Tags
Great Depression, Mississippi, Novel writing, Tupelo, Tupelo Mississippi, Writing, writing a novel
One week from today, Adeline and I are going on a journey back in time. Back into the history of my family and the history of our country. We’re traveling down to Tupelo, Mississippi to do research for my novel and I am so.freaking.excited.
The novel takes place in Mississippi during the Great Depression and is inspired by my Grandmother’s life. It will deal with themes of poverty and racism, in addition to the more timeless themes of family, love, and loss.
I’m going down to Mississippi because I feel that I need to be there and see it before I can really write about it. I need to breathe the air, feel the dirt under my feet, see the way the clouds travel across the sky. I need to smell the plants, touch a fence-post, listen to the ambient noises. More specifically, these are some of my goals for the trip:
1. Go to the farm. The farm where my grandmother grew up is still in our family. I plan to go there (I haven’t been since I was just a little older than Addie is now). I want to take a lot of photos and get a general feel for the layout. I want to see what kinds of plants grow there and whether the land is flat, or if there are slight hills and gulleys. I want to get a sense of how big it really is. I want to sit for a moment and just be there. Of course, I’ll have Adeline along, so that might be a hopeless dream…
2. Drive through the countryside. I want to drive into more rural areas and see what they look like. A friend from Mississippi described it as a place where “time stands still, while people are rushing toward the future at the same time”. I want to get to a place where time is standing still. I want to see what poverty in Mississippi looks like.
3. Meet some Mississippians. I want to talk to people. I want to hear the cadence of Mississippi speech and the kinds of words they use. I want to see the way that people move their hands and bodies when they speak and what kinds of expressions they use. This one will be hard for me, since I don’t really like talking to strangers. But I’m going to do my best to suck it up and meet some people. Again, my friend from Mississippi is helping me out here, with an introduction to someone already set up.
4. Just watch people. I want to sit at a restaurant or park and just watch people. How do they interact? How do they walk? Do they really move more slowly than we do up north? I know that a lot may have changed in the 80 years since the Depression, but I still feel there’s a lot to be gained from learning about Mississippi today.
So here’s my question for you: Have you ever done research for a novel? If so, what did you look for? What am I missing? And even if you haven’t, what would you want to know if you were going down to Mississippi?
What a breathtaking endeavor! What I write is far different, however some critical components remain the same, including tremendous research of cultures, languages, and human nature. I know that, like me, you are a reader who demands much from the works you read, so the following suggestion is for any other writers who may not have considered this:
I have read nonfiction stories of cultures and people’s experiences, but there always seems to be something missing—something that’s missing in a lot of novels, actually. Authors like to thoroughly describe environments and events, but so many stories seem flat without proper character description. Without tangible characters that readers can jump inside and become. Whether you will have fictional characters or real people in your story, perhaps consider developing them in all ways from eye color, hair color, facial expressions, clothes they typically wear, food they like to eat, habits, et cetera—make a spreadsheet of characters and their traits. Also describe their voices and what they might be doing while they speak. To me, “said Bruce” is a wasted opportunity to describe Bruce’s arrogant, astringent huff, and they way he is vigorously, showily buffing the hood of his shiny new pick-up truck as though aiming to remove the fresh coat of crimson sun-soaked paint. “Lack of dialog description was a fatal flaw of Orson Scott Card’s ‘Homecoming’ series,” said Nafai. ;}
♥Can’t wait to read your novel!♥
This is so exciting! The best part will be having Addie there – you can better imagine the world through her eyes and relate that back to how your own experience is driving your passion for this novel. So cool.
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Holy crap, I missed this post which says everything I have been wondering: What is Sara doing in Mississippi! It’s awesome. I am so glad you get to do this– your novel is going to be great. Exciting. Plus you have your girl with you…I hope you accomplished all of your goals and then some.
I read the book “Freshwater Road” and was blown away. Yes I saw the movie “Mississippi Burning” but this book moved me so much. I learned so information and shared it with my daughter. I do not understand the hate. I am not sure if I am in right blog because I am new to this so please be nice.