Dwelling in the Past

Hello Lovely Readers,

I love to dwell in historical fiction in most everything in my reading, the TV shows and movies I watch, and my own personal writing. I am personally still a romantic about history and probably idealize it too much even though I studied history I know it is not clean cut and glamorous as I wished it was. One time I hear a quote "we study the past to know how we got here" (sorry paraphrasing so might be a misquote) and I think it is accurate. I like studying the past to know the struggles, the battles and the times of glory and hope people went through to get where we are now. Even though the stories I read are set in the past, if the book is written well, I feel I can relate to them and I wonder what I would do if I was in that circumstance?-- I know you can do this with really any genre of literature but there is something about historical fiction in that pulls me in.

I think I owe my love to early 20th century upon seeing Biltmore.

For my own writing there is a comfort in knowing the outcome. For example: In my story I am currently writing it is about WWI and I know what happens and I know who is going to win the War. But then there is this weird comfort in not controlling the outcome. I know what is going to happen in the grand scheme of things and I just put my characters in those events and seeing what happens to them and how they are changed by their circumstances.

My love of WWI might be owed to Downton Abbey

As I stated I am currently working on a story that will go through WWI. And while I studied early 20th century history in school I know vague details about WWI. I have read various novels, biographies and other non-fiction books and I sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information I am learning. I felt so overwhelmed I thought "maybe I should put this story aside while I research." But then I thought "I am never going to know enough to be completely accurate." This is true of all historians... we take the sources we have and as best we can we put a narrative. However, the thing about history is that unless we build a time machine we will never get the full story, which give historians and writers some freedom. So when I saw this post on Pinterest I was highly intrigued:

{pic}

And I felt it was okay for me not to know everything about WWI, that doesn't mean I can't attempt to write a fabulous story. So I will keep pressing on through my first draft. If I find out anything interesting I will keep you updated.

Books, travel, and other thoughts...oh my

Hello Lovely Readers,

Probably one of my favorite pictures of my niece and I

I am working on a new schedule of blog posting one: I love schedules and two: I love alliterations. So here are my thoughts so far. "My world" Monday where share whats going on in my life whether it is the movies I like, the books I am reading or if I have really deep and insightful thoughts. "Wednesday Writing" where I share my letters project (link to letters) or my thoughts on the writing process as I try to write my first novel. Then I "Frivolous Friday" where I get to share really what ever I like but mostly be pictures or YouTube videos. I am excited to have a schedule although I know next week I will be off as I will be vacation. I know I just got back from Paris and I am jumping on a plane again. Yep! And I am super excited as I will be off to see my sister, hanging out with my niece and nephew and meeting my newest nephew.

First I just finished my 15th book for my 26 book challenge. I read After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson. I read this book as being in the category of "read a book by an author you love" last summer I read her novel Somewhere in France and loved it so when I saw this book in the book store I knew I had to read it. It was good to get back into reading WWI novels as I am still working on my own WWI novel. From the inside flap description:

After four years as a military nurse, Charlotte Brown is ready to leave behind the devastation of the Great War. Moving to busy Liverpool, she throws herself into her with those most in need, only tearing herself away for the lively dinners she enjoys with the women at her boarding house. 
 Just as Charlotte begins to settle into her new circumstances, two messages arrive that will change her life. One is from a radical young newspaper editor who offers her a chance to speak out for those who cannot. The other pulls her back to her past, and to the a man she has tried, and failed to forget. 
As Britain seethes with unrest and postwar euphoria flattens into bitter disappointment, Charlotte must confront long-held insecurities to find her true voice... and the courage to decide if the life she has created is the one she truly wants. 

Idea for new cover

I liked the structure of the story, because it starts with her working in 1919 and every few chapters it has a flash back. It also has me thinking of the structure of my story. Thus far I feel I have written so much back story that it might be draining. I feel I just need to throw Mattie and her friends into WWI and then have flash backs to the back story. Though thinking that is huge because it feels like starting from square one again, but I have given my story so much energy and thought that I want it to be perfect.

So going back to the book: I liked the story of Charlotte and it gave me ideas for my own book. However, I didn't really feel pulled into the story. I meant there were moments that I felt sorry for Charlotte but something about her I didn't relate to. Also I felt Robson threw so many characters at me it was hard to keep them straight. I remember loving Somewhere in France so maybe I had too many high expectations. However it was fast read and I am happy to cross it off my reading list.

I just re-read the description of Somewhere in France and it is about Lilly Ashford and Robert Fraser, who are characters in this book as well so it is kind of sequel to that book but not because it can stand on its own as a book. Also no where does it say "sequel to..." (To read my description of Somewhere  in France click here).

Anyway I wouldn't highly recommend this book as a must read I would say it was a good read (probably 2.5 stars out of 5). Also it was interesting to read about the time between WWI and the Roaring 20s. I know it wasn't a long time but there was definitely a transition, I mean the Roaring 20s didn't happen all at once. It didn't go right from war to party there were deep political struggles post-war. So I liked how this book dealt with it even if it was the central focus. I also liked how the book dealt with the term "shell shock." And it was nice transition book after reading Mary Queen of Scots biography so probably what my mind needing.

I am ending this post with a music video of a song I have recently discovered through listening to Pandora. It is kind of a sad song but I like it... 

Song: Little Did you Know

By: Alex & Sierra 

Link

With my new schedule in the works I will be trying to post Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9AM EST. I will always try to post it on my Facebook page but sometimes I forget... so just in case don't forget to check back.

Have a good day.

Remember your character

Great post about becoming a VAD

Hello Lovely Readers,

I call myself a naive writer because while I have been writing since I was a little girl, I feel like I am figuring things and minus this blog I am not published. I do not call myself "naive" as a negative thing, no I just say it because when I give advice on writing I don't want my readers to think I have this completely mastered because I don't and I might never have it mastered... and to be honest I am okay with that. I write because honestly sometimes it is the only keeps me sane also when I am writing I don't know what else I should be doing.

I read a lot of blogs on writing about how to create characters and how to have great plots. Sometimes in reading these blogs I get so overwhelmed by them that I don't know how to translate it into my writing. For example: I read blogs and have numerous pins that talk about how there needs to be action in every chapter. But I am stuck think how can that be?

{pic}

I am the kind of author that uses part of my personality in my characters. My character, Mattie,  is definitely my hopeful romantic self, who wants a happy ending and believes love will conquer all. My character Daphne, is my more practical self who while she wants love believes that following the straight path is the way to go.

Also personally, it is the heroines Elinor Dashwood, Fanny Price, and Molly Gibson that fill my head. Their struggles seem mostly internal. All them are very sacrificial, giving up their own pleasures for the good of  all, they also are not understood by other characters and for much of the story they are in the background. Then it seems all the sudden the man, they have been wanting the whole novel finally realizes how good they are or how beautiful they are and suddenly they are enthralled with the girl. (Wouldn't it be nice if it worked out like this in real life?) But these stories don't really have much action.

How can I take the heroines I love, and want to write about and make them acceptable in the 21st century readers? And how can I do this and still write good historical fiction?

{pic}

Right now in my writing I feel I am setting up my characters. Mattie is still "innocently naive" but I think the War will push her out of her comfort zone and that will be good. I think Mattie will become a VAD (voluntary aid detachment) because after her brother gets injured she decides that there must be more she can do for the war effort. Mattie will have to lie about her age because she is 17 when the war starts and VADs couldn't volunteer till they were 23. Which is okay, because I have read a lot of people  didn't have birth certificates. 

But I am still figuring things out...

As I have working out the plot and trying to get Mattie on the train platform where she she discovers Kelby has abandoned her, but yet she still gets on the train to have a life in America (read here) I realizes she needs motivation. Besides not marrying Lord Thomas.

I just finished Vera Brittian's Testament of Youth, it is a memoir of her life during WWI where she becomes a nurse. It has been very insightful and I have underlined a lot of passages.

My copy of Testament of Youth with post-its marking pages of passages I liked

 But after the war she kind of drifts not knowing what to do next, she wrote: "The War came and went; love came and  went; but the dream remained" (pg. 544). For Brittian the dream was to be a writer and she goes to back to that, but I don't think I have given Mattie a dream. She wants to be useful and gives herself to help those around her (esp. Lady Adelaide) and she tries to sacrifice her own heart to love another so her sister can marry the man she loves. But what are her dreams?

Here is where I get stuck.

Okay I think I leave this post with more question than answers. However, to me that is the fun of writing because while I have plotted out my story I let my characters take me on a journey sometimes to places I never thought possible.

So my naive writing advice to remember your character's dreams.

2 books in 2 weeks

... okay maybe in 2 1/2 weeks.

Now that Grad school is over for the summer and thanks to some vacation time (with long flights) I was able to get in some fun reading. I read two very different books... one I thought I would love as it is about WWI and one I wasn't so sure about but ended up loving.

Click on link below for another review
{pic}

The first one was Stella Bain by Anita Shreve about a WWI nurse, and at the start of the novel has lost her memory and we follow her as she tries to paste her memories and her life together. While it starts in WWI, it seems to be more background to the story and sadly did not satisfy my WWI taste. I wish I could write more about the plot but I feel I would give some spoilers away. I will say even though it is written in third person, which usually as a feel of the author knowing all that will happen it had a feel that the author was discovering things as we were. This made for some choppy sentences and it took a few pages to get used to but once I did it made me feel like I was going on the journey with Stella Bain. The worst thing was I never really felt I related to Stella and while she goes through so many struggles I also didn't really have empathy for her. I saw this book last Christmas in an airport book store, and I almost bought it on whim but after reading it I am glad I waited to check it out from the library and save some money.

{pic}

The next book was Divergent by Veronica Roth I am not ashamed to admit that I am jumping on the fan wagon of this book post movie, but I am not reading it because of the movie, which I have not seen but want to now. I am reading it because my friend recommended it to me. I don't usually read futuristic books (minus the Hunger Games) because for the most part I'd rather live in the past, however I loved it book. It is another post-apocalyptic world, though unlike the Hunger Games, the society is trying to create a perfect utopian society, though that seems to be a veil hiding true struggles. The society is broken up into different fractions in order to preserve order of society, even though as children they go to school together, they hardly interact with each other. Beatrice "Tris" is raised in the Abnegation fraction, which focuses on selflessness and humbleness, but she has never felt to truly belong. The book starts on the day she and her brother, Caleb. take a test to see what fraction they should spend the rest of their lives in. When Beatrice takes the test she is said to be Divergent, which means she has broken the system which makes her a danger to the structure of society so she must keep it a secret. Now she must choose if she wants to stay in the Abnegation fraction or choose her own path. (I don't want to give it away what she chooses because I feel like its a spoiler but because movie trailer ad basically gives it away, I will say she chooses Dauntless). Dauntless are the fighters and the warriors of the society. Though this fraction so different than anything Tris has known she learns to fit in, and make friends, but she is always worried her secret will be found out...

{pic}

I am so glad I saw this book on sale and my mom bought it for me. These post-apocalyptic books are not my norm so I can only compare it to the Hunger Games. I was talking to my friend, who recommended it to me, and she and I agreed we could relate to Tris more than Katniss (I guess we are still teenagers going through angst). I also liked that Four (the crush) because he was a fighter. I mean Peeta is great for his pure heart but he wasn't much of a fighter... which is why I liked Four he could be strong without taking Tris' strength away (as a character) and though he was strong he had fears to overcome. One thing I didn't like was how fast the action went sometimes I had to go back and re-read passages to make sure I understood what was happening.

Divergent Trailer

Now I don't like waiting for book two... I know it is published (but I am on a long waiting list at the library) and I could buy it but I feel hesitant buying books because in a few months I will be moving to a new apartment and I don't want to pack up more books.