Letitia Harmon's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Writing Historical Fiction Presentation
As part of the Middlesex County College Liberal Arts Festival "The Power to Be", I will be presenting in Main Hall 103 on April 17th, 2 PM. I will be discussing where to start in writing historical fiction, publishing options, research tips, and finding your literary voice. Please join me at this free event!
Blog for Amused Authors
The inspiration for Heatherstone first came when I was contemplating the idea of arranged marriage. It is a fairly commonplace plot device to set up an arranged marriage and a "forbidden love interest" and make the story turn out beautifully for the forbidden love. I thought to myself, "What if I flipped that concept around? Would I have a unique story? Would it have meaning and significance? Would it be surprising and interesting?"
The result was a decent outline for a story, but after the outline, you have to fill your story with life. This is the most fun part for me: fleshing out my characters. I love getting to know the people I write about, and sometimes, against all odds, they surprise even me. What really worked in Heatherstone, is that I chose a central theme - British slavery - and revealed the true integrity of my characters through their reactions to this very pertinent 19th century issue. We would all like to think that Jane Austen's world was wholly civilized and peaceful, with no human rights violations occurring anywhere in the world, but the bitter truth of the matter is that the ease and luxury and beauty of those British lifestyles we all love to read about and watch movies about, was a direct result of Parliament's stubborn refusal to emancipate slaves in the West Indies. England's wealth and comfort was built on the back of abused and betrayed minorities, who they saw as valuable only in terms of economic gain. I asked myself, "How do my characters react to this reality? Do they accept it the way most people do? Flout it? Dislike it but manage to live peaceably with their cognitive dissonance?" The result was the three main characters: Alexander Stone, Ariana Blackwell and Rachel Labonne, all of whom deal with this moral issue differently, thus revealing their own values and integrity.
This was a highly relevant theme for me to use. It felt so personal and present, even though the setting is 1820's England. Slavery still exists in the world, and our country's economic power has long ridden high on the fruits of it. We are very careful to hide it, deny it, or just shrug it away, but it is surprisingly real. Most people are apalled when I tell them that even chocolate, that oh-so-delicious delight that makes life worth the living, is in fact produced partially by child slave labor, particularly in the Ivory Coast. People don't want to believe it. They can't stand the thought they the purchase of a Snickers bar might be perpetuating a system of slavery, but this is the sad and horrible truth. The question is the same question that Ariana has to deal with in the unraveling of the story of Heatherstone: what do we do with this information? It can be a tought decision to make, but like Heatherstone's characters, it can reveal who we truly are.
Most people refuse to stop eating cheap chocolate in favor of fair trade chocolate. To them, the problem is too far removed from their personal life to matter enough to change their buying habits. This is very common and very accepted in our society. But is it right? We look back at 19th century slavery and wonder, apalled, how people could have treated other human beings that way, or supported any country that did so? But aren't we doing the same thing? Aren't we building a tradition of economic success on the backs of poor and oppressed people that are just far enough out of our line of sight? If we don't see them, then we are not confronted with the reality of our actions, and then we do not have to deal with the consequences of our ethical decisions. That is the hard question. Does it matter who or where these people are? Does what I do matter? Does what I buy matter? Am I participating, through my lifestyle, in something with which I whole-heartedly disagree? These are the questions that I tried to pose in a subtle way in the writing of Heatherstone. I hope that they challenge thoughts and discussion among my readers.
http://www.letitiaharmon.com
or email the author: Heatherstone@letitiaharmon.com
The result was a decent outline for a story, but after the outline, you have to fill your story with life. This is the most fun part for me: fleshing out my characters. I love getting to know the people I write about, and sometimes, against all odds, they surprise even me. What really worked in Heatherstone, is that I chose a central theme - British slavery - and revealed the true integrity of my characters through their reactions to this very pertinent 19th century issue. We would all like to think that Jane Austen's world was wholly civilized and peaceful, with no human rights violations occurring anywhere in the world, but the bitter truth of the matter is that the ease and luxury and beauty of those British lifestyles we all love to read about and watch movies about, was a direct result of Parliament's stubborn refusal to emancipate slaves in the West Indies. England's wealth and comfort was built on the back of abused and betrayed minorities, who they saw as valuable only in terms of economic gain. I asked myself, "How do my characters react to this reality? Do they accept it the way most people do? Flout it? Dislike it but manage to live peaceably with their cognitive dissonance?" The result was the three main characters: Alexander Stone, Ariana Blackwell and Rachel Labonne, all of whom deal with this moral issue differently, thus revealing their own values and integrity.
This was a highly relevant theme for me to use. It felt so personal and present, even though the setting is 1820's England. Slavery still exists in the world, and our country's economic power has long ridden high on the fruits of it. We are very careful to hide it, deny it, or just shrug it away, but it is surprisingly real. Most people are apalled when I tell them that even chocolate, that oh-so-delicious delight that makes life worth the living, is in fact produced partially by child slave labor, particularly in the Ivory Coast. People don't want to believe it. They can't stand the thought they the purchase of a Snickers bar might be perpetuating a system of slavery, but this is the sad and horrible truth. The question is the same question that Ariana has to deal with in the unraveling of the story of Heatherstone: what do we do with this information? It can be a tought decision to make, but like Heatherstone's characters, it can reveal who we truly are.
Most people refuse to stop eating cheap chocolate in favor of fair trade chocolate. To them, the problem is too far removed from their personal life to matter enough to change their buying habits. This is very common and very accepted in our society. But is it right? We look back at 19th century slavery and wonder, apalled, how people could have treated other human beings that way, or supported any country that did so? But aren't we doing the same thing? Aren't we building a tradition of economic success on the backs of poor and oppressed people that are just far enough out of our line of sight? If we don't see them, then we are not confronted with the reality of our actions, and then we do not have to deal with the consequences of our ethical decisions. That is the hard question. Does it matter who or where these people are? Does what I do matter? Does what I buy matter? Am I participating, through my lifestyle, in something with which I whole-heartedly disagree? These are the questions that I tried to pose in a subtle way in the writing of Heatherstone. I hope that they challenge thoughts and discussion among my readers.
http://www.letitiaharmon.com
or email the author: Heatherstone@letitiaharmon.com
Examiner.com hires Letitia Harmon as Theater Examiner, and seeks others!
I'm the new Seattle Theater Examiner for Examiner.com! Find me here: http://www.examiner.com/x-18729-Seatt... and come back frequently because payment is based on site activity. You can literally boost the income of a struggling author.
If you want to write for Examiner, look at their available listings, and cite me as your reference. We'll both get a kickback. (Letitia Harmon)
If you want to write for Examiner, look at their available listings, and cite me as your reference. We'll both get a kickback. (Letitia Harmon)
Examiner.com hires Letitia Harmon as Women's Fitness Examiner, and seeks others!
I've also been added as the writer on Women's Health and fitness! Check out my first article here: http://www.examiner.com/x-19913-Seatt...
and don't forget to check out the "Write for us" option.
and don't forget to check out the "Write for us" option.
When you lose interest in the work...
For over a year I have been working on a mainstream fiction novel I've been calling "The Piano Man." When I pitched the idea to an agent, she loved it, so I set out to write this novel. The trouble is, I'm not excited about it any more. I don't want to do the research or the work, I'm not visualizing scenes like I usually do, so I am struggling with the quandary of continue with what I know is marketable or write what I really want to write.
I know every writer struggles with this at some point in their career. Tips, thoughts? I keep leaning towards investing more time in my fantasy novel, which I like so much more, but agents have kind of shaken their heads and said they were not sure if they could sell it. "Too different," which you would think would be a good thing in the fantasy genre, means death to an editor. They don't know if they can sell your work if it is too unique. Maybe I should self-publish it, garner support for the series, and then pitch it to an editor.
Here are my rambling thoughts.
I know every writer struggles with this at some point in their career. Tips, thoughts? I keep leaning towards investing more time in my fantasy novel, which I like so much more, but agents have kind of shaken their heads and said they were not sure if they could sell it. "Too different," which you would think would be a good thing in the fantasy genre, means death to an editor. They don't know if they can sell your work if it is too unique. Maybe I should self-publish it, garner support for the series, and then pitch it to an editor.
Here are my rambling thoughts.
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