10 Things Writing About a 1970s Commune Taught Me about World-Building

“Write what you know.” Every writer has heard this advice more times than we can count. My debut novel This I Know is steeped in my upbringing as a preacher’s daughter in the 1960s Midwest. I understood my characters because they were in my DNA. I was familiar with the rural West Michigan setting because I grew up there. But if I’d only written from my personal history, it would have been a pretty boring story. I like to start with what I know, then explore what I wish I knew. So I added a clairvoyant child, a mother who suffers from post-partum depression, and a dogmatic father who must choose between family and faith. My imagination is potent but I’m not psychic. Nor was my fundamentalist preacher dad an insufferable jerk. I conjured these elements for storytelling and they made This I Know a joy to write.

My second novel, Clover Blue, is set in a 1970s spiritual collective nestled between Live Oak trees in Northern California. It so happens I came of age in the seventies, on the cusp of the cultural shifts that took place in the preceding decade. I live in California and have met an array of left-over flower children and spiritual seekers. But I’ve never joined a commune nor have I intimately known people who’ve chosen this life. Would you rather read about an ordinary life in a smallish college town or an imagined commune where hippies sleep in a treehouse, living in tune with nature without running water and electricity?

Writing Clover Blue forced me to expand my knowledge into unknown realms. I know more about raising goats, midwifery, natural healing, eastern religions and growing weed than I ever imagined I would before starting this book. One of the most repeated phrases from reviews of Clover Blue is, “I felt like I was there.” There is no greater satisfaction for a writer than when a reader loses herself in setting and relationship with characters..

10 things I learned to help create a more immersive experience while writing Clover Blue.

1. Visit the location where your novel is set. I traveled to Freestone, CA and camped in the woods. I visited the local library and learned about area history. I spoke with locals. If a physical visit is impossible, search for newspaper articles and videos about the area where your novel is set. Use Google maps to take you up and down roads and get a “feel” for the location.

2. Talk to people who’ve lived your character’s lives. Most of us make assumptions about the things we think we know enough about to convey to our readers. While writing Clover Blue, I interviewed midwives, beekeepers, POW families, potheads, and commune dwellers who were more than happy to enlighten me, often correcting my misconceptions.

 3. Use smell to drench the reader in the moment. Smells are the gateway into your reader’s minds and hearts. Smells are also emotional. (I call them smemories.)  Having grown up in rural Michigan, I clearly remember the aroma of a goat’s warm hide, the pungent smell of manure and freshly-cut hay. Who doesn’t have emotions associated with the scent of wood smoke, laundry detergent, or a bakery? Make a list of smells that call up strong emotions within you and plant them in your story.

4. Give your characters quirks that make them memorable. The last thing you want to do is write cliché’d caricatures. In Clover Blue one of my characters has a thing for Zagnut candy bars. Another collects POW bracelets. My protagonist’s best friend carries a sketchpad with her everywhere she goes. Giving your characters quirks or unique interests helps you break out of the cardboard cutout trap.

5. Use sound and music to “score” your time period. As I write this sentence, a motorcycle just sped down the road in front of my home, my espresso machine hisses behind me, and a bird is singing outside the window above me. Using sound is one more way to baptize your reader in the moment. Mention a song playing on the car radio or reference a musician to help bind the reader culturally to your time period. (But don’t quote lyrics without written permission!

6. Don’t overdo the jargon. It’s tempting to go all out with slang vernacular or foreign accents but unless it’s the way you talk and you only want to reach others who speak like you, a little goes a long way. I’ve shelved books without reading to the end because I continually stumbled over language that pulled me out of the narrative.

7. Meditate on your story. Close your eyes and envision yourself in your novel. Drink in each scene with your mind’s eye. Take notice of the small stuff like a pair of glasses on a desk, a child’s toy, dishes in the sink. Spend some time in your scene and really be in the moment. When you open your eyes, make quick notes of sights, sounds, smells and emotions and insert them in your story.

8. Feel the feelings. But don’t be melodramatic. Use action rather than dialogue to allow your characters to grieve, to rage, to feel profound joy. Synesthesia heightens a reader’s experience and engages them in the story you’ve promised.

9. Follow your heart, not trends. Choose a topic you are interested in, not one you think will sell. You’re much more likely to write a book that bathes the reader in place and time if the story comes from your heart. Trends fade quickly and the average book takes two years from sale to publication, not counting time you spend querying. That trend? Likely gone and replaced a couple times over.

10. Read, read, read. Search for other books with similar settings and/or time periods to yours. Highlight passages that draw you into the setting, and make notes if there are places where the author loses you in too much description. Use other great novels as a resource for improving your writing craft.

Write what you know, yes! But challenge yourself to write what you don’t yet know.

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Eldonna Edwards is a beloved writing instructor, keynote speaker, and best-selling author. Her award-winning novel THIS I KNOW won over the hearts and minds of readers everywhere, and was Delilah Book Club selection. Her new novel CLOVER BLUE is already a hit with readers and reviewers. Eldonna’s 2014 memoir LOST IN TRANSPLANTATION chronicles a life-changing decision to donate her kidney to an unknown recipient. The author lives and writes in a tiny pink house on the beautiful California coast.

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CLOVER BLUE, Eldonna Edwards

Set against the backdrop of a 1970s commune in Northern California, Clover Blue is a compelling, beautifully written story of a young boy’s search for identity.

There are many things twelve-year-old Clover Blue isn’t sure of: his exact date of birth, his name before he was adopted into the Saffron Freedom Community, or who his first parents were. What he does know with certainty is that among this close-knit, nature-loving group, he is happy. Here, everyone is family, regardless of their disparate backgrounds—surfer, midwife, Grateful Dead groupie, Vietnam deserter. But despite his loyalty to the commune and its guru-like founder Goji, Blue grapples with invisible ties toward another family—the one he doesn’t remember.

With the urging of his fearless and funny best friend, Harmony, Clover Blue begins to ask questions. For the first time, Goji’s answers fail to satisfy. The passing months bring upheaval to their little clan and another member arrives, a beautiful runaway teen named Rain, sparking new tensions. As secrets slowly unfurl, Blue’s beliefs—about Goji, the guidelines that govern their seemingly idyllic lives, and the nature of family itself—begin to shift. With each revelation about a heartbreaking past he never imagined, Blue faces a choice between those he’s always trusted, and an uncertain future where he must risk everything in his quest for the truth.

Part coming-of-age tale, part love story, part mystery, Clover Blue tenderly explores an unconventional but no less complex family that resonates with our deep-rooted yearning for home.

BUY THE BOOK HERE

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips