by
Karen Kulinski
The
word “story” is a major part of the word “history,” and historical events can
be a great inspiration for your writing.
I’m
not necessarily talking about finding inspiration in major historical events,
though many writers have, such as an author friend of mine, Margo Dill.
She discovered that during the Civil War siege of Vicksburg, which lasted more
than six weeks, people were driven out of their homes and found refuge in caves
in the nearby hills. Her fascination with this topic led her to write Finding
My Place, a middle-grade novel about a young girl who experiences cave life
during that terrible battle.
Some
historical inspiration comes from events of a smaller scale. While doing
research for the railroad museum for which I’m curator, I came upon a 1916
incident involving the killing of an elephant in a railyard. The story
fascinated me, but it was so unbelievably sad that I felt I couldn’t write
about it for children, so I put the story away. Then, five years later,
out of the blue I got a “what if?” moment based on that incident, which led to
my writing Rescuing Ivy, a middle grade novel coming out next year with
High Hill Press.
Even
simple, everyday conversation can lead to historical inspiration for writers. One
afternoon, I was talking to a man about T-shirts for our museum at the Griffith
Historical Park and, towards the end of our conversation, he looked over at our
caboose.
“You
know,” he said, “when I was a kid, train crews that rode in those cabooses used
to throw chalk to us as they passed by.” I had never heard of that, but
railroaders did use big heavy pieces of chalk to mark railcars for
repairs. And the men doing something nice for kids along the rail line
was not that unusual.
During
my research, I had come upon several such incidents about railroaders’ kind
interaction with children. But one story immediately came to mind — about
a train crew on a western run who would throw the Sunday comic pages to a young
boy. He lived in a lonely cabin along the rail line and always waved at them
when the train passed. This incident was used as an example of the often
close relationship that existed between the men on the trains the people along
the rail lines.
Suddenly,
I had an idea for a story! A poor farm boy who loves to draw receives
chalk and the Sunday comics from a passing train conductor and wants to thank
him. With no money to buy gifts, he finds a unique way to repay the man’s
kindness in my chapter book, The Cabooseman’s Garden.
Big
or small, worldwide events or simple family happenings, the his-stories
(and her-stories) of history are out there waiting to inspire you.
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