Difficulties in turning a one-hundred-year-old diary into a modern novel
The first challenge I faced in reading Sister Muriel Wakeford’s 1915 Gallipoli diary was to decipher the handwriting. By about March, with the aid of a magnifying glass and my husband’s second opinion, I got the hang of it. Surnames and place names were the most difficult to work out. After transcribing the diary, I was able to fill in the gaps by cross-referencing the diary entries with Muriel’s letters to her parents. Several of her letters were published in Australian newspapers and can be read online at http://trove.nla.gov.au/
I made the decision to “correct” Muriel’s spelling, thus making amendments to Mohamed Aly (Ali); H.S. Cicilia (Sicilia), Shepherd’s Hotel (Shepheard’s) etc.
It was very noticeable that Muriel never used contractions – I’ve, she’s, isn’t … In an attempt to be authentic I kept them out of my novel’s first draft. However, it became obvious that this was jarring and stilted for a modern reader. The final novel therefore has its share of these although fewer than I put in my contemporary writing.
“D**m” is as far as Muriel went when it came to swearing. My narrator, Sara, adopts the same form in her diary entries in the novel. I felt it was authentic for ladies of the time and fitted well with Sara’s personality – although she does let rip b****r too!
The use of the word “native” in Muriel’s diary is, I think, uncomfortable for the modern reader. I thought long and hard about including it. On balance I decided that I wanted to be true to the era and not sanitise its memory. In fact, I made racial prejudice far more pronounced than in Muriel’s diary by making it key to the plot.
One of the greatest fears for the writer of historical fiction is using phrases and describing objects that hadn’t yet been invented. I am again indebted to my husband’s family here. Muriel and her husband Raymond bought the enlarged edition of Chambers English Dictionary published in 1914. This wonderful reference tool has passed to my husband. If a word isn’t in there, I haven't used it (I hope!). I recommend to anyone writing a novel set some time in the twentieth century to get hold of contemporary reference books.
Muriel frequently mentions people in the public eye as well as ordinary people she meets in Egypt and on board ship. I will return to the issue of using real people in a novel in a future blog.
I made the decision to “correct” Muriel’s spelling, thus making amendments to Mohamed Aly (Ali); H.S. Cicilia (Sicilia), Shepherd’s Hotel (Shepheard’s) etc.
It was very noticeable that Muriel never used contractions – I’ve, she’s, isn’t … In an attempt to be authentic I kept them out of my novel’s first draft. However, it became obvious that this was jarring and stilted for a modern reader. The final novel therefore has its share of these although fewer than I put in my contemporary writing.
“D**m” is as far as Muriel went when it came to swearing. My narrator, Sara, adopts the same form in her diary entries in the novel. I felt it was authentic for ladies of the time and fitted well with Sara’s personality – although she does let rip b****r too!
The use of the word “native” in Muriel’s diary is, I think, uncomfortable for the modern reader. I thought long and hard about including it. On balance I decided that I wanted to be true to the era and not sanitise its memory. In fact, I made racial prejudice far more pronounced than in Muriel’s diary by making it key to the plot.
One of the greatest fears for the writer of historical fiction is using phrases and describing objects that hadn’t yet been invented. I am again indebted to my husband’s family here. Muriel and her husband Raymond bought the enlarged edition of Chambers English Dictionary published in 1914. This wonderful reference tool has passed to my husband. If a word isn’t in there, I haven't used it (I hope!). I recommend to anyone writing a novel set some time in the twentieth century to get hold of contemporary reference books.
Muriel frequently mentions people in the public eye as well as ordinary people she meets in Egypt and on board ship. I will return to the issue of using real people in a novel in a future blog.
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