Day Eight: School is Now in Session

If you're not willing to learn, don't become a writer. It's a given that if someone is writing a non-fiction book, they will have to do research in order to write intelligently about their subject and be able to convey that information to the reader in a clear, understandable manner. But what about the writers of fiction? If you're making up a story, doesn't all of it come from your own imagination? Can't you just create things the way you want them to be? Why would a writer of fiction need to do research?

When I sat down to work on my NaNo novel today, it didn't take long before I knew I was going to have to stop and gather some additional information. A large section of my story takes place in the second half of the 19th century in rural Vermont. As I began to write a scene set inside a barn, I wondered: What kind of clothing would these people have worn? What tools and implements would they have had available to use in doing their work? How would their lives have been different from ours in terms of opportunities and attitudes? What names were common at the time? So, I began combing the internet for the answers to these questions, sifted through the material, and decided what and how much applied to my particular characters and their situation. Due to the time constraints of NaNo, I couldn't spend a great deal of time on this, so there will be more to delve into when I begin the revisions after the holidays.

Attention to detail helps to ground your story in time and place, and makes it more authentic. A farmer from 1870 would not be listening to music on a boom box while hitching his cows up to electric milking machines. Boom boxes did not exist, and while attempts were made earlier in the century to develop a milking machine, the first successful one didn't appear until 1870. Therefore, it would be highly unlikely for a poor rural farmer in Vermont to have one in the first year of its existence. Nor can I have people wearing fabrics and styles that didn't exist in the 1800s. If my character is a farmer, I need to know what kind of farming was done at that time. For example, Vermont is known as a dairy state; but prior to 1850, Vermont was known nationally for its sheep farming. It wasn't until the middle of the century that sheep farming began to decline, and dairy farming took over. Public libraries and public education didn't come into being until the late 19th/early 20th century, so my characters can't go trotting off to the public library to check out a book, because such an institution didn't exist.

In addition to time, place, culture, and customs, it's surprising what your characters themselves will teach you. Tonight, one of my characters had to teach another the proper way to muck out a stall. Since I'm not an authority on stall mucking, it appeared I would also have to learn this skill. After doing another search, I can now state that I know the proper steps to take in cleaning out a stall, the order in which to take them, and the proper tools to use. I also learned what happens if you overfill a wheel barrow with horse manure and try to move it--unfortunately, so did my character.

Writing requires imagination, observation, discipline, and a willingness to be a lifelong learner. It's not enough to have a good plot and an interesting story. As the saying goes, "the devil is in the details," and an astute reader will quickly know whether or not you've done your homework.

Day Two -- Using Real Places in Your Story

When writing fiction, sometimes it's fun to create the setting out of thin air. You are the founding father of your city or town: you get to name it, decide what buildings are there, who will populate it, who will visit your town and how they'll arrive, what kind of work people will do, whether or not they are married and have children -- and pets, who their friends are, and their relatives. You are in control of their waking and sleeping, their hopes, dreams, aspirations, and expirations. You decorate their houses, pick out their clothing, and even determine their personalities and character traits, and how they will talk. In short, you control everyone and everything in your book.

But what happens when you decide to introduce real people or real places into your fictionalized novel? Suddenly, the rules change. For example, if I decided to use George Washington as a character in my story, I can't call his wife Sally or have him reside in a twentieth century apartment in New York City. I might be able to write an account of a fictional event in his life, but family names and geographical locations would have to line up with what is historically accurate, and the fictional event would have to occur at a logical place in his life's timeline.

As I began writing chapter two of this year's NaNo book, I realized I needed to do a bit more research before I could proceed. Although my story is fiction, there are elements in it that are based on something that may or may not have really happened, but are definitely tied to a real place. Some of my fictional characters are college students at the very real University of Vermont. So, I had to do a bit of research about the dorm names and locations, what the library was like at the time in which the story is set, how long it would take them to drive from their dorm in Burlington to a friend's family home in Stowe (another real place), and where in Stowe that home would be located. The legend on which the story is based also takes place at a certain time of the year, so that, too, had to be accurate.

Had I known I'd be writing this particular story, I could have done my research in advance. But if you read my blog yesterday, you'll know that I switched plots at the last minute. And, although I had done a rudimentary outline for this particular story two or three years ago, I had not yet researched the historical elements.

Normally, that wouldn't create a problem. But when you're trying to write a novel in thirty days, you don't have a lot of time for anything other than writing. Time spent on research translates into less writing time, which translates into a lower word count, which translates into more pressure to meet the daily goal. So, how did I do today, you ask? Actually, not bad. Since I exceeded the 1167 word count minimum yesterday, it gave me a buffer for today. When I combined yesterday's 2425 words (a slight revision added one word to yesterday's original total) with today's 1268 words (a shortfall), I still had a two-day total of 3693 which leaves me with a buffer of 359 words heading into day three. It's not a lot, but at least I'm not lagging behind. And, who knows -- I might be able to work on it later in the day and get that word count even higher.