Rosina Lippi's Blog, page 13

genealogy, characters, mysteries: wiki

For those who have mentioned to me that you would like to see the genealogy charts for the characters in the Wilderness novels and The Gilded Hour,  here’s what I can offer you. 

There is a Gilded Hour wiki, as you may be aware.

The purpose of the wiki is to serve  as a place to keep and organize all the research I’ve collected while writing the novel (and continue to pull together for the sequel, of course).  If you pop over there and scroll down to the bottom, you’ll see a list of wiki categories on the right. Genealogy will take you to a list of the pages that include genealogical charts and information.1 

GH Wiki Character Index

There are two ways I’m keeping track of characters: first, a general list or index,  in which every character should (eventually) be listed (see to the right).

Second, character sketches or pages for primary and secondary characters (see below).

You will note that character pages are incomplete. Try this: put the name Anna Savard into the search box (in the top banner) and click on the article with that name.  You’ll see that Anna’s page has a great deal of information, but if you do another search, this time for Oscar Maroney you’ll note that Oscar needs some attention. There are many names not yet entered — in the index and in the list of character sketches.  All the existing pages have some information, but getting them into shape will take me a long time, working on this a half hour at a time.  

GH Wiki Character Sketch

Right now the GH Wiki is limited to characters appearing in The Gilded Hour, but if there is interest enough, I may set things up so that all characters from the Wilderness novels could be included. 

So now here’s the thing: if you have a burning desire to add information to the wiki (for example, to fill in empty character charts, or add information about a landmark), that may be possible in the near future. Right now I’m looking for just two people who have a little time and energy to invest in the wiki, to see how it goes. Those two people will be upgraded from ‘subscriber’ to ‘contributer’ and that will give them limited ability to edit all the wiki pages. If you’re interested, please let me know in the comments.

Just so you know: wiki page edits are kept track of and older versions of an article can be restored should disaster strike. As it always does, sooner or later.  

So there you have it. Go on over and look through all the family genealogy pages. If you would like to see a page on something in particular — for example, you are wondering about the elevated trains in 1883 — you can suggest that anywhere — there, here, FaceBook. If on the other hand you are an expert on the subject of elevated trains in NYC in the 1880s and you’d like to put a wiki article together, please shout at me. I’d love it if people with specific knowledge got involved. 

 Note: I know there are continuity errors (inevitable over a fifteen year writing period), but if you feel the need to point something out, please leave a comment on that page. Note also: I had to do some restructuring over there, so if you click on a link and it gives you an error, please let me know so I can fix it. You can do that by leaving a comment on the page where you found the broken link. ↩



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Character Sketches: Your Input

For a while I’ve been thinking about the best way to put together character sketches for characters in all of the Wilderness novels and GH. Not a small undertaking, I know, but I think of it as a long-term project.  

There are many websites/wikis devoted to book series and movies that do a good job of this.  Examples include Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games) has a character sketch which is exhaustive and very carefully put together and  Debra Morgan (Dexter) is another example of a very intense and detailed character breakdown. Wikipedia has character pages for fictional characters across time and space (here’s the Wikipedia very elegant approach to Katniss Everdeen). Game playing sites go to great lengths and make very complicated character infoboxes.  Wikia provides an example character template which would not work for fictional characters, but could be adapted. It’s interesting to see what they throw in, at any rate:

Syntax

{{Character Infobox
| name =
| image =
| alternate name =
| aka =
| d.o.b. =
| age =
| birthplace =
| residence =
| race =
| height =
| weight =
| shoe size =
| hair =
| eyes =
| body shape =
| tattoos =
| jewellery =
| dress =
| appearance-other form =
| dress =
| emblem =
| markings =
| accent =
| language =
| weapons =
| transport =
| motto(s) =
| favourite music =
| likes =
| dislikes =
| pastimes =
| family =
| powers =
| fighting style =
| food =
| businesses =
| lovers =
}}

 

At Pemberly.com (a kind of Jane Austen super wiki) there’s a simple but effective approach, as you see here to the left. Click for a larger image.

Every once in a while I spend a half hour experimenting in the best way to do this for my characters. Full disclosure: this is something I should have been doing since the beginning.

The easiest way would be to do it just like the Pemberly folk have done for Jane Austen’s characters. So for example anybody who wants to contribute would go to the page for a given novel and leave a comment (if this were a proper wiki, you could edit the page yourself, but in this case, a comment would be enough):

Endless Forest (W6). Mr. Turner. Shopkeeper in Johnstown  who sells Ethan and Callie supplies.

That would certainly be a great start if I could compile a complete list of all characters showing up in the novels.  But historical novelists are OCD by nature and so I also imagine a more detailed accounting, something like the following, for characters who are more substantial. Rough example:

ItemDetailExposition




Full NameEthan MiddletonImage/Appearance



Blond, middle height, elegant build


AKAn/a


RoleMajor


Date of Birth1792


Place of Birth[[Paradise]], Hamilton County, NYNovels: W1, W3, W4, W6


Date of Deathn/a


Place of DeathHudson River (steam boat accident)


OccupationOwner of most of the town of Paradise, town manager and plannerQuotes



"I'm a cousin, but I go home eventually to an empty house and I don't like it. You're alone in the world too, and we have always got on just fine. I thought we could help each other." W6


BiographySon of [[Julian Middleton]] and [[Kitty Witherspoon Middleton Todd]], nephew of [[Elizabeth Middleton Bonner]] born after his father's death. Raised by his mother and step-father [[Richard Todd]]. As a young man spends two years. . . Forms an attachment to . . .Marries . . .

n/a


SourcesW1, W3, W4, W6, GH


Factual Conflicts

Before this could get started there’s a big decision to be made: should all of the character sketches be folded into  The Gilded Hour kinda-wiki or should I start a separate wiki for the Wilderness novels. The thing is, I don’t expect this to take off right away or at all, even, so that’s something that could be discussed. So the question is, if you are one of those people who re-reads the entire series on a regular basis (and bless you if you are), would you be interested in participating in the very brief way described first above? You’re plowing through Lake in the Clouds for the xxth time, and you come across Captain Mudge and you wonder, hey, has he been entered into the character list yet?   So you’d go to the page for Lake in the Clouds and leave a comment:

LitC W3. Captain Mudge. Captain of the ship that takes the escaping slaves to Canada.

Now, somebody might come along and say, wait, he has a first name. Or, he’s too big a character for a one line entry, he needs a full template because ….

So then that would be a debate. This kind of discussion is common on real full-size wikis, because the community puts the entries together and debates about the best way to do it. I don’t imagine that anybody has a lot of time or energy to devote to something like this, but maybe contributing once in a while when you come across something — that would be the idea. 

If you know of a website that uses character templates that you like, please leave a link in the comments. I’d be interested in seeing what appeals.

Now I have to go back to writing a very difficult scene. 

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Fictional Hiccups, as I use them

Over on the forum there was an interesting question from CBigbee, which I answered there, but am duplicating here because links aren’t showing up over there properly.

The question:

First, I read the Wilderness series a few years back.  When I completed the final book I thought that I could never read another book again….So sad to see it end.  When I started Gilded Hour it took me a while to catch on to the connections back to Wilderness, and I was delighted! My burning (& odd) question is about hiccups.  I remember them from Wilderness.  Please help me understand what those are.  Do they sound like an actual hiccup, as in when one has the hiccups?  Because that doesn’t seem to work for me.  Is it a gasp?  What are those hiccups?  You are a brilliant writer and your novels complete me!

My answer:

Hi CBigbee —

First, thanks for stopping by.

When I use ‘hiccup’ metaphorically I’m thinking of the way people pull in a short breath in a noisy way. It’s heard a lot in European languages (Scandinavians tend to think of it as a feature of their languages alone, but it’s heard in languages across the world). You’ll hear it a lot of Scots English and less in American English, where you’ll most likely hear it as a sound of surprise.

Technically, in linguistics, this is called ingressive phonation. That sounds weird, but once you hear it you’ll know what I’m talking about. And thanks to the magic of the internet, you can hear it, right now, if you care to.

Eklund JIPA 2008 Figure 7b

There’s an article on Wikipedia with a pretty good description of an inhaled affirmative, including a sound file. There is also a very technical website by Robert Eklund, here. Probably most useful from Eklund’s site is this sound file (and if you’re really interested, the corresponding spectogram, seen here.1 You will have to turn the sound on your computer way up and listen to it more than once, but the speaker of Scots English starts out the short sentence with what I have called a ‘hiccup’ sound to describe this phenomenon when I’m writing fiction.

See what happens when you hit my linguistics button? I miss teaching.

 

This is phonetics, a branch of linguistics. Phoneticians (Robert Eklund, for example) study  the production of human speech sounds. ↩



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Conversations & Comfort

After experimenting with a spoiler-full discussion board on the GH website and asking various people for feedback about that, it is clear to me that I haven’t yet found a configuration that works. I’m trying to decide whether to scrap the idea all together, or to try something new. 

Just another pole.

I would like to have a place where people would feel comfortable asking questions about GH and my other novels, and more important still, where people might actually discuss the work. This is pretty self-serving, I’m happy to admit: it’s both useful and interesting to see how readers interpret what I write, what confuses them or works for them.  Of course the fact that it is a board that I set up means that some people won’t be comfortable voicing their opinions, no matter how clearly I say that I do not take offense at constructive criticism offered in a mutually respectful setting.  

So you see my dilemma.  Thus we have yet another poll (a double one, this time) that I hope people will take a few moments to respond to. It would be a great help to me. You are welcome to make additional remarks in the comments, but that is by no means necessary. 

 

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

If you chose the first answer in this first poll, you’re finished — and thank you. If you chose the second or third, please go on to the next poll.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

 

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Planned Parenthood and The Gilded Hour

If you’ve read The Gilded Hour or have read anything about it, you know that the 19th century fight for access to information about birth control is a major theme. In fact, reproductive health was a major issue at the time. Doctors did sometimes end up in jail (and prison) for providing patients with information on how to prevent conception.  This subject is apparently still open to debate, as indicated by the current congressional inquiry on Planned Parenthood. 

From the day I first starting thinking about the plot and backstory for TGH, I wondered if people might dislike the novel or object to it because of the way contraception and abortion are handled.1 Though no one has come out to say it openly, on occasion I have got that impression.  So there are multiple questions: do some people dislike the novel for that reason, and if that’s the case,  will they say so, openly? And if not, why not?

Now I’m curious if anybody will speak up here. I won’t be surprised if no one is willing to grab this hot potato, but I’d sure sure be interested in your thoughts.

 

I would say, for the record, that the issue in The Gilded Hour is not so much one of abortion as it is violence toward and control of women. ↩



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We Have a Winner

It took me a while to get a complete list of people who entered the $100 giveaway (and how many times they entered, because you could do that, in case you didn’t realize), but I think I managed after combing through Twitter, Facebook, this weblog and the Gilded Hour forum. Then I went through my usual procedure: the next person I spoke to (this time on the phone, about an appointment) I asked to pick a number between 1 and 175.  Finally I took that number and counted down from the top. Last time I did this I counted up from the bottom. 

The winner is: butterfliesrfun 

So Butterflies, you need to contact me directly to say where you’d like your $100 to come from. Your wish in my command.  Here’s the thing: If I don’t hear from you by next Wednesday at midnight, I’ll pull another name.  

Now, is there anybody else out there who is still waiting for something from me? Because I haven’t heard back from people, and I’m starting to wonder if I hallucinated the whole shebang. 

Finally: thanks to everybody who jumped in to help celebrate the publication of The Gilded Hour. 

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Poll: Your Favorite Men

Nathaniel

I tried to post this on the GH discussion forum but things went haywire, so here it is.  

This is just for fun. Note:

Nathaniel is missing. I’m going to assume he’d get everybody’s vote, so I asked him to step aside. He didn’t mind at all.
The men are in no particular order, and I did that on purpose.
Just the Wilderness novels and The Gilded Hour men are represented.
You can vote for two, and only two, men.

If there’s somebody I should have put on this list (I’m almost sure there must be) please say so in the comments. In fact, any comments at all are welcome.

I plan other polls (and I’m open to suggestions on more):

Your favorite women
Character you’d like to have dinner with
The worst of the bad (men and women who you love to hate)
The person you’d most like to see star in his/her own novel

I’m really looking forward to your comments.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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UPDATE on the Last Big Giveaway

Rather than give you books to read — even mine, or novels I love — this time I’ve got a gift certificate for $100. The winner can choose where they’d like the gift certificate to come from — as long as I can arrange it by email, it can be for your favorite shoe store in Glasgow or Boise,  for Amazon Australia or Etsy.com — whatever you’d like. 

What you have to do to enter this drawing is simple and a little easier, now. I’m expanding the way you can enter because some people were unable to throw their names in the hat for various technological reasons. The choices are (1) sign up for Postmatic , (2) sign up the forum, (3) Tweet this post, or (4) post it to Facebook. Details below.

Postmatic

If you haven’t already, sign up for Postmatic (you’ll find it in the right hand column, just below the information on where to find The Gilded Hour or at the bottom of the post). It’s basically a way to follow this weblog without visiting it directly. You’ll get an email when I post something new, and if you would like to comment, you can do that by replying to the email directly. You never have to trudge over here to do it. I realize some people just can’t stand email updates, so you have other choices as well.

Forum

If you’ve already signed up for the forum you are enrolled in the giveaway. If not, here’s how to do it.  If you’d prefer an easier approach, scroll down.

click for a larger image

Go to The Gilded Hour wiki-ish website, click on “forum” at the top right.

What the front of the forum looks like. Click.

click for a larger image

If you already registered on the website you can skip this step (you’ll use the same login whether you’re on the wiki or the forum). If you haven’t, register  — see the link at the lower right, circled here in black.

Leave a comment on the forum. Any comment, question, remark, anywhere. If you’ve already added something, you’re entered.

Whether you registered earlier, or just registered, as long as you’ve left some kind of comment, you’re entered in the drawing.  I’ll let this simmer for a week before I draw  a name at random.

 

Twitter/FaceBook

At the bottom of this post is gray box with social media buttons. Share this post to to Twitter or FaceBook and you are entered in the drawing. If you choose this option, please leave a comment telling me that you did so. Otherwise I might miss it. 

Go Whole Hog

You can enter all four ways, if you like, and improve your chance of winning.

The Reward

A hundred bucks might be headed your way. Think of the possibilities. You could pay your phone bill or give it to your favorite charity. Or really go wild:

Neon Marshmallows (Why bother with the cereal?) One pound for $13.69

Extra Large Skeeter-Swatter $19.95

A Water Balloon Launcher $16.50

Your own personal paperclip $50. Ebay (where else?)

 


 

An Italian Hamburger Pillow. $44.83. Via Etsy.

Chocolate Covered Spicy Jalapeno Peppers. One pound $69

 


 

Your very own Michonne, for when the Walkers come out. $11.95

Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis album $13.00

 

 

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Last Big Giveaway for The Gilded Hour

Rather than give you books to read — even mine, or novels I love — this time I’ve got a gift certificate for $100. The winner can choose where they’d like the gift certificate to come from — as long as I can arrange it by email, it can be for your favorite shoe store in Glasgow or Boise,  for Amazon Australia or Etsy.com — whatever you’d like. 

What you have to do to enter this drawing is simple:

click for a larger image

Go to The Gilded Hour wiki-ish website, click on “forum” at the top right.

What the front of the forum looks like. Click.

click for a larger image

If you already registered on the website you can skip this step (you’ll use the same login whether you’re on the wiki or the forum). If you haven’t, register  — see the link at the lower right, circled here in black.

Leave a comment on the forum. Any comment, question, remark, anywhere. If you’ve already added something, you’re entered.

Whether you registered earlier, or just registered, as long as you’ve left some kind of comment, you’re entered in the drawing.  I’ll let this simmer for a week before I draw  a name at random.

The idea here is get a conversation going about The Gilded Hour. If you have questions to ask about the novel, that would be a great way to get started. Of course you are under no obligation to come back, but I hope some of you will.

Note: you can’t leave a comment on this post, because that would undermine the whole point of the undertaking.

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Catching Up & Discussions, Unlimited

I believe that I have finally sent off all the books and bits and pieces various people won in the giveaways leading up to the release of The Gilded Hour. If you are one of those people and have not received a package by the end of this coming week, please shout and I will send out the hounds to track the package.  

And thanks to everybody who participated in the various contests. Your support means the world.  

The news: I have finally got the discussion forum up and working on The Gilded Hour wiki-ish website, and I’m pleased with it. It seems fairly easy to use. What I’m hoping is that those of you who have read the novel might be willing to venture over there and register. Nothing complicated about it, but you need to register to participate. And I’d like you to participate because I’m going to start discussions I think you will find interesting. For example, I would love to know if readers have any ideas on who is responsible for the unsolved deaths (something you will, of course, find out in the sequel — but right now I’m curious about your impressions and thoughts). 

And of course, you can start interesting discussions, too. You can ask me anything about the novel on the forum, but some questions I won’t be able to answer. Sometimes I’ll ask you to answer, because the answer is there in the text, but not obvious. 

And to get all of this off to a good start, I have one last GH giveaway to announce. Watch this space.

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