Irene Wittig, On Writing

My writing journey has been a long one, probably starting with stories drifting over my cradle, overheard while holding on to my mother’s hand as we walked to the market with friends, and told to me once I began asking questions.

I was born during the war—World War II—ten days after the liberation of Rome. A happy event, I was told, as I was the first baby in my mother’s community of Viennese women who had found a modicum of safety in Italy after Hitler annexed Austria.

My mother’s brother, who had escaped to New York in 1940 was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to serve in France and Germany. He survived the war but died a week before he was to return home. A terrible loss to the family that would haunt us forever. The New York, where we arrived in 1951 was filled with refugees whose stories I absorbed.

What to do with all these stories, one so different from the other, yet all traceable to a shrill little man with a cropped mustache? Their details varied, but they all told of loss, of survival against the odds, of rebuilding, even of triumph. Yet as the years went by, I came to understand how much lingers—sorrow, anger, the loss of trust and even
faith. Nevertheless, resilience was proof that hope lingers as well for otherwise the struggle would not have been worthwhile.

That is the journey of how I came to the story I tell in my novel, “All That Lingers.”

The journey of my writing is a little different. I have always been an enthusiastic reader, but navigated toward art as expression rather than words—until I wrote a book about painting on ceramics and realized that I enjoyed writing. So I began to write without fully realizing that writing fiction involves skills much like painting, or writing music. In my first attempt—despite correct grammar and spelling— it became clear
that I didn’t yet have a full understanding of all the elements a good novel required—a plot with a story arc, setting, fully-developed characters. So I began to educate myself.

I read books on writing. I took an online course. A friend and I started a small writers’ group to inspire each other and critique each other’s work. I learned that, in the story I wanted to tell, each character would have to have her/or his own story arc. And each character would have to have their own voice. Voice was one of the more difficult things to master for it involved not only words and style, but emotions and attitude. Create a backstory for your character so that you can understand them. It is a separate decision as to what part of that you reveal to your readers.

Timing is another decision you will have to learn about. What do you reveal and when? Should all chapters be fast-paced to hold the readers attention? Or do readers appreciate some down time too? Much of this will depend on the type of story you have to tell.
I learned that although setting was primarily a visual thing, it was immensely enriched by incorporating the other senses—sound, smell, touch, even taste.

There’s much to learn about writing—how to construct a good sentence, use strong verbs instead of adverbs etc. etc. Read good writing, read what other writers say about writing.

One important decision in writing a novel is at what point to start the story. Many classic novels begin slowly, with setting or backstory, but few readers still have patience for that. My novel begins with relationships and the brief but consequential Austrian civil war of 1934. For the latter I had to do research.

Many writers create outlines, showing the plot’s progression and the actions of the characters resulting from events. I found I could not work that way. I preferred to develop the story as I went along, just as a person would have to react to circumstances and make decisions in real life. For my novel I had to answer the question of what I would do if I were that character in the circumstances I just set up?

As the story developed, and true events had to be incorporated, I had to do more and more research. I started paying attention to theme. What did I want to say with my novel? What did I want readers to feel? I realized I wanted to make readers feel how traumas linger. For Jews, those traumas have been repeated so many times in history that the knowledge that it could happen again is permanently in their bones.

To understand that makes one more empathetic to other people—peoples—who have had to cope with war or injustice, whether persecution or exploitation. Even when one comes to terms with the past in order to go on with life, scars linger and pass down to the next generation and the generation after that until it becomes a cultural memory.

But in my novel, as in the lives of so many people, hope and courage made resilience possible. Something to remember as we go through this pandemic.

To explore the Vienna of my novel please go to my website which is rich with photographs, information, and links to videos and articles
https://all-that-lingers.com

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Irene Wittig was born in liberated Rome to a Viennese mother and Italian father, arrived in the U.S. via Argentina, and grew up in New York, in a neighborhood of Holocaust survivors and fellow Europeans displaced by war. After studying in New York, Germany and Maryland she worked for the Dept. of Defense in Washington, DC before moving to Naples, Italy where she lived for five years. Later, she and her husband spent six years in Switzerland. After twenty years as a ceramic painter and teacher, Irene turned to writing. She and her husband have two children and four grandchildren and live in Arlington, Virginia.
She enjoys hearing from her readers.

ALL THAT LINGERS

Sometimes the long arm of grief grabs you by the throat – In this novel of loss, courage, and resilience, we experience Vienna’s tumultuous years from Austria’s 1934 civil war, through World War II and postwar occupation, to independence. Three lives intertwine, bringing these extraordinary events to life. Emma fights to come to terms with grief and her country’s betrayal. Sophie seeks to reclaim her lost history, and Friedrich struggles with secrets that will throw all their lives into turmoil again.

 

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Category: On Writing