On Writing and Place
This morning I walked along the Atlantic coast. The sun had not long risen, and yellow light sliced through gray and pink clouds. I thought of how artists have always been drawn to the sea, and the waters that are always mesmerizing, always changing, always the same.
I have seen many oceans. The Atlantic was the first, but also the North Sea along the English coast, the Mediterranean that circles the Greek islands of Naxos and Santorini, the aquamarine-blue Caribbean. Then the Pacific along Nicaragua, and then later off the coast of California, and finally the reaches of the Pacific along the northwest coast, along the old whaling towns off Bainbridge Island.
I could not know, as a child catching her first look at the sea, that I would one day write a book where the waves and storms and mists become as much of the fabric of the story as any character. All of those seaside walks, the early morning digging oysters in Wellfleet, the squall on the Mediterranean that had me ferrying ginger ale and aspirin to seasick passengers – those all invisibly built something in my mind that years later, came spilling out onto pages.
We all have a place that we know so well, it has become part of us, consciously or not.
We’ve all read stories, too, where place becomes a presence that seems to influence or even drive the behavior of the characters – for good or ill. Novels like:
- Wuthering Heights
- Their Eyes Were Watching God
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
- The Grapes of Wrath
- The House of the Spirits
Of course there are more! Which novels moved you with the way place shaped the story in a way that you can’t forget?
Quotes on Writing
November is National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo) – but any time of year is a good time to read quotes on writing and inspiration by great writers.
“When you’re writing, you’re conjuring. It’s a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you’re inviting into the room.”
~Tom Waits
“I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the hearts affections and the truth of imagination – what the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth, whether it existed before or not.”
~ John Keats
“Don’t be a writer. Be writing.”
~ William Faulkner
“If there is a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
~ Toni Morrison
“Every book is holy. Every single one of them, even the bad ones. Every single book has at least one good idea about how to be a human being.”
~ Sherman Alexie (read the complete interview on The Lightning Notes)
Stephen King’s Writing Tips: Infographic
“If you want to be a successful writer, you must be able to describe it, and in a way that will cause your reader to prickle with recognition….Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.” – Stephen King
Stephen King needs no introduction, and this infographic contains 14 of the bestselling author’s top tips on writing:
[Note: This infographic appeared on Hodderscape, in the post “Infographic: 14 Top Tips from Stephen King’s On Writing“]
What If Books Had Soundtracks?
Storytelling and music are natural fits. From ancient Greek poetry that was more sung than spoken to the piano music that accompanied early silent films, humans have paired the languages of music and speech together for millennia. Music evokes memories, sets word to rhythm, conjures up moods.
I’ve always been a sucker for movie soundtracks, and as I’ve been thinking of character arcs and motivations for my novel, I can’t help but make associations between songs and characters. Just for fun, here is some of the music I associate with my protagonist, Kate Cochrane.
Tiffany – I Think We’re Alone Now
This song is so young and innocent and bubbly, I can almost imagine it playing as Kate and her soon-to-be-husband elope into a secret marriage.
Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Classic song for women who want the best out of life and aren’t afraid to go after it – especially if they haven’t had many chances to do so. Kate’s first blush as a woman of title and money must have opened a new world to her.
Gin Blossoms – Found Out About You
Secrets just won’t stay hidden, and what we try to conceal to protect those we love usually has a way of coming out.
P!nk ft. Nate Ruess – Just Give Me a Reason
Is there a better song that encapsulates love that’s gone wrong?
Eminem ft. Rihanna – Love the Way that You Lie
Possibly the gold standard of dysfunctional relationship anthems. Can’t stay in, can’t stay out.
Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the Heart
The song for when you are ready to take the plunge into love. And Kate finds a second chance.
Vertical Horizon – Best I Ever Had
When the recognition of the truth comes too late to change events.
Sia – Chandelier
The lyrics on this speak for themselves.
What songs make of you think of your favorite characters?
P.S. I do love Menselssohn’s Hebrides Overture and have from the second I heard it. If the novel is ever made into a film, this much has to be a part of the soundtrack!
How AirBnB Helped Me Write
Virginia Woolf famously wrote that in order to write, a woman needs a room of her own. I’m lucky enough to have two – a cozy office with bookshelves that reach to the ceiling, and a sunroom that looks onto a tangled green backyard surrounded by trees. These are the places I feel at peace, where I can shut out the world for a time and focus on bringing my inner world, my writing world, out into life.
Unfortunately, neither are portable. While I have written in hotel rooms, on Amtrak trains, at writers’ retreats, in campgrounds, and even in bars, a rooted place has always felt most natural to me, most like home. So when I put together a research trip to Scotland for my upcoming novel, I went searching for a base camp, too.
Within seconds of launching into my first AirBnB search, it was love at first sight. A perfect, snug little hideaway of a flat just steps off of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. From here, I could easily walk to both the National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, two key sites for my research. There was a tiny galley kitchen, a comfortable bedroom, books and DVDs to keep myself entertained should I need them. Shops and restaurants stood within easy reach. The building itself had stood for over a century, and looked likely to stand for several more. I booked it straightaway.
The feeling I had when I stepped through the door went beyond “charm” and “character.” Yes, the flat had both, with its large windows of antique glass, thick stone walls, and utter lack of elevator (the flat stood on the 5th floor). But the appeal went beyond mere aesthetics.
Here, the space was mine, and mine alone – there was no schedule, no set times when coffee would be available or breakfast served. I could write and order my days as I pleased, breakfasting in my pajamas if I so desired on whatever lovely foods I brought up from the local market. (Scottish sausages, coffee, toast, and fresh eggs most mornings.)
I had a sense of space that was not sterile, but would be filled with the day’s rhythm of activities and the city around me. I had solitude and independence, but not isolation. If it wasn’t home, it was the next best thing. And I wrote and dreamt and pondered and wrote some more.
When I returned home, I finished the first draft of my novel within the month. I can’t say it was all due to AirBnB magic, but having a room of my own in what’s become one of my favorite cities certainly helped.
Disclaimer: This post is a statement of personal opinion, and is not an official endorsement of AirBnB services. No financial compensation, goods, or services have been received in exchange for this post.
From Source to Story: How I Used Primary Materials
The most memorable writers I’ve encountered have a way of throwing you into the story through your senses. Think of Zora Neal Hurston’s description of Janie lying under the peach blossoms, or Jack Kerouac chronicling his manic, visceral, joyous romp across the United States.
Primary sources are our surest means of knocking the dust off the past and getting our hands on it. They are goldmines for writing historical fiction, and here are three ways I’ve used them for my current novel-in-progress.
| Evening gown, c. 1810. The Met. |
The item: Letters written by Lady Katherine Cochrane
Kate’s surviving letters, held at the National Library of Scotland and the National Records of Scotland and elsewhere, offer an engaging look at a charming, strong-minded, brave, affectionate, resourceful, stubborn, sexy woman – with a bit of a temper. Next to speaking with her, the letters have offered me the best way to hear her voice. Whether she’s reminding her husband of her brilliant success in helping him attain a pardon from the British government, or lamenting her separation from her children, she’s a force to be reckoned with.
My favorite line – so good it could have come from Jane Austen – is “With a few dinners and a little flattery I might accomplish a great deal.”
The item: Clothing from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A heroine must be dressed! But how? Thanks to the Met’s collection of Regency clothing – much of which has been digitally photographed– I gained a sense of what a woman like Kate might have worn for day-to-day activities as well as special events like balls.
The item: a reproduction of an 1816 cookbook
| Homemade strawberry preserves. |
As soon as I saw A New System of Domestic Cookery by Mrs. Rundell listed in the Persephone Books catalog, I knew I had to have it! Not only is it an invaluable source of what people ate and how meals were prepared, it includes the early 19th-century version of Hints from Heloise. There are tips for mending broken china, making homemade ink, and removing stains from linen.
I’ve found that in the era before freezers, refrigeration, and chemical preservatives, food was much more seasonal! Mrs. Rundell’s book includes monthly menus of what meats, fish, game, vegetables, and fruits are available, and also offers suggestions for
which dishes to serve for dinners at various levels of formality.
Mutton collops, anyone?
3 Types of Primary Sources You Can Use as a Historical Fiction Writer
| Photograph of Dundonald Castle, c. 1903. |
Let’s face it – historical fiction is easier to get wrong than to get right. When you write historical fiction, you aren’t just writing a story; you’re building an entire 360 degree universe. Your characters likely have ways of thinking, and ways of expressing themselves, that are the result of a time and place very different from our own.
Primary sources can be valuable keys to unlocking past worlds. Mining them for details allows you to recreate a universe that your readers can see, hear, and taste.
Archival Materials
What they are: Manuscripts, letters, journals, books and documents held in archive or library collections. These are sometimes referred to as “special collections.” Unlike secondary sources, all of these materials date from the period. Sometimes special permissions are needed to access these kinds of collections, but there is nothing like holding a letter written by one of your characters to inspire thrills and chills. These collections may be held in city, state, or national archives, or sometimes at university collections or in research libraries such as the Folger Shakespeare Library or the British Library.
What they can tell you: Archival materials are terrific sources of information on details you just won’t find anywhere else. Reading a family’s letters may tell you far more about their dynamics and relationships than a biographer’s account. Census records, or registers of births and marriages, are great place to go shopping for authentic period names. A caveat: you will likely need to do some extensive research in the special collection’s catalog to find what you are looking for. If the material isn’t available digitally, you’ll need to go in-person to take a look. Extra effort, but I’ve always found it to be well worth it.
Digital Collections
What they are: Much like the name suggests, digital collections are digitized versions of “physical” materials. More and more archival materials are being made available in this way. It reduces wear and tear on the objects themselves, and it also makes materials available to people who can’t visit the collection in person.
What they can tell you: You can find much of the same information that archival materials contain. However, touching and seeing an object may reveal things that seeing it on a screen won’t – the quality of the paper, signs of wear like tears or watermarks, etc. The Library of Congress has extensive digital collections of everything from photographs to sheet music to sound recordings.
Reproductions
What they are: Reproduced versions of original items. Not all primary sources are available as reproductions, but when they are, a reproduction may be an excellent and far more accessible version of the original.
What they can tell you: You won’t get a sense of how the item was originally made or the signs of use it has accumulated over the years, but you will see the tastes and aesthetics of the period in the reproduction. For example, the Museum of Jewelry in San Francisco has many kinds of reproduction pieces representing many historical eras!
In my next post, I’ll share some of my favorite sources in each of these categories and how I have used them.
A Room of One’s Own, aka Cache
Virginia Woolf wrote that for a woman to write, she needed an independent income and a room of her own. While exceptional women authors have emerged without those two advantages, I do see Woolf’s point. Quiet is nice. Solitude is nice. And I imagine that I could write a whole lot more if I didn’t need this thing called a day job to pay my bills.
This is my first morning writing in the room I have made my office. Birds are chirping outside the window. I’m sitting in an old wooden chair that I used when typing essays in graduate school. My laptop rests on a desk that my dad found in some antique store and painstakingly refinished. The desk has a drawer with a lock – and a key. It feels old and secretive. I love this desk.
So my immediate writing zone is good. However, boxes lie on the floor, and I have a suitcase, an ice cream maker, and piles of assorted gift wrap keeping me company. It feels more like an attic than an office at the moment. But we’ll get there.
Earlier this spring, many of the materials now in my room were in boxes for temporary storage in our sunroom. A flock of 8 adolescent chickens were also resident in the area. What I learned from this unfortunate juxtaposition is that chickens are terribly dusty. Notebooks, papers, letters, souvenir brochures, newspaper clippings of articles that I’d written — things collected over a lifetime — were all sprinkled with a fine layer of white, smelly chicken dust. Some of these things could be salvaged. Others could not. I spent hours sorting, saving, going through my past with a fine tooth comb. Throwing some of it away.
What’s left is mostly collected in this room, my writing room. I am slowly making order out of the chaos. I’m starting clean. I’m making happy discoveries.
For instance – my National Insurance card from my time in England, last seen in 2007. It disappeared during a move, and I felt sure it was lost forever. It unexpectedly turned up in a box of papers, along with my student ID cards from various institutions. My access card for the British Library (now expired), and assorted library cards. The tally looks something like this. Major credit cards: 1. Library cards: 7. Student ID cards: 3.
This room is where the past catches up with the present. Amy the student, Amy the traveler, Amy the writer are all here, working on the same story.