Friday, March 22, 2019

New Project

Can't stay with one book forever. Now that my Tudor-era historical is with a publisher, and I've already made it through first pass edits, I'm knee deep in something new.

When I first talked to the publisher's rep, she asked if I had ever thought of turning my book into a series (series are hot right now and I understand that especially from the writer's standpoint--you don't have to research and create another entire new world, you can just continue on with the one you've made), but I said no. I felt like I'd taken my characters as far as they needed to go. Maybe some day I'd consider doing something with one of the side characters, but otherwise not.

So I've gone from 16th century England to 1930s Pennsylvania. How's that for a switch? I've always been fascinated by the Great Depression, the creativity and resilience people needed to survive. My family, of course, being the people that they were, lived through the Depression but wouldn't talk about it because it wasn't "interesting." As if telling the same fourteen stories about the neighbors was fascinating.

So I'm going my own route. It's a tale of two very different sisters--one still lives in the coal mining town where they were born, and the other, who married well, lives in Philadelphia. It's interesting to see my own city through a scrim of 1930s history, what was there, what wasn't, and what I need to make up to fill in the gaps.

I've been searching the internet, as one does, for inspiration photos, and this is a collage I've put together of images that fit the project.

Let me know what you think, and if you/your family have any Depression tales to share, I'd love to hear them!

3 comments:

Catherine said...

The new project sounds fascinating.

Kay said...

I'm really looking forward to this one! I've always been fascinated by the depression. My mom was the daughter of a small-town, mid-west dry goods store owner, and my dad was one of nine children of a dustbowl farmer. As you might expect, they had very different experiences of the depression! They met at University of Nebraska, my mom on a full national merit scholarship and my dad working his way through. Those were the days when land-grant colleges and universities were affordable enough to actually provide an education to anyone willing to work hard and make some sacrifices! They were a little prickly about telling stories from that time, especially my dad. I think he felt like it was holding their poverty up as a curiosity, or entertainment for those (his kids) more wealthy. He did tell a few, about dust storms that blackened the sky, buried crops, and smothered any livestock (and people) caught outside. Mom had some interesting tales about how her dad helped the farmers who traded with him make creative barters to make it through the worst winters.

Please keep us up to date on this project. I'm really excited to read it!

Lisette M said...

Sounds wonderful! I have depression stories but Cuban depression did not coincide with America's depression :)