Drawing Tea and Research Plans II

What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million 1857?

2076. Do not pensioners, and aged cottagers, generally prefer the black earthen teapot to the bright metal one? 2077. Yes, because they set it on the hob to “draw;” in which , the little black teapot will make the best tea.

You learn new things every day. The top surface of a cook stove is call the hob. Didn’t know that, but a little research uncovered its meaning.

Well, I’ve been distracted again, in part due to a writing assignment that sent me down twice along the South branch of the Stillaquamish River in Snohomish County, WA  looking for clues about a long lost rural place named Jordan. It’s hard when the place is just a spot on a road I never heard of, but well known to locals. Trying to figure out the history of a place, let alone find it is just one of the challenges of writing both fiction and non-fiction. Just try it with 1910 map in your lap.

Gathering Sources For Writing A Historical Novel

Historians work all the time with various forms of information when they research a period.  This falls into two types: primary and secondary.

According to a local archivist, primary sources are “information generated during an event.”  Letters, journals, memos, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers and periodicals. Secondary sources are “information created after an event to explain it to someone else.”

Therefore, a letter from Surgeon WF in 1863 sent to his friend at home is a primary resource.  His article about his experiences at the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg is another. The Hospital on Seminary Ridge at the Battle Of Gettysburg is a secondary resource.  So are the excellent pamphlets the national park at the battlefield produces.

Start with secondary sources first. They are important because they identify context. The event or period that you are writing about is more than a local affair.  It is connected to the outside world. Secondary sources can also be browsed. That is, you can work through a shelf in a library because they are classified.

When I started on my first novel about Norway in WW II, I hit the university library in the European section and an even tighter category, Scandanavia. I found a wonderful title Blood on the Midnight Sun which gave me valuable information about the country during those times and a great bibliography that lead me to important sources. I also read  wartime copies of  Time Magazine and National Geographic.

For how to read a secondary source read this article. For bibliograhies, try Librarything. You can apparently store your books there.

Primaries sources are letters, diaries, newspapers, ephemera (tickets, things created for an event and not expected to be saved). Clothing, buildings, tombstones are also primary sources.  Washington State has the nation’s first digitalized archives. A repository of Primary Sources is at University of Idaho.

Happy hunting. Gotta go check my tea pot.

Drawing Tea and Creating a Research Plan

What is in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million 1857?

2074. Why will not a dull black teapot make good tea? 2075.  Because the heat of the water flies off so quickly, through the dull black surface of the tea pot, that the water is very rapidly cooled, and cannot “draw” the tea.

It’s raining outside, the first in weeks. The Northwest is not normally dry for so long, but fall has finally come. A good time to make and work on queries. And maybe clean my tea pot.

I’ve been distracted  for quite a while. Write On The Sound at the beginning of the month was a fun conference. My class on historical research for novels held 75 writers! Since then I worked revising my current novel and prepared for a talk on the bark Ann Parry at a local maritime society. ( I’m looking into her West Coast owner and waiting on a new set of 1857 newspapers on microfilm).  I also did some fact checking on a type of car in a Depression novel that I’m currently querying.  Which reminds me of research planning for historical fiction or any writing that takes place in some historic past. You have to know the lay of the land.

All Stories Are Set in Place and Time

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that first, you are writing a story that just happens to take place in historic times. Sometimes that translates different ways.

For some writers, such as Bernard Cornwell — one of my favorites for his Sharpe series — says that history comes first.  He gets interested in a bit of history, such as the Battle of Waterloo and goes to it.  Jack Whyte, wonderful writer of Knights Templar, Romans in Britain, says it’s a curiosity that gets him to write about a period.

Diana Gabaldon has Claire and Jamie, but boy did she learn a lot about hangmen, such as being bone setters and torturers.  They even dallied in the amulet business.  Somewhere along the line, however, all these writers had a research plan. And that’s what you need to do when writing historical pieces.

Creating a Research Plan: Ask Some Questions

What period are you writing in? What do you know about it so far? What is the technology? Transportation? Manners and social rules? Can you write down three things you know already?

Questions can lead to a basic book search. The internet is fun, but really a good place to start is the old school way.  Read  general books from the library on the period.  Check out the bibliographies.  Build a list of books. As you read, create a chart in which to develop answers to questions you might have about the world that your characters move through. Such as, what kind of lighting did they have in this time?   Did they have lamps run on whale oil or kerosene?  How did they light such a thing?

As answers to these basic building blocks that form your world grow, use the internet, but looked for sites that end with .edu or .org. They will be more reliable.

More on research plans next time. Now for a cup of tea.

Back to Reality

What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million 1857?

4118. Young ladies should never engage in correspondence with young gentlemen who are not near relations, unless with the knowledge and consent of parents and guardians.

I’m not sure what Mrs. Hale’s import is this time.  She has so much say about family and households, but I have only sons and times have changed.  I’m not aware of any correspondence.

I’ve been back from Hawaii for several weeks, but sometimes I feel like I’m still over there.  But reality bites and there is work to do.  Like revise an entire novel and get ready for a talk on the Ann Parry, my obsession these days.  And put gravel on the driveway. Winter’s coming.

I  just got back from a great conference in Edmonds, Washington WRITE ON THE SOUND where I did a presentation on how to research for historical fiction.  Afterwards, I attended several other sessions including one by Ray Rhamey of Flogging the Quill (he put us in the editor’s chair on why first pages don’t get to the second page) and Bharti Kirchner on writing for magazines.  Made new contacts and got the word out about my projects. When I get settled back in I’ll talk about researching for historical novels. The things you need.

Water of Life

What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million 1857?

Receipt 1941- To Purify Stagnant Water –One part of chalk and two of alum will speedily purify stagnant water, and four parts of animal carbon and one of alum are sufficient to purify a thousands parts of muddy river water.

Visiting Mission Houses Museum again, I was reminded that at one time, Honolulu was very dry.  It lacked the beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers  that grace the parks and downtown containers today.  Good water had to be hauled in from several miles away.  Brackish water found close by, was filtered. The missionaries, in fact, used a circular filter cut out of coral rock for such a purpose. They poured the water through it and into a pitcher or bowl below.  It can be seen on a table in the back room in the  photo to the right

Mrs. Mary Dominis, the wife of Boston sea captain John Dominis and mistress of Washington Place, is said to have been horticulturalist. She introduced many of the plants seen around the grounds of the governor’s mansion, creating a vibrant, growing environment from arid, dusty land.

The Hawaii Writer’s Conference has been like that, providing water for writers to grow in. It was a wonderful weekend with many authors, screenwriters, editors and agents. While I was out gathering facts I took to heart what author William Martin of Back Bay said to do — I walked the ground, pacing the steps my characters might have made.  It wasn’t hard to fall in love with place again and hope to convey it when I get back to revisions in my novel.  Mahalo nui loa for a great time.

ABC’s and Writing

What’s in Mrs.Hale’s receipts for the Million 1857?

If you have children who are learning to write, buy coarse white paper by the quantity, and keep it locked up, ready to be made into writing-books.  It does not cost half so much as it does to buy them at the stationer’s.

Mrs. Hale understood the importance of reading and writing.  Her philosophy was that economy shouldn’t interfere in the search of learning, so save what you can and make do.  In place of a notebook, I’ve made a copy book or two in my time.  It brings out the writer in me.  I sew the pages, then sew words together.

I’ve always been fascinated with schooling and how in our country’s history, getting a education was so important. It made a scholar a coming man or woman. In Sudbury, MA, Mary had her little lamb. In the 1870s and 1880s scholars in the Pacific Northwest forests packed salmon sandwiches in lard pails and went to school three months in the winter and three in the summer. Eighth grade tests for passing were so hard, that I challenge a high school student to pass what they were asking in math back then. Or in reading.  Reading circles anyone?

In Hawaii, an oral tradition of story telling received its first alphabet in 1825 with the publication of a little ABC book created by missionaries. Soon books, Bibles, case law, newspapers, were in Hawaiian. By the end of the decade more Hawaiians could read in their own language than in New England, the bedrock of literacy in our little nation.  Remember, Hawaii was a kingdom then.  Not American.

Of course, what does this have to do with being in Hawaii and attending a writer’s conference? I think somewhere back, we all started out as writers, learning to write, like I did, in Mrs. Page’s first grade classroom in Washington D.C. . Once we learned the beauty of letters and how they were shaped and carried sound, we learned to put them together in words.  Somewhere along the way, they became story.  A poem. Or a novel.

Tomorrow, I will be helping  writers have a successful experience at a very good conference and in volunteering, meet other writers.  It will start in the lovely Hawaiian way with dancing and chanting from a hula hulau. After that, I’ll take my ABCs and put down words in my copy book from what I’ve learned and create, revise and rewrite. Then I’ll find an agent.

Paradise Found

What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million 1857?

To extract grease from clothes scrape off all the grease that you can with a knife; then lay over the spot a thick brown paper and press it with a warm iron.

The only grease I’ve had to contend with the last twenty four hours was from my plate lunch. Fortunately, it dripped on my Honolulu Weekly, not my writing.  Part of the reason I’m here is to relax with family, research and write. I walked all over Waikiki today, getting my bearings for the Hawaii Writer’s Conference that’s coming and wandered through the historic Royal Hawaiian Hotel. You can sometimes get jaded about Waikiki and what it is, but it is also a place worth honoring for its past and what it means historically to the people of Hawaii.  I get it.

It’s also incredibly beautiful with its white sands, brilliant turquoise water and Diamond Head.  Just ignore the masses out on the streets and the big hotels.  You’re a writer. You can edit them out.

Eventually, I found the cafe I discovered four years ago on my last visit and plunked my writing folder down at the window.  An iced coffee and biscotti and I was ready to sharpen my pencil and revise.  What a life!  I hope to come back to this place often in the next week.

Tomorrow I get the grand tour of Washington Place, the governor’s residence today, but once that of Queen Liliuokulani.  After that, a tour of Iolani Palace, the home of Hawaiian kings and queens and the Mission Houses. All this is history not often encountered by the average tourist and its a shame.  It’s Hawaii’s story and its 200 plus years of contact with the European world. I’m writing about it in my novel Mist-shi-mus that I’m currently revising and fact checking. Hawaii meets the Pacific NW.

So I’m researching, meeting new friends in the museum world and revising. I hope to get back to the window view soon.  Aloha nui loa.

Walking History and the Relief of Feet

What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million 1857?

957. The Feet– Should be washed in cold water very morning, and wiped very dry.  Stockings, if too small, cripple the feet as surely as small shoes.  Always be careful to get the foot room enough, and you will be rarely trouble with corns.

I’ve been thinking about feet and shoes and what I’m going to do about them.  I’m leaving for Hawaii in a few days and want to be prepared for a long visit, which includes walking.  A lot.  Manoa Falls, the north shore, the Koolaus.  I’m looking forward to the chance to see again truly historic places such as Kawaihoa Church, Mission Houses Museum, Iolani Palace as well new ones I’ve not seen before.

I worked at the museum many years ago and got my start exploring history with young children. “Where’s the TV?” was the usual question from a second grader.  I showed them lives of children from the past and how they might relate to them today.  Yes, they really hauled in water from three miles away and strained it through coral rock so they could drink.  Honolulu was very dry and dusty then.

There are grand ties there to the Northwest, something that I have always followed.  Going again will help me set the scenes in the NW novel that I’m rewriting.  I will also use the time to introduce my sons to the beautiful places I haunted as a young woman with the love of my life so they will remember too. When I can, I’ll find a spot to write on my own. There’s a great cafe I found last time just right for the muse.

I’m also off to the Hawaii Writer’s Conference where I’ll be volunteering.  And walking as I help attendees.

Walking shoes or sandals? No stockings please.  I promise to wash my feet in cold water every morning.

Catching up

What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Millions 1857?

3712.  Prevention of Baldness –Eau de Cologne two ounces, tincture of cantharides two dachms, oil of rosemary, oil of nutmeg and oil of lavender, each ten drops. To be rubbed on the bald part of the head every night.

Just a short note.  Had a fantastic time at the English Encampment 150th anniversary of the Pig War.  Got over on a Friday evening, in time for dinner and set up in a tent, then up early for coffee and breakfast from Dutch ovens and stoves.

The Hawaiian Chief fired off two shots at 8:00 AM. Our battery returned. The rest of day was busy, topped off with a grand ball in a packed barracks and a thunder and lightening storm.  I taught school all day as Miss Lydia. Guests from the British Consul, Mary Gilbert and a representative from the British Royal Navy and his wife made presentations and joined in the dance.

Dinner was a crowd of soldiers, Royal Marines, HBC employees, Fort Nisqually folk, grand and not so grand ladies and the crews from the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chief, looking somewhat like pirates and very hungry after a day of rowing tourists out to their ships. (Did I actually see someone boarding the Lady Washington on Sunday for a sail dressed like Johnny Depp?)

Home late Sunday evening after two days of visitors numbering nearly 4,000?  The ferry was crowded with tourists and a truck suspicously carrying the wheels and parts to two battery guns.

Ah, history.  I breathe it and write about. A grand research weekend indeed. I now know how a longboat operates. Those oars are heavy!

Miss Lydia’s Academy

What’s in Mrs. Hale’s Receipt for the Million 1857?

Ink—To make five gallons of good ink, costing but twelve-and-a half cents, take half a pound of extract of logwood, and dissolve it in five gallons of hot water, and add half an ounce of bichromate potash. Strain and bottle it.

Just a quick note. I’m off to Friday Harbor in the afternoon where I’ll be participating in the 150th anniversary of the Pig War. I’ll be Miss Lydia for the 12th time as I teach reading, writing and comportment

Lighting the Way

What’s in Mrs. Hales Receipts for the Million 1857?

Things to Know

2024: Why do candles and lamps “spirit” when rain is at hand?

2025: Because the air is filled with vapor and the humidity penetrates the wick, where (being formed into steam) it expands suddenly and produces a little explosion.

Anyone writing historical fiction or even a non-fiction piece ought to know about the technology of the times.  Nothing can bump a reader out of a scene faster than having a character light a candle with matches in 1630. Sometimes it’s best to create a timeline just for technology just to keep ahead of the curve.

I’ve been wondering about candles. I have a price list for 1858 for a store in what was Whatcom, Washington Territory.  I know that spermaceti candles came from the head wax of a sperm whale and was considered a step above a tallow candle when it came to longevity– it didn’t smell like stinky tallow candles either. But what of Belmont sperm and adamantine candles listed so often in ads in the Northwest and San Francisco?

Turns out they were varieties of candle made from stearic acid processed from either coconut oil or tallow.  First adamantine candles. These candles were made with stearic acid which was separated out of fat in tallow. This process of creating this acid was discovered in 1811 and improved the quality of the candles used in the home.  It was blended into the wax to harden it.  It got its name as it looked like stone.  It burned longer and well.

A Belmont sperm candle has nothing to do with  sperm whale oil.  Before 1830, there was a type of stearin candle made from  coconut oil.  Its main drawback was that it stank when the light was extinguished. Then in 1830, William Wilson of Edward Price & Company in the Belmont section of London began to make stearin candles using a combination of palm oil and coconut stearin.  These candles were considered better than tallow candles, but inferior to adamantine candles. They were, however cheaper than beeswax and spermaceti candles which would continue to bring top dollar.

I’ve been working on a scene in my novel in which the officers from both Camp San Juan (American) and the royal marine encampment (British) get together for a ball after a horse race.  Lanterns have been set up everywhere, the band and dancers up on boards. What a fairy scene it will be, as long as I keep my lighting straight and the night without a cloud in the sky.

When I go back to English Camp in week or so for the grand 150th, I’ll be taking my lantern with me and my flashlight.  Just in case I have to camp back in the woods.