Janet Bly is here on this research day to give us a sense of how she and her sons finished a novel begun by her husband, the renowned western author Stephen Bly.
"When your husband passed away in 2011, you took on a project he had begun. How did you go about gathering the necessary research to complete this novel?" - Sandy
Janet: To write a story set in 1905, there’s context and conflicts, places and people, a whole lot of detail accuracy to grasp. That’s part of the fun. . .and frustration. . .of writing fiction.
"When your husband passed away in 2011, you took on a project he had begun. How did you go about gathering the necessary research to complete this novel?" - Sandy
Janet: To write a story set in 1905, there’s context and conflicts, places and people, a whole lot of detail accuracy to grasp. That’s part of the fun. . .and frustration. . .of writing fiction.
When my three sons and I set out to finish the novel hubby
Stephen Bly began, we scrambled to do the groundwork of playing major catch-up
on what he knew from long years of immersion in his genre and the times. He
left us 7,000 words, a one-page story synopsis, and a long list of character
names.
We had four months to do the research, craft the rest of the
story, and turn in the final manuscript of 77,000 words. So, part of the plan
included passing out assignments. I went
on location to the Oregon coast.
I had gone there the year before with hubby, but I came
along for the ride that time. He did the work. I enjoyed sunsets over the
beach, grilled salmon dinners, digging in the sand and leisurely walks hugged by
sea breezes. This time I had to be alert to the specifics of the flora and
fauna, the history and smells, and making careful recordings in my notebook and
with my camera. I forced myself to ignore romantic memories and the urge to run
barefoot along the shore. A very different kind of 'going to the beach' trip.
The Places
I did interviews in Astoria, Oregon, the seat of Clatsop
County and sought details at Fort Clatsop, where explorers Lewis and Clark
wintered in 1805 and was later the site of the William Smith home where a
violent conflict takes place.
I stayed in Gearhart, Oregon, with its razor clams, golf
course and infamous Ridgeway Path. I studied about beached gray whales and
local snakes, wild horses and cougars. At night I read about general info like
horse behavior and control when they're in foreign (to them) landscapes. A
short jaunt to Seaside, Oregon, revealed a museum where I could find out about
its early twentieth century law enforcement, the layout of the town site and
the Salt Works Lewis & Clark memorial.
I searched out what it was like at the Portland, Oregon
depot in 1905 and the layout of the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition.
Then there was the late addition of the Tillamook Head
promontory for one of the major novel scenes, to substitute for the deserted
island that we discovered didn’t exist. No islands at all, only rock
outcroppings, off the Oregon coast. Did not realize that. Found out in time not
to make a critical mistake.
The People
After settling on the local Clatsop tribe for our Indian
characters, gathered biographies on famous golfers and historical persons, such
as Theodore Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill Cody and W.C. Fields. Read up
on the orphan trains and Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. Later we did a sort of casting
audition of all former characters in Stuart Brannon novels to determine who
made the cut in this last one.
The Products and Inventions
Ads in old newspapers revealed brands of cigars and
cigarettes, clothing styles and golf equipment. Then there's the weapons of the
era, as well as various gadgets such as flashlights and lawnmowers, telephones
and walking sticks to consider. And the wardrobe, of course. In a search of
Oregon trains, came across railroad land controversies that worked well with the
plot. Loved finding out about the transportation, the motor cars and boats,
bicycles and fire trucks.
More Story World Emersion
Narcissa Kinney passed away before this story opens, but
she's a real-life character that provides a lot of background for the novel.
She made Gearhart a dry town. The stipulation of no liquor bought or sold
within the city remained more than seventy years after her death.
Narcissa also brought culture in the form of a 200-acre
Gearhart Park that included an auditorium for traveling circuit speakers and
entertainment, part of the Chautauqua movement. Gearhart residents and visitors
enjoyed classic plays, Broadway hits, opera stars, glee clubs and bands such as
John Philip Sousa’s. Fiery orators and activists, crusaders and preachers took
advantage of this forum. More than four hundred cities across the country
sponsored these same events. President Theodore Roosevelt called them, “the
most American thing in America.”
Narcissa’s husband, Marshall Kinney, instigated the links
golf course on the north side of Gearhart. My husband loved playing on the
narrow ridges, rolls and dips of the grass-covered dunes. We could hear and
feel the ocean, though it’s out of sight. Gearhart Golf Links opened circa 1892
and ranks the second oldest course in the west. There’s not a straight trunk
along any fairway, only twisted, wind-sculptured trees. A breezy adventure.
In the shadows of the backdrop of the story, one hundred
years earlier the waves swell and roll over the empty sea. No supply ship on
the horizon as Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark end their
cross-country expedition at the Pacific Ocean. They winter at Fort Clatsop,
then the long journey home. All this necessitated a scan of their journals
because their adventures spill over into this one.
Creating a story begins with objective facts, the truth in
fiction. But I also included the landscape of my own emotions, to partially
transfer to the widower, Stuart Brannon. Nothing in life's ever wasted for the
writer.
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