Stuff I'm reading

Having finished reading DK's latest manuscript (She's done it again, folks), I want to digest it for a while. DK, I will PM you soon.

So, meanwhile, I came across a non-fiction book by D Gabaldon, a resource book for Outlander fans.

What is impressing me the most so far (I've just started) has some general info about writing novels, especially historical fiction novels, that might be helpful to members and guests here.

She was a very successful non-fiction writer - a scientist who started to wonder what it might be like to attempt a novel, and followed up on the idea, thinking of it as an experiment, never expecting that she might ever want to share it, much less have it published.

What struck me from the beginning was how closely her process mirrored my own, which may help to explain why we there were so many constructions that our products shared. There are so many that I have felt compelled to say, whenever I could, that I did not read any of her work until after my Redstone books were published (by me). From major plot devices as a couple who were pushed into an arranged marriage, in a situation where they liked each other, but were very reluctant to call it a love relationship, to little minor bits like using natural sponges for contraception. (also thoroughly researched by both of us, it seems). In both cases, the divergence into fantasy, especially re time warps, was something that came up as a solution to some problems with getting the story to coalesce.

But this was the thing that really got me: Neither of us thinks of our work as being romantic fiction, for the same reason, although I didn't get it completely until I read her reasoning. Romantic writng is primarily about bringing a couple together, about courtship. Her writing, like mine, was about what keeps that couple together, about marriage, and what it takes for that couple to stay together for 50 years or more. Wow! That's it! Her first decision was to write historical fiction, since she was already a commited researcher. Characters provide the means for the plot to progress. History helps to define the plot; romance develops as the characters interact, and hopefully hooks the reader. In addition, both of the heroes have a metaphysical perspective that guides their lives and makes them idealists who believe strongly in the importance of living with honor.

She is far nore comfortable with erotic scenes than I am, but is insistent that those scenes need to be a natural part of the story rather than something added to sell more books. She also insists that while she, raised in a proper background, never uses profane or vulgar expressions, but sometimes her characters do, and when they do, it is vital that she include them rather than censor the expletives.

I have been reading, Steinbeck's Travels With Charley.  I have enjoyed the gentle way the book is written.  I am a fan of Steinbeck, first off, and he writes a nice narrative.  The book has soothed my vegetable producing heart on night that I did not want to think of squash or greens or recipes or markets. 
All of that is going well for the first couple of weeks.  I think that if I earn 200 a week, I will be happy.  Lots of work, but work is good.  I know people who do not know how to fill the hours of their day except to watch tv and sleep.  One needs stuff to do.  I have lots of stuff to do. 
Love, Betty

Loved TWC.  The sketches of Charley in the American Lit textbook we were using during the 90's looked a lot like Wooffer.

Gabaldon on doing research for writing historical fictiion:

Quote :

Don’t let the storytelling aspect of the business escape you, by the way. Historical research is fascinating, and many writers fall under its spell; the more you know, the more you want to find out, the more you research, the easier the search becomes— and before you know it, you’re in the position of a writer with whom I once shared a panel at the World Fantasy Convention. The panel was on “Research,” and this particular writer was explaining a difficulty she had encountered in her most recent novel. The novel was set’ in an alternate universe , but involved a caravan, based on those that once traversed the great Silk Road through China. She wished at one point to describe the bells on a camel harness, and had found exactly the reference necessary to do this: an exhaustive account of the shapes of camel bells used in caravans of exactly the right kind, taken from precisely the right time period....

Gabaldon, Diana (2009-07-29). The Outlandish Companion  (Kindle Locations 6252-6257). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

And you guys jumped my case last year because I wanted to know the name of a bleeping grape.  

Annie

From my OP for this thread:

Quote :

But this was the thing that really got me: Neither of us thinks of our work as being romantic fiction, for the same reason, although I didn't get it completely until I read her reasoning. Romantic writing is primarily about bringing a couple together, about courtship. Her writing, like mine, was about what keeps that couple together, about marriage, and what it takes for that couple to stay together for 50 years or more

Reading this book is helping me to (finally!) get refocused on my own work.  I woke up in the middle of the night (again - happens a lot these days) and found myself thinking about that idea of writing about a marriage as opposed to writing about courtship, was thinking about where I originally got the concept and used it to tell Daniel and Maria's story, and remembered this song:



From one of my favorite plays, Fiddler on the Roof.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler_on_the_Roof

Quote :

The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and Jewish religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters—each one's choice of husband moves further away from the customs of his faith—and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.

I saw it on stage, at Jones Hall in Houston, just after that theater opened in 1966.  The new theater was the talk of the times in Southeast Texas that season.  When my in-laws told us that they had managed to get tickets, we were thrilled, even after learning that the only tickets available were in the nose-bleed section.  So many friends had tried, but couldn't get any, anywhere.

So, my mother-in-law pulled out several pairs of opera glasses (she was a collector of stuff who never got rid of anything), and we were happy campers.  We could actually see quite well, and the acoustics were so well done that we could hear as though we were on the front row.

Perhaps it is because my own marriage did not last those 50+ years that I found myself writing the story that became Redstone's Valley.