Switching From Literary To Historical Fiction

When I set out to write my historical novel, the research shelf on my bookcase overflowed onto the floor.

I approached the story with the eye of the scholar, the young woman I was when I developed my doctoral thesis all those years ago. It was the day of card files in the library and three-ring binders full of alphabetized eight-by-eleven notes, all guided by my thesis advisor. However, historical fiction and the research needed has an emotional quotient not necessarily seen or even required in academic research.

But I’m no longer that young woman setting out upon a scholarly journey, and I am not trying to identify the values of the reflective elementary school principal. I’m uncovering the story of a young girl from Ireland in 1913, who she is, what she feels, what she fears, and the unexpected journey on her search for home.

The seed of her story unfolded one afternoon when I was exploring family history, most notably a late father-in-law who came to Canada as a Home Child from Ireland. Scouring the internet, I followed his passage on the ship S.S Dominion from Liverpool to Quebec City in 1907. His journey became a ‘what-if story’, and the source for my new novel.

From that moment a few months ago, I began piecing together a story of a young woman who, as my father-in-law did, set out from Ireland with a group of children who were orphans and waifs. My delight in researching a story, fed by my appreciation for finely tuned historical fiction, has led me to learn and re-learn the art of research.

When I first wrote my outline, I kept copious notes describing the context and the events taking place around my protagonist’s life and journey. Soon, I realized my story was becoming a newsreel of places and events, in which the characters were lost. I started over.

My Characters Take the Lead.

The novel moves back and forth in time from 1891 through 1913, the first world war and on into the rumblings of WWII in the 1930s. A daunting task. I took the advice of a good author friend who said, “Write the story!.”

Writing the story and following the lives of my emerging characters was like finding old family letters. Questions became stopping off points and research became a byway that lent substance to the action and anchored the story in time and place. All those years ago, my thesis advisor gave me a gift, even though I didn’t think so at the time. He asked me to dwell upon the questions.  

The Importance of Asking Questions

As I wrote the story, (remembering what my friend had said: “Just Write the Story!”) questions emerged which led me deeper  into the plot and into the lives of the characters.

e.g. How did a governess in Ireland find a position?

How was a governess treated in the class order of the help downstairs?

Thus essays and articles on the internet about governesses in 19th century Britain lent background to one of my main characters.

When I knew that my protagonist traveled from Ireland to Canada I wrote a question into my notes: where did the ships dock when Home Children arrived in Canada?

Passenger lists and schedules found on the internet told a story of children who traveled across the Atlantic in 1913.

One question posed a critical shift early in the story when I linked with the CEO of the British Home Child Advocacy and Research Association: did Home Children only go to farms as indentured servants, or might they be sent to a relative in the accepting country, e.g. Canada.

I took a leap contacting her, and thus my story leaped and the narrative changed.  

Actual letters from Canadian Nursing Sisters who were in France during the years from 1915 till 1918 gave extraordinary accounts that grounded the story of one of my characters.

The substance of my novel led me to ‘unmet friends,’ authors who had delved into the life and times I was exploring, whether their work was fiction or non-fiction.

My writing coach Jaclyn suggested I read ‘Jane Eyre’ again as I excavated the life of a governess in 1891.

I went back to the novel “Fall of Giants”, Ken Follett’s story based throughout World War One and Katharine Wilson-Simmie ‘s memoir about her experiences as a Nursing Sister in the Canadian Amy Medical Corps 1915-1917 gave me settings and stories that expanded and deepened the story.

Each of these unmet friends, and many others like them, advanced my story into the realm of real people living in another era.

My Discoveries

People are willing to share thoughts and ideas that mine the possible depths of a story. The CEO of British Home Child Advocacy Association lent historical truths. Jane Kirkpatrick Pacific Northwest historical novelist urged me forward when she responded to my questions about the place of research in historical fiction – read other historical novelists she wrote ask yourself, how do these authors weave facts and story?

Annie Dillard writes: “The line of words is a miner’s pick, a woodcarver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe.”

Thus mining, gouging and probing I attend. I ask questions, I research the answers, and I follow the momentum of the story.

The story has the pride of place.

—

About Milree Latimer

Milree Latimer is a writer who spent most of her life as an educator and professor. She has an undergraduate degree from McMaster University, a Masters of Education from The Ontario Institute For Studies In Education, and a Doctoral degree in Education from Penn State University. She is the author of a memoir, Will You Be Sitting Beside Me, and the novel Those We Left Behind—a vibrant story of resilience, redemption, and healing. An expat Canadian, Milree lives among the mountains in the Pacific Northwest of the United States with her husband Jerry and their three cats. She is currently at work on her next novel.

Links:

Website: milreelatimer.com

Facebook: facebook.com/milreelatimer/

 

About THOSE WE LEFT BEHIND

Dr. Casey MacMillan teaches about love and loss, yet has carefully constructed her life to distance herself from pain. Her world unravels when a woman from her past enters into a love affair with Galean, her close friend. Fearing both the consequences of this new relationship and the sting of her unrequited feelings for Galean, she flees to Ireland. There, far from all that is familiar, she begins a search for clarity and discovers that she must revisit everything she believes in life in order to finally arrive at the truth. Renewed, she emerges from her exile, but an unexpected turn of events leads her to consider a bold move, a risk that will change the course of her life. Casey must face her deepest fears and decide if she’s ready to love and be loved—not just on the page, but in real life.

 

 

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