... but it takes a genius to write it," said Oscar Wilde.
I'll put aside my desire to discuss what Oscar may have meant by that but for now it will serve the purpose of revealing today's topic, which is a writer's need to do research, focusing on historical research.
Last week in my Women & Literature class we read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, a young adult work of fiction by Elizabeth George Speare. Published in 1958 and winning the 1959 Newberry Medal, this book tells the tale of a young British girl from a plantation on Barbados who after the death of her parents, moves colonial America to live with her aunt, uncle, and two cousins. Speckled throughout this tale of loyalty and acceptance (and just a tad bit of romance) Speare provides her readers with history. Some of it is actually based on real historical events, some of it (most of it, I think) is simply fiction. But regardless how much of it is made-up the truth is that Speare does a phenomenal job (as far as I can tell) of remaining historically accurate throughout this fictional tale. It is obvious that she has done her homework!
As a writer I enjoy, as I said in my last post, fictionalizing, creating things that come purely from my own imagination. I enjoy telling stories to people. I enjoy the way we can all learn about life from these fictional stories. But so many times I've been writing and come up against the issue of accuracy. No matter how great a story is in-and-of-itself if it isn't believable your reader will be distracted from the point, your desired focus of your story. This is true for all genre's of writing (even in fantasy/sci-fi fiction the people need to be believable), but especially historical fiction.
Important events, significant inventions, the style of clothing, terminology, etc, etc, etc! It all can either add to or take from the believability of a story. Of course most readers aren't experts but a) you never know who will be reading and more importantly b) readers at least have a general idea that the ways of today are different from the past. I remember I story I began in high school about a girl whose family was starting a new life out on the American frontier. As a writer I had a general idea of what life in the "Wild West" was like from history class and tv shows (I love Dr. Quinn!) but as I wrote I realized that I needed to know specifics if I wanted my story to be any good. So I began to research things like how to prevent being mauled by a bear for example.
As far as how this will affect my writing I must admit that research is something that I already do. I looked up town sizes and popular occupations in rural Ireland for a writing assignment (and hopefully a 'someday' story...) that I did this summer. I also researched common dogs in Norway, as well as the three trimesters of pregnancy for the most recent short story I completed for class this semester. However there is always room for improvement, right? Well, perhaps if I'm serious about my writing I need to learn how to be a sponge, how to make the most of the information I take in so that when it comes time to put that information to use I am able to.
I suppose this is a lot like the idea I've already addressed here that reading is important to becoming a better writer. But this is broader. If I'd like to become a better writer I need to learn how to learn. And not just in class but in every day life. Every life experience, no matter how seemingly significant or minute, is an opportunity for me as a writer to examine the world and enable myself to write reality, believably.
-Jessica
No comments:
Post a Comment