The Lay of the Land
As I'm finishing up the corrections on the galleys of Spence's book, I'm thinking ahead to Flynn and Sara and also thinking about three articles I need to write for a couple of genealogical publications.
In all of them I'm at what one might call "the pre-writing stage" -- the point at which sitting down and starting the book (or article) is going to lead to stopping very quickly. In all cases I'm supposed to be "the expert" or "the guide" or "the reviewer." Basically, I'm supposed to know what I'm talking about.
And to be honest, right now I don't. If I did, Flynn and Sara would have got to the coffee bar before now (they left three weeks ago and it's just down the street). And I would have a lot more information about the topics I need to write about in my articles because I
would have used the programs more or have already gained greater experience with a particular kind of record.
I'm not there yet. I'm still -- in every case -- learning the lay of the land.
I am not a particularly visual person. Anyone who reads my books probably knows that because I spend very little time on description of a visual nature. If I don't see it myself -- or notice it -- I'm completely incapable of showing it to anyone else in a word picture!
I am more auditory and kinesthetic in the way I absorb things. I like hands-on. I like listening. So I learned a lot from being in Cornwall and walking the paths and roads that my forebears did. and listening to 80+ year old Cornish farmers talk about the past. I could listen forever.
Same thing with the genealogical stuff. I learn by handling the records, by considering the whole social context of the lives of the people I'm trying to learn about. And the more I learn about the lay of their land, the way of their lives, the more accurately I am able to assess the clues to their identity. It's like writing in that regard.
In the beginning I only know a name -- I don't know the person (even if she was my third great-grandmother). In writing I only know a character by his name or by superficialities. It's discovering him in his surroundings, meeting him in his life that give me an understanding of who he is. Only then can I really write scenes that resonate.
That's what I'm trying to do with Flynn. I'm trying to learn his emotional landscape -- and Sara's. I'm trying to get a feel for who they were growing up, who they were when they met each other, who they've become in the last six years -- and ultimately who they are going to become in the course of the book. This takes thinking and writing and daydreaming
and writing and, incidentally, walking dogs -- and writing. It takes reading and musing and listening to Irish stories and visiting Irish websites and, happily, trawling the internet for low airfares to Dublin.
I think I'm going to get to immerse myself -- at least briefly -- in the landscape of Flynn's youth. I'm going to, I hope, know him the way I know Sara, from having lived in her mountains and walked in her shoes.
Kate has sent me a pic of Sidney but I'm not allowed to show it to you. She's going to do that herself when
she's finished with Andreas, the troublesome Greek.
Gunnar has seen it and is now mentioning Christmas trappings. He has even indicated that he might need a Santa Claus hat. This from a dog who reads Proust?
In all of them I'm at what one might call "the pre-writing stage" -- the point at which sitting down and starting the book (or article) is going to lead to stopping very quickly. In all cases I'm supposed to be "the expert" or "the guide" or "the reviewer." Basically, I'm supposed to know what I'm talking about.
And to be honest, right now I don't. If I did, Flynn and Sara would have got to the coffee bar before now (they left three weeks ago and it's just down the street). And I would have a lot more information about the topics I need to write about in my articles because I
would have used the programs more or have already gained greater experience with a particular kind of record.I'm not there yet. I'm still -- in every case -- learning the lay of the land.
I am not a particularly visual person. Anyone who reads my books probably knows that because I spend very little time on description of a visual nature. If I don't see it myself -- or notice it -- I'm completely incapable of showing it to anyone else in a word picture!
I am more auditory and kinesthetic in the way I absorb things. I like hands-on. I like listening. So I learned a lot from being in Cornwall and walking the paths and roads that my forebears did. and listening to 80+ year old Cornish farmers talk about the past. I could listen forever.
Same thing with the genealogical stuff. I learn by handling the records, by considering the whole social context of the lives of the people I'm trying to learn about. And the more I learn about the lay of their land, the way of their lives, the more accurately I am able to assess the clues to their identity. It's like writing in that regard.
In the beginning I only know a name -- I don't know the person (even if she was my third great-grandmother). In writing I only know a character by his name or by superficialities. It's discovering him in his surroundings, meeting him in his life that give me an understanding of who he is. Only then can I really write scenes that resonate.
That's what I'm trying to do with Flynn. I'm trying to learn his emotional landscape -- and Sara's. I'm trying to get a feel for who they were growing up, who they were when they met each other, who they've become in the last six years -- and ultimately who they are going to become in the course of the book. This takes thinking and writing and daydreaming
and writing and, incidentally, walking dogs -- and writing. It takes reading and musing and listening to Irish stories and visiting Irish websites and, happily, trawling the internet for low airfares to Dublin.I think I'm going to get to immerse myself -- at least briefly -- in the landscape of Flynn's youth. I'm going to, I hope, know him the way I know Sara, from having lived in her mountains and walked in her shoes.
* * *
Kate has sent me a pic of Sidney but I'm not allowed to show it to you. She's going to do that herself when
she's finished with Andreas, the troublesome Greek.Gunnar has seen it and is now mentioning Christmas trappings. He has even indicated that he might need a Santa Claus hat. This from a dog who reads Proust?
posted by Anne McAllister at 7:20 PM
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