Quintus Hopper of Nevada - the novel and the research
Quintus Hopper of Nevada is published and it was a fantastic experience in many ways - among them was the research and what I've ended up doing with it.
I've worked on this novel for about three years. As it is a historical novel and my protagonist meets more than a few real-life people (such as Mark Twain, Sarah Winnemucca, Wovoka, Helen J. Stewart), I thoroughly enjoyed spending quite a bit of my life in the depths of history, researching this and that from 1848 until well into the 20th century. A particular joy was the discovery of online newspaper archives.
Quintus Hopper starts out as a printer's devil (a printing apprentice) - and remains a typesetter, working for frontier newspapers, throughout his life. Being able to look up newspapers from any given date and discovering everything from headlines to local news and advertisements, was hugely illuminating. In fact, it was so fascinating that I started structuring my novel along certain events and articles - and then incorporated the actual articles into the novel.
When I was finished with a first draft last summer, I realized that it really did make for a very special reading experience. It gave readers the chance to live with the protagonist, while also discovering, thanks to the article, what had actually been going on - and how it had been reported. Alas, I also realized that it had turned my novel into a book larger than Melville's Moby-Dick (a book which, in some curious way, plays its own important part in my novel). I ended up removing all the articles. A rewrite or two later, no reader of the novel will miss them and, admittedly, it has not only made the novel shorter, but also given it a far more immersive flow.
Now here's the thing: When we're done writing and a work is published, our research most often simply ends up in a box - or is tossed. In the case of Quintus Hopper of Nevada, I wanted to find a way to make all of those frontier newspaper articles, as they relate so directly to the story, available to interested readers. I love the result: I've now not only published the novel, but also a companion piece containing the articles and commentaries. Anyone just wanting to read the novel, will have an entirely fulfilling experience - but for the few (I expect) that wish to take a deeper look at those times, places and incidents (and how they were reported), will have an additionally augmented experience.
I found it a cool way to make the novel less of a whale and still make use of all of that archival wealth from frontier newspapers that speak so directly from the past. Well, if you're curious, read both novel and companion piece.
I've worked on this novel for about three years. As it is a historical novel and my protagonist meets more than a few real-life people (such as Mark Twain, Sarah Winnemucca, Wovoka, Helen J. Stewart), I thoroughly enjoyed spending quite a bit of my life in the depths of history, researching this and that from 1848 until well into the 20th century. A particular joy was the discovery of online newspaper archives.
Quintus Hopper starts out as a printer's devil (a printing apprentice) - and remains a typesetter, working for frontier newspapers, throughout his life. Being able to look up newspapers from any given date and discovering everything from headlines to local news and advertisements, was hugely illuminating. In fact, it was so fascinating that I started structuring my novel along certain events and articles - and then incorporated the actual articles into the novel.
When I was finished with a first draft last summer, I realized that it really did make for a very special reading experience. It gave readers the chance to live with the protagonist, while also discovering, thanks to the article, what had actually been going on - and how it had been reported. Alas, I also realized that it had turned my novel into a book larger than Melville's Moby-Dick (a book which, in some curious way, plays its own important part in my novel). I ended up removing all the articles. A rewrite or two later, no reader of the novel will miss them and, admittedly, it has not only made the novel shorter, but also given it a far more immersive flow.
Now here's the thing: When we're done writing and a work is published, our research most often simply ends up in a box - or is tossed. In the case of Quintus Hopper of Nevada, I wanted to find a way to make all of those frontier newspaper articles, as they relate so directly to the story, available to interested readers. I love the result: I've now not only published the novel, but also a companion piece containing the articles and commentaries. Anyone just wanting to read the novel, will have an entirely fulfilling experience - but for the few (I expect) that wish to take a deeper look at those times, places and incidents (and how they were reported), will have an additionally augmented experience.
I found it a cool way to make the novel less of a whale and still make use of all of that archival wealth from frontier newspapers that speak so directly from the past. Well, if you're curious, read both novel and companion piece.
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