me to approve your registration. This is necessary so I can weed out the book people from the V!@gr@ peddlers.

Posted by at 12:09 PM | Permalink

Posted by at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I've been thinking about this for a while, and as the weather is horrific and I'm having trouble concentrating on actual work, I thought I'd put some some thoughts.

There are whole books written about kissing, but as far as I can tell, nobody has written about writing about the kiss. And it's true that not all writers need to worry about this particular technical challenge. I'm sure that you could come up with a list of novels in which nobody ever kisses anybody, in friendship or affection, in love or passion.

But a lot of novels do touch on this particular gesture, which is as varied, nuanced, and hard to describe as a smile.

At the most basic level, fictional kisses fall into two categories: sexual and non-sexual in nature. Non-sexual kisses are easy enough, and nobody seems to go to much trouble to describe them. A mother may kiss a child without a lot of folderol, for example. But the kiss that is part and parcel of an established or burgeoning sexual relationship is far more difficult. You might have characters who are falling in love, or who hate each other and use sex as a way to inflict emotional pain. Kisses can be reluctant, or they can begin with reluctance and turn to enthusiasm. A kiss might be public or private, routine or a huge surprise.

Movie kisses used to be sterile, almost symbolic gestures even between characters who were supposed to be passionate about each other. Jimmy Stewart pressed his closed mouth to Donna Reed's closed mouth. They stood like that for about two seconds and then separated. These days, of course, on screen passion is far more detailed.

Even an author who has decided never to include sex scenes in a novel may need or want to include a kiss or two. So I'm going to look at how this is handled, in a variety of novels. If you have a particular instance of a fictional kiss you think would add to the overall analysis, please speak up.

In the meantime, send warm wishes our way. Last year we had less than an inch of snow total. Yesterday we got twelve.

Posted by at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Woke up at 3 AM and can't get back to sleep. This in spite of the fact that I'm going to be spending the day alternating between the kitchen and the couch, where I can lie down on an ice pack. Oh my aching back. Eleven people coming. Count 'em.

So I'm browsing my usual websites and I come across an interesting post at firedoglake. It's not the usual meme for other bloggers, but a getting-to-know you kind of thing for the readers. I read through about half the comments and came to the conclusion that you get a really strong sense of a person based on (1) how they answer (changing rules, ignoring those parts of questions they don't like, qualifying everything) and (2) what they answer.

So I'm borrowing it. Here. Knock yourself out between courses:

1. Three songs you can — and do — listen to again and again.

2. Three movies you can — and do — watch over and over.

3. Three dishes you would choose for your last meal.

4. Three most relaxing vacation spots you've ever visited.

5. Three books that you consider great reads.

6. Three shows that you consider the best on television, past and present.

(my answers after the jump)

Songs:
1. I am a Town (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
2. Pink Cadillac (Springsteen)
3. Save the Last Dance (The Drifters)

Movies:
1. Sense and Sensibility
2. Groundhog Day
3. When Harry Met Sally

Meal
1. Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon.
   a. Heavy on the very lemony hollandaise.
   b. Araucana eggs.
   c. Homemade English muffins perfectly toasted.
   d. Smoked Salmon ala Thor.
2. buttery newly picked baby peas with a sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3. Cherry Garcia

Vacation spot
um, a question first: what is this 'relaxing' and how is it accomplished?

Books
1. Possession, Byatt
2. Niccolo Rising, Dunnett
3. Lonesome Dove, McMurtry

Television Past
1. West Wing
2. Friends
3. Farscape

Television Present
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Studio 60
3. Deadwood
4. Battlestar Galactica

Posted by at 4:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)

You've been asking for these. Three generations of the Bonner men, at various ages. Luke isn't willing to be seen at this point. Hawkeye's sketch is far rougher than the other two, but he doesn't mind. So here you have: Hawkeye at fifty-five, Nathaniel about aged thirty-five, Daniel at twenty-eight.

Posted by at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

"Oooooh, you fight like Anne Rice!"

Now where did that come from? Hint: televised today.

Posted by at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I am very fortunate to have such enthusiastic and devoted readers. Believe me, I appreciate every one of you. I may not answer every email, but I do read them all. A kind and positive note from a reader is like a perfect truffle, and who can eat just one of those?

Since Queen of Swords has been out there's been a big bump in the amount of email, and pretty much all of it ends with the same question: when will the next book be out? So I'm going to try to answer that clearly.

The Wilderness books are generally between 250,000 and 300,000 words in length. If the average manuscript page is 250 words, that means I've got about a thousand pages to write. Another way to approach this: I can write between 100,000 and 150,000 words a year.

I've just started Six (as I'm calling the next Wilderness book for the moment), so that means that with luck, I'll finish it late summer 2008. At that point it goes to Bantam and the editing and production process starts. That requires at least six months.

So realistically, you should see Six sometime in 2009.

I realize that's a long way off. For me it's a long time too, dragging myself up the mountain. Difficult, but worthwhile in the end. In the meantime, I'll suggest books to read that I have liked, and then if I may be so bold: there's Tied to the Tracks out there waiting to be read, and Pajama Jones coming your way next year, probably in June or so.

Novels that come out in hard cover usually show up in softcover editions about a year after first release. So that means Tied to the Tracks will be out in June in paperback, and Queen of Swords in October.

Final note: you can find all the in-print editions of my books grouped together here (a link that is also on the top navigation bar under 'writ by my own hand'). I am not suggesting you need to use that link to purchase anything; it's just a convenient way to keep the information readily available. If you click through you'll see that there are other categories: not writ by my own hand (books I'd recommend) and movies/television (some of my favorites). I don't make a lot of money from this setup (I think last year the total payout was eleven bucks) but what does come through I donate to Doctors without Borders.

Posted by at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Alison Kent does this thing on Thursdays, a variation on the meme. This week I decided to jump in. Here are thirteen books at the top of my to be read (or, to be re-read) pile, but in no particular order.

1. The Power of the Dog: A Novel (Thomas Savage)
2. A gentleman of color: the life of James Forten (Julie Winch)
3. American grit : a woman's letters from the Ohio frontier (Anna Briggs Bentley)
4. Denmark Vesey (David Robertson)
5. The Thirteenth tale: A Novel (Diane Setterfield)
6. Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud)
7. Cancer Vixen: A True Story (Marisa Acocella Marchetto)
8. The Observations (Jane Harris)
9. King Leopold's ghost : a story of greed, terror, and heroism in Colonial Africa (Adam Hochschild)
10. Brookland (Emily Barton)
11. Little, Big (John Crowley)
12. Summer at Willow Lake (Susan Wiggs)
13. The Crossroads Cafe (Deborah Smith)

Posted by at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Michael Stelzner's weblog for writers is called Writing White Papers. I don't stop by there very often because the focus is primarily (as you would guess) on white papers, defined as

A white paper is an authoritative report; a government report outlining policy; or a document for the purpose of educating industry customers or collecting leads for a company. White papers are used to help people make decisions. (Wikipedia)

I had a quick look at Michael's blog this morning and I saw an interesting post. He's asking his readers to nominate the top ten writing weblogs. There are a lot of nominations, but almost all of them have to do with websites that promote freelance writing, copy editing, and other kinds of non-fiction. Which struck me as a little one sided, so I nominated Paperback Writer as an excellent source of information and the occasional belly laugh, not to mention all the useful bits and pieces she gives away. I also commented on the fact that so many of the nominations pointed to Deborah Ng's Freelance Writing Jobs. Which shouldn't be a surprise if the target audience is primarily non-fiction writers, because that is an excellent resource. Long story short: I should have said that to start with. So now that I've taken my foot out of my mouth, my original concern still stands:

Why are the fiction writers not participating? Go on over there and vote for the website/weblog which is most helpful and/or interesting to you as a writer of stories. Here are some sites that I like:

You will note that I do not list this website. That's because I would prefer you don't nominate it, lest I end up again on the authors behaving badly list. Nominate some other weblog that focuses on providing support for writers of fiction. Go forth, and be counted.

Posted by at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I really love the Overheard websites. People post things they've heard strangers say on the streets. It all started with Overheard in New York, but now there must be twenty or thirty such websites. Mostly Overheard in (insert city name, from Berkeley to Athens), but also Overheard at the Beach, Overheard at Law School, etc.

Here's a lovely example from Overheard in New York:

Those who Bootleg History Are Doomed to Profit From It

20-something Chinese guy: You know what? Chinese people discovered America.

20-something Black guy: Bullshit.

20-something Chinese guy: It's true! There's an article on CNN showing we discovered America, there are maps. Chinese were here first before everyone else. Chinese people did everything before everyone else. White people take credit for everything, but now it's coming out that Chinese made all of these discoveries first. Don't you see a pattern? We're the shit.

20-something Black guy: The only pattern I see is that you motherfuckers pirate and resell every DVD, and now you're trying to bootleg history.

--Chinatown

Overheard by: Ricky

The danger for fiction writers is obvious if you spend any time reading Overheard. Such great dialog screams to be used in a fictional setting. Some of what you come across is so pitch perfect, it feels wasteful to just let it sit there with no purpose but to amuse the occasional passer-by.

In general, I feel comfortable using things I personally overhear in public to jump-start a scene or a story. I write things down and save them and once in a while those little bits of human interaction blossom into something bigger and more complex. But I'd be less comfortable adapting things somebody else has overheard and put up on a website. I'm not sure why, except it feels a little like cheating.

Any thoughts on this?

Posted by at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

yes, yes we have power again. We did spend the night in a motel, where I (as always) slept badly, but tonight we are at home again.

Now madly trying to catch up.

Posted by at 10:34 AM | Permalink

That is, the electricity went out at about five this morning (rain and windstorms) and refuses to come back. The utility information line refuses to even guess about when power will be restored. That is not a good sign.

So I decamped to the Public Market, where there are lots of good things to eat and free internet access. And I just made a reservation at a motel because yes, I am a wimp. I never claimed to be an outdoorsy type. The Mathematician may love to bivouack on glaciers; my idea of roughing it is a two star hotel.

I don't want to go home to a cold dark house. I don't want to be without computer or television or light to read by. These are the dark months, and the sun slinks off to sulk on the other side of the world at about four. Thus the reservation. Of course, the minute I check in, the power will come back on. It's just waiting for that credit card charge to go through. That is the nature of the powerless universe.

The upside of this situation: I've spent all day making notes and drawing charts, and I'm almost ready to start writing the first scene of the first chapter of Six. I've got this little itch going in my brain, the one that happens when things are coming together. I look at the blank page and I can almost see the first sentence there. I've been talking to Elizabeth all day about what it's like to be a grandmother when she's got an eight year old of her own. She's been telling me what's on her mind, and some of it is new to me. Unexpected.

So in spite of the windy stormy dark powerless day, I'm feeling like I'm getting somewhere.

Posted by at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Jenny Crusie takes on Miss Snark. Next maybe she'll tackle those author-behaving-badly bloggers who aren't anonymous.

Posted by at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

In the summer of the year.

Posted by at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Lots of comments to this sketch of Elizabeth I posted a few days ago. I anticipated some or most of them. The thing about fiction is that in spite of how a character is described, people tend to come up with their own visuals. So those of you who were disappointed or even a little outraged, please feel free to keep your mental image of Elizabeth. This is how she looks to me.

She does have very curly hair. Many of you have called it frizzy, but that isn't what I see. As to how she would take care of it, it's true that hair wasn't washed as much back then. I knew older women in Austria who had very long hair always worn in a corona of braids, and they washed their hair maybe once a month. The natural oils, and a daily brushing and re-braiding were enough maintenance. Finally, a couple people have commented that Elizabeth looks Latin or even African, and that her features are not as fine as they had imagined. She isn't fine featured, that's true. In her aunt Merriweather's household she was the less-than-pretty cousin, without enough of a fortune to attract any serious suitors.

So now the question is, would people like to see more sketches, or are these too disruptive to your enjoyment of the stories?

Posted by at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Carolyn from Vermont, the audiobook of Queen of Swords is yours. Please email me with your postal address, okay?

Here's how I did it this time (still can't find the hat):

I asked three strangers to pick a number between 1 and 58. I then added those numbers together, and the total was 48. If the total had been more than 58, I would have swung around to the beginning, so that (for example) 60 would have meant that number two on the list would have won.

I think it's a pretty neat way to pull the number, I have to say.

Stay tuned, I'll have more stuff to give away soon.

Posted by at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I've got a copy of the unabridged audio (on CD) of Queen of Swords to give away.

I was going to pull a name this evening but I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning, to give the lollygaggers a chance.

Here's how:

Leave a comment here.
Include a first name.
Include a valid email.
In the message part of the comment, tell me what state/country you're from.

RULES:

• One entry per person.
• If you've already won a copy of Queen of Swords, sorry, you're not eligible.
• I'll pick a name at random Monday evening and send the audiobook out on Tuesday (as long as I hear back from the winner in time).
• If I don't hear from the winner by Thursday, I'll pick another name.
• All decisions of the judges (me, and me) are final.

--------
This audiobook also available as a download from audible.com. If you're a member, you can chose it as your monthly pick, which makes it very affordable.

Posted by at 3:16 PM | Permalink

Over at Smart Bitches there's a long and winding conversation about various points in linguistics, particularly historical linguistics, accent, and the portrayal of such things in the written language. I put in my two cents, of course. But as the conversation gets more into details, I am having to resist trampling in there to set up my lecture podium.

So I'll do it here.

Actually, all I'm doing is this: here's chapter two ("The Myth of Non-Accent") of English with an Accent: Language Ideology and Discrimination in the United States. You'll need the ole standard Adobe Reader to open it.

It was written for an introductory course, so it's pretty accessible -- although the ground work set up in the first chapter is (of course) missing. English with an Accent is still used as the standard text in universities courses on the sociolinguistic nature of language variation in the U.S. Just to establish some credentials and/or perspective.

This chapter specifically addresses the definition and use of the word 'accent' from two directions. The first is L1 (First Language) -- the way you speak your native tongue(s), and L2 (Second Language) -- the way native language marks any language you'll learn after (approximately) puberty.

For any linguists dropping by here, this is not meant to open up a discussion on the Black Box or the critical period (both of which I subscribe to, but don't want to debate just here and now).

So if you're interested, please have a look and post your thoughts.

Posted by at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Somebody set up a page at Wikipedia.* It's a very factual page, nicely done. Anybody who registers can add or edit information, if so inclined.

------
*It wasn't me. That would be considered very bad form.

Posted by at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When people talk about "good old boys" are they talking exclusively about Texans, or can anybody from the deep south join that club? Can somebody from Virginia or Georgia be a good ole boy? And would somebody from the Carolinas use that phrase to talk about a friend?

Posted by at 7:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

Other sketches I might put up over the next couple months: Elizabeth's mother, Nathaniel, Hannah, Jennet, Luke, Lily, Daniel, Simon Ballentyne, Gabriel Oak, Runs-from-Bears.

Posted by at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

I've got a copy of the unabridged audio (on CD) of Queen of Swords to give away.

I was going to pull a name this evening but I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning, to give the lollygaggers a chance.

Here's how:

RULES:

• One entry per person.
• If you've already won a copy of Queen of Swords, sorry, you're not eligible.
• I'll pick a name at random Monday evening and send the audiobook out on Tuesday (as long as I hear back from the winner in time).
• If I don't hear from the winner by Thursday, I'll pick another name.
• All decisions of the judges (me, and me) are final.

--------
This audiobook also available as a download from audible.com. If you're a member, you can chose it as your monthly pick, which makes it very affordable.

Posted by at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (58)

Anybody want to see her picture? If there are lots of people who would rather not, please let me know. I was thinking of putting up my sketch.

Posted by at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

At this stage in planning Six, I've got multiple things going on. I'm thinking about the characters themselves, having discussions with the ones who will talk to me. Finding out about Daniel, how best to approach him, what his frame of mind is like given his situation. Getting to know Carrie, who is a very different little girl than Lily was. Figuring out what's on Elizabeth's mind.

When I've done enough of this, an opening scene will present itself. I've got a vague sense of it now, but it's going to take a couple more days to get to the point where I can start trying to get it on paper.

In the meantime I'm also reading. And reading. And reading. Here's a partial list of books I've got to get through:

Alan Taylor's "William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic"

Louis Auchincloss's "The Hone and Strong Diaries of Old Manhattan"

Julie Winch's "A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten "

Margaret Hope Bacon's "I Speak for My Slave Sister: The Life of Abby Kelley Foster (Women of America)"

Robert J. Leach, Peter Gow's "Quaker Nantucket: The Religious Community Behind the Whaling Empire"

David M. Robertson's "Denmark Vesey: The Buried Story of America's Largest Slave Rebellion and the Man Who Led It"

Carl Edward Skeen's "1816: America Rising"

Posted by at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This is an example of some of the materials I put together for the major characters.

Curiosity Freeman:
image ca. 1792

• 1734, born in rural Pennsylvania, into slavery
• 1760, Elizabeth's Grandfather Clark (a Quaker) buys freedom for Curiosity and Galileo, and offers them work on the New York frontier in the village of Paradise, where his daughter is newly married.
• 1761 Curiosity delivers Richard Todd and begins her work as a midwife while she and Galileo remain in Alfred Middleton's employ.
• 1765 Mohawk raid on Paradise
• 1766 - 1770 her children are born
• 1784 Curiosity and Cora deliver Hannah and Hannah's stillborn brother
• 1791 Cora Bonner dies
• 1792 Elizabeth and Julian Middleton come to Paradise
• 1793 both of Curiosity's daughters marry freedmen
• 1800 Daughter Polly and two grandchildren killed when horses bolt
• 1802 Selah Voyager (Curiosity's new daughter-in-law) comes to Paradise and has a son.
• 1808 Galileo dies.
• 1812 Her son Almanzo comes home from the west
• 1813 At age 79 Curiosity helps deliver Elizabeth's last child.


• 1822 Curiosity is 88, and is in relative good health.

Household: (formerly Dr. Todd's residence): Hannah and her family, her son Manny, two of Curiosity's unmarried granddaughters.

Related households: Her widowed daughter Daisy Hench keeps house for her son Emmanuel, who took over as blacksmith when his father died of a stroke. Emmanuel as yet unmarried. Leo, her youngest (age 16) also lives in the household. He is a clerk at the Emporium (formerly Anna's Trading Post) and is getting ready to go to the African Free School in Manhattan.

Images

Curiosity wears a headwrap, as most did most women of all colors who kept house. In slave holding states, there was greater significance applied to different kinds of head coverings and social status (or lack of it). More here.
A betty lamp, one of the kinds of lamps and lanterns to be found in Curiosity's home. This one from the kitchen.

The Betty evolved from the simple crusie lamp. A wickholder in the base was added to the design which channeled the drippings from the wick back into the bowl of the lamp where it could eventually be consumed. A cover was added to confine heat, decrease smoke, and make the oil burn efficiently. These changes also reduced the chance of dangerous house fires. Unlike the crusie, a second pan was not needed on a Betty lamp. A handle attached to the opposite end from the flame that curved up to a short chain was attached to most Betty lamps as well. The chains were fitted with a hook on one end for hanging the lamp and a pick for adjusting the wick. This better lamp design, named the Betty, from the German word, "besser" or "bete," meaning "to make better," produced good light for its time. The Betty lamp was used widely by the American colonists and by Europeans. Sometimes the Betty lamp was hung from a lamp stand that was on a table or a tall iron or wooden stand that rested on the floor. Another form of elevating the Betty lamp was a turned wood or tin pedestal that sat on the table. On that sat the lamp and illuminated the work surface or reading material of the person sitting there.

←Curiosity gives a penny to a child who has helped her harvest beans and cabbages.

Posted by at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I sometimes do drawings or sketches of important characters. If you've read Queen of Swords you may recognize this man.

Tomorrow when I post some of the background on Curiosity, I may post her sketch as well.

And by the way, any sketches I post are my original work and my copyright. Please don't use them in anyway without getting my explicit permission first.

Edited to add:

Someone asked about the coloring you see here. This is in fact a pencil drawing, but I decided to do the eyes in watercolor. That accounts for the lack of color in complexion. Ben is tri-racial, and his skin is medium dark with a strong reddish cast.

There is an interesting website about the family history of tri-racial groups in Virginia with some great photos, here.

Posted by at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Here is a partial list of things I need to know about to get a good start with Six (as I'm going to call it for now. Maybe the title really will be Journeys End, but maybe not).

1. I have to decide when this story starts. Right now it looks like 1822, spring through fall.

2. Character list. As this novel takes place almost exclusively in Paradise, I have to review everybody who has lived there in the past (still living? moved away? doing what?) and newcomers (children born, families who have come to Paradise since Fire Along the Sky).

3. Sketch of the village, and who lives where. New buildings, etc. Farmsteads with family names.

4. World situation 1820-summer 1822. Major wars, sociocultural advances, technological changes since 1815, especially those that may effect Paradise.

5. National, local and state changes in politics, culture, technology since 1815.

Examples: the Panic of 1819:

The Panic of 1819 was the first major financial crisis in the United States. It featured widespread foreclosures, bank failures, unemployment, and a slump in agriculture and manufacturing. It marked the end of the economic expansion that had followed the War of 1812. (Wikipedia)

The life of Denmark Vesey, who was hanged for planning a slave rebellion in the Carolinas.

Popular (and often unfounded, outrageous) opinions, for example, regarding Native Americans:

FORT SNELLING. June 1838. Morality and Chastity among the Indians.

In many customs the Sioux are closely allied to the Jewish nation; indeed, a work has been published in America to prove that the Indians were originally Jews.

I pull dozens and dozens of bits of information like this together, and they all sit in my head, along with the characters. The conflicts that will drive the story derive in part from this kind of background work.

Tomorrow I'll post about the prep work for the primary characters. For each of them I have to figure out how old they are now, what physical changes we're looking at, the household in which they live, and how the households relate to each other in a variety of ways. I'll post some of the material for Curiosity -- but nothing that could be construed as a spoiler.

Posted by at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm in agony. I'm in terrible distress. Afraid to look at the news, to listen to the radio.

Wake me when the Dems retake the House. Pour me a stiff drink if they retake the Senate. Because I don't drink, but I'd make an exception.

Here's something really worth looking at, while we all wait.

Posted by at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)

Everybody approaches a new novel in their own idiosyncratic way. Some people do no prep work at all, and don't need it. With a germ of an idea they sit down and struggle through, page by page. Some take a year or more to get organized and comfortable with the material and characters.

Historical novelists can approach a new novel in a variety of ways, but in general terms you've got two choices: do the research up front, or leave all that detail work for later and simply put brackets in the text where research is necessary. Of course most people use a combination of these two approaches.

Historical fiction requires a lot of background work no matter how you approach it. A writer who is an avid gardener may decide to write a novel about André Le Nôtre who designed the Sun King's gardens at Versailles. The writer's interest in gardening will make the research more pleasant, but it won't necessarily make it easier. Luckily various scholars have looked into the life of André Le Nôtre and his relationship to Louis XIV, so you'd have some place to start (for example, Ian Thompson's The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, Andre le Notre and the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles . Another thing: if you're really serious about the time and place, you'd have an easier time if you happened to be able to read 17th century French.

Which face it, most of us are not. My advice to anybody thinking about historical fiction: don't commit yourself to a topic unless you are really, really intrested in it. Because if you are not so keen on Egyptology, it's going to be hard to write a novel about Cleopatra, no matter how much her character interests you. I learned my lesson about this one day when I was trying to make sense of a diagram of an East Indiaman, and I realized that I had had more than enough of ships, and really, had never much liked them to start with. At that point I had no choice but to muddle through.

So here I sit with the Wilderness world spread out around me. The first five books, the lists of characters in those books, timelines, age charts, maps, notes. The first thing I do is to construct the world in which the new book is set. That means determining year and month, and once that is done, looking at what's going on in the world in general. From there I work my way down to the specific: where are all the characters? What are they doing? Are they settled? Any major problems or conflicts pop up while I was busy with Pajama Jones?

All this stuff gets written down in a chart where I can draw connections and write notes. I ask myself questions. Where did Anna go? What did she die of? Is her husband thinking of remarrying? Most important I look at major issues of the time and place. Is there a war brewing? How will that effect the village? Was there a drought that year? That might be the key to the whole structure of the novel.

This process takes a couple days. When I'm done I've got lists and pages of notes and drawings, a long series of subjects I'll have to research, and also, if things go well, an idea of the major and minor conflicts that will drive the story.

So I'm getting my paper and colored pens and drawing pencils organized. Stay tuned, and I'll see if I can describe the process as I go through it.

Posted by at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

So this is my fourth day off. And by that I mean: I don't have a deadline hanging over my head. I can fiddle on the computer or watch movies or play with the dogs, and really enjoy doing those things because there's no little voice in my ear screaming deadline! deadline! alert! deadline!

I really hate that little voice.

Right now, for example, I'm going to talk to the Mathematician about getting take out (because day off = no cooking) and then I'm going to take an early bath and go watch television. Probably I'll fall asleep in front of the television, and that's okay too.

The only thing I regret is that I intended to make gingerbread, and I haven't got around to it. Spicy gingerbread, cut in squares, warm. With whipped cream on top. It's something I associate with the autumn, along with the smell of wool socks drying on a radiator -- except we don't have any radiators. Which is actually kind of sad.

Every once in a while, I catch the sound of my characters whispering behind the curtain. The curtain which will stay drawn until Monday. They can mutter back there all they want, I'm not starting until Monday. Nathaniel in an impatient mood doesn't scare me. No siree. He will just have to find something to do until I'm ready to start taking dictation. I'll admit I'm a little irritated with him myself because he showed up the other day and I asked him who was in Paradise just now, and he wouldn't give me a straight answer. I'm assuming Luke and Jennet and the boys are in Montreal, but when I said so, he gave me one of his looks.

We have to work on our communication, or the next year is going to be rocky.

Posted by at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

In the forum Dianne asked a question that at first had me flummoxed. She asked: what is the process of writing a novel?

The first thing that went through my mind was that the question couldn't be answered. It's a little bit like asking how do you build a house?. I don't know much about building, but I would answer this question if I had to: You do the research and make a plan. You get the materials together. You start work. You keep at it. When you're done, you wait to see if it is actually livable, and if somebody might want to live in it.

If you ask a builder this question, you're likely to get a reaction much like my response to Dianne's question: too big. Can't answer it.

The comparison (writing a novel : building a house) is valid in some ways and not in others. In both cases, something is created that wasn't there before, but then this is also true of tuna on rye, or planting a garden. A novel or a building are meant to have some permanence, of course. They may last a long time or fall into ruin quite quickly. You can work from somebody else's plan to build a house; you can take a standard plot and tell a story. In this case, the quality of the final product will have to do with attention to detail and workmanship. You can play with form and confound expectation by telling a story in some way that's rarely done; you can build a house that looks like an inverted pyramid (or at least, you can try).

The big difference is that to build a house you most probably need the help of other people. Even if you're capable of building a cabin by yourself, you will probably depend on various utilitiy companies to make the place warm and light, to bring in water and take out waste.

A novel is the creation of an individual, built on a lifetime of experience and stories heard in multiple contexts. You can't farm parts or aspects out to contractors.

Because a novel isn't a physical thing, the restrictions on how you go about it are few. You don't have to take the laws of physics into consideration. And this is why it's really impossible to describe the process of writing a novel. I can describe my process, but I know for a fact that everybody approaches this task in their own way.

Some people plan extensively. They use spreadsheets to break down storylines into chapters and scenes. At the other extreme, some people start with a character and a line of dialogue.

I don't have a standard way of coming to a story. I like the process of reimagining an older story, as I did for Cooper's The Pioneers, but I also like starting from scratch, as I have done three times (Homestead, Tied to the Tracks, Pajama Jones).

The one constant I do have is this: I draw diagrams and sketch and jot down notes. Characters, and how they relate to each other, houses they live in, lists of the things a particular character has in his or her glovebox, the trees they see every day. My own process is very visual and I need the mind-eye-hand connection.

So I usually start with a lot of information, but some of that (sometimes a lot) will change in the early stages of writing, when the characters are still getting to know each other and me. And then I feel my way. From scene to scene, from dialogue to dialogue. I have a general idea where things will end up, but how I'll get there? Usually no idea at all, to start with.

The hardest part is keeping with it and I'm sorry to say, that never gets easy. In my experience, every novel is harder than the one before.

Posted by at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...that I don't have a sense of humor about myself.

Do you know what movie this is from?

Do you know what married couple is bound to look
just like this in another ten fifteen twenty years or so?

Posted by at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Right now Queen of Swords is at Number Nine (yes, number nine) on the bestselling historical fiction list at Amazon. I'm not sure if the link will work, but here's the page. Note: it's 249 on the overall list of books, which means everything from the most recent diet book to comic books.

No reader reviews up yet -- in case you've got a spare five minutes.

Posted by at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

you may have noticed that the page that comes up when you want to make a comment is completely screwy. that's what I get for trying to fine tune something.

maybe tomorrow I'll figure out how to get it back the way it was.

oh and: if anybody out there is really, really good with MT 3.2 templates and style sheets, and you're looking for a few hours work, please email me. Because clearly, I am in need of help.

Posted by at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)