If You Build It, They Will Come

 IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME

The saying, “If you build it they will come,” originated in Field of Dreams, the baseball movie starring Kevin Costner.  The film was Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice one night in his cornfield saying those words to him, and  feels the need to act. Though others think he has looped the loop, he builds a baseball diamond on his land, with his wife's encouragement, and the ghosts of great players appear on the field.

    Some years ago a fellow-writer said that authors who intend to self-publish their books believe too much in “If you build it, they will come.” A writer should have a marketing plan, instead of taking the attitude that once the book is written, fate or luck will help them sell copies. Of course she was right. And yet...

Sometimes the universe unfolds as it should. I haven’t been posting on my blog for a while because I’ve been researching and writing a novel set in 1940s Montreal about a woman who juggles painting with child care and handling marital difficulties.

For the past few years I’ve been writing Canadian historical novels featuring women protagonists who succeed in the aims in spite of laws and social mores that discriminated against them.  Key characters were historical figures, such as Lillian Beynon Thomas and Frances Marion Beynon in Votes, Love and War, or like Grace Woodsworth MacInnis in Grace and the Secret Vault, and Grace in Love.  

In A Striking Woman, the protagonist was inspired by a real life person. “Inspired by” means that I played with the original idea and made so many changes (in chronology, character background, names, events, etc.) that the novel can hardly be called “biographical.” That’s why the “Merle” of my new manuscript is a literary creation quite separate and distinct from the story of the historical figure  who provided me with the germ of an idea.

    Writing historical novels is not an undertaking for anyone who doesn’t like to do research.  First comes the reading, the primary and secondary sources, the note-taking. Then come the decisions about when to start the story and when to end it.  Then come concerns about “making a scene.”  Which events should be dramatized and which should be simply narrated or summarized?  What names suit the characters’ era, background and culture?  What words current in the 1930s and ‘40s can I use to set the story in time, but also, not confuse today’s reader. (I think it’s easy enough from the context for a reader to figure out what the words “cad” and “masher” mean.)

    On the plus side, I get caught up in the story; the characters become as real as my friends and neighbours; I want to be in their company and understand what they’re feeling.  I worry about them.

    Like many writers, I suffered from self-doubt when writing this novel. I wondered: is this novel worth pursuing or should I be doing something practical?  Then for me there’s some self-inflicted pressure: "Get this novel finished before you fall prey to one of the serious illnesses of old age." Another nagging question is, “Who will want to read this?”  (Answer: I guess the same people, mostly women, who have read and liked my earlier historical novels.)

          At this time of serious threat to Canada, I like to think that by writing Canadian historical novels, I am offering today's readers not only entertainment, but an opportunity to learn a bit about people who have contributed to our culture, and a glimpse of the past.

Well, at last I have a pretty good draft. Also, my publisher has agreed to a smaller press-run than formerly.  As well, a gentle reader (a second reader) has agreed to read the manuscript in return for a small honorarium.  I no longer feel doubtful about this novel-in-progress. I feel proud.