FRESH STUFF DAILY
Seacoast New Hampshire
& South Coast Maine
LIVE UPDATE Finally got my 2012
lecture list updated.
About a dozen more
appearances this
year as seen on
ROBINSON LIVE
SHIPYARD FIRE 1936 CLICK HERE
HISTORY REPEATS:
The worlds biggest
wooden building burns
in Kittery Yard in 1936
STOBART DOES SHOALS Maritime painter
John Stobart created
new works just for
Portsmouth! That is
a very big deal
READ MORE
SLAVE OWNING GUV? Don't miss this debate
-- Did Gov. John Langdon
own slaves? Historians
say signs point to NO.
CLICK HERE
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Sleeping With the Archivist
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Written by J. Dennis Robinson
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Page 2 of 2
(3) RESEARCH LIKE A JOURNALIST
Every story is a fresh slate and the journalist is not frightened by the empty page. Once you know the topic, your job -- in the words of Sarah Palin – is to drill, baby, drill. Journalists make good history writers because they know you can’t trust anyone. Textbooks lie, newspapers are unreliable and eyewitnesses often get it wrong. Good journalists know how to dig down into primary sources, always looking for more. In history writing the archivist at the library or museum may be your best friend. Treat him or her like royalty because an historian is only as good as the access he gets to the facts. Triple check your sources, question every authority. And like a good reporter, be sure to use the telephone. Call key sources directly and interview them. Become a search engine ninja and leave no stone unturned. Journalists are not afraid to look in unlikely places. EBay and Amazon.com, for example, are great resources for historians. I often start a new project by reading a children’s book on the topic, just to get my bearings. As David McCullough says, history writers need to "marinate" in a topic until they feel themselves becoming experts. Like an actor getting into a role, the history writer can watch films, listen to related music, go to relevant locations, handle related artifacts in order to connect with your subject matter.
(4) WRITE LIKE A NOVELIST
Once you have a working draft, however, all the other roles give way to the artist. Once the facts and structure are in place, the great sculpting process begins. Here your inner novelist begins to shape the material you have gathered. This is where you "find your voice" as the narrator, and it must be a voice that the reader trusts and is attracted to. Like a novelist, the narrative history writer must be attuned to his senses. What does the past sound like, smell like, taste like? Unlike the fiction writer, we cannot make things up. That is no handicap, but it is hard work. Try to avoid catch phrases, textbook lingo, history jargon, acronyms, and all those other words that sound boring. Don’t show off your research (that’s what footnotes are for), but let it flow naturally into the story, because popular history is a storytellers craft. Be careful not to modernize the past. People then did not know what you know today. Their lives were ruled by their times, not yours. The more you know about the details of an era – political views, food choices, clothing, religious movements, sanitation, vernacular, healthcare practices, transportation, fashion, etc. – the less likely you are to see your characters through your own mindset. When you have a working manuscript, run it by as many experts as you can. They will happily attack the errors that you can correct and revise in the final draft. But don’t let them flatten your vision. It’s your book, after all, that we want to read.
(5) POLISH LIKE A POET
In the final draft, for a few moments, even the novelist has to step aside. Here and there, now and then, your Muse may make adjustments. To call on her, just read your finished work aloud, or have someone else read it to you. Forget the facts for once, and listen to the language. Do the words roll and amaze? Do they pick up speed, then pull up short – tapping sometimes like a hammer, then dabbing on layers of paint before pausing, sweeping, shocking, soothing? If your reader gets lost in the syntax, sounds confused or runs out of breath – repairs are needed. If the reader giggles, grows stern or chokes with emotion – congratulations. It’s time to mail in the manuscript.
© Copyright 2009 by J. Dennis Robinson. All rights reserved.
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