Dialogue, Dates and Details: Writing History Creatively

by

Shelby Engelhardt

 

The popularity of well-written historical fiction seems to be growing daily. The key term in that sentence is “well-written.” Many works of historical fiction seem to be lacking in certain areas: research on dates and details and dialogue.

Dialogue

Writing dialogue can often be a tedious process when you consider what all must go into a conversation. When writing about the present, it is considerably easier to imagine what a character would say and how he or she would say it. But writing about the past is much more difficult. Historical writers must do their homework about the language used during that time period and how words and phrases were understood by people then. The words we use today did not have the same meaning during the 18^th century. Also, the historical writer must make sure the conversation flows as it would have during the time period they are writing about. Today’s conversations are much less formal than conversations of yesteryear.

Dates

Historical writing usually focuses around one event in history, and if that event was a major historical event, the writer must be diligent in using correct dates. The historical writer must become a master of research before beginning his or her writing endeavor. Even if the event that is at the center of the story isn’t a major historical event, other events surrounding the story line need to be dated correctly.

Details

Each decade ushers new trends into society. These details must match with what the author is saying. If an author is using the 1950’s as a setting and has the main character using a cellular phone, the reader is going to notice. Those major details will be caught instantly. The author must be aware of other details such as geography, fashion trends, and societal norms during the time period they are writing about.

 

While historical writing may be gaining popularity, remember that it is more than just sitting down and getting your ideas on to paper. A good historical writer takes time to research the subject and time period in depth. Historical writing can take a lot of work, but the result is usually fascinating.



Always Let Love Win: In Memory of Nancy Garden

by

Shelby Engelhardt

 

Imagine being a young lesbian coming of age in the early 80s. It wasn’t socially acceptable to have feelings for someone of your own sex, and many in the LGBT community were ostracized. Then, suddenly, there is a book published that describes you exactly. That is how many lesbians felt when Nancy Garden’s young adult novel, Annie on My Mind, was published in 1982.

Garden was a celebrated LGBT author who passed away on June 23 of a massive heart attack at the age of 76. She wrote young adult and children’s books and was a lesbian who was openly out. This made her a rarity, especially when you look at her list of accomplishments and publishers. She wrote at least one book a year since 1971, with the last being published in 2012. Garden had been nominated for the Lambda Literary Award every year for a 10 year span. She was published by top publishers such as: Knopf, Houghton-Mifflin, Holt, HarperCollins, Scholastic, and many more.

Garden was passionate about writing about issues that young adults faced, especially those in the LGBT community. She brought truth and honesty to the subject of dealing with being gay and lesbian in her books. Her works showed her love for writing and her passion for writing for those who faced the challenges of being gay. Garden’s works ensured no LGBT kid grew up alone and her works were vital to many in the community and will continue to be for years to come.

Nancy Garden has left a legacy for many writers and activists to follow: never let ignorance win, but always let love win.



Landays: Unveiling the Poetry of Afgan Women

by

Shelby Engelhardt

 

In Afghan culture, poetry is revered in high literary circles; however, there is a form of spoken poetry that is steeped deep in Afghan tradition called the landay, which is not highly revered. The landay is a couplet which is often sung to the beat of a hand drum. Music was banned by the Taliban from 1996 to 2001, and in some places, still is. The landay typically has 22 syllables: nine in the first line, 13 in the second and ends with the sound “ma” or “na.” They often do not rhyme. Landays, within their two lines, poignantly convey love, grief, and despair. They are created and sung by Pashtun women who reside between the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“You sold me to an old man, father.

 May God destroy your home, I was your daughter.”

                The Pashtun people are often illiterate, and the landay is often anonymous. The couplet is very powerful which contradicts our thought of a muted woman beneath a heavy burqa, but it is not only the subject matter which make them risqué. Singing, in the Afghan culture, is linked to licentiousness. Often a woman who is caught singing is considered a prostitute. Poetry, especially poetry about love, is off limits to Afghan women: it implies dishonor and free will.  The use of the oral tradition allows women to remember and recite poems that are not only their own, but others have written and are relatable to them. The fact that these poems are not written down means that they cannot not be destroyed by anyone and can continue to be passed down throughout the generations. The landay is a way for the Pashtun women to express their feelings toward family, love, war, and living conditions they face.

“I’ll make a tattoo from my lover’s blood

 and shame every rose in the green garden.”

                Today, with technology, landays have seen some changes, but they are still standing strong. Young women are able to share their landays on social media and the words of their work reflect the changing times. However, this does not mean that it is acceptable in their culture for them to create or sing them.

“How much simpler can love be?

  Let’s get engaged now. Text me.”

 Author Eliza Griswold, and photographer Seamus Murphy, are working to collect landays from the Pashtun women so they may be shared with the world. You can learn more about their endeavors and read some of the works collected at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/media/landays.html.

Ten Tips to Overcome Your Intimidation of Poetry

by

Shelby Englehardt

 

Poetry can be a very expressive and intimate form of communication, but many writers see it as intimidating. I know there have been many times that I have started writing a poem, thought to myself, “Man, I wish I were much better at this,” and walked away from a half written poem. Recently, I have started to look for ways to improve my poetry. Since it is National Poetry Month, I thought I would take this opportunity to share some tips with you.

1.       Use a thesaurus. Vary your word usage. If you don’t have a paper thesaurus, use one on the internet.

2.       Try your hand at different forms of poetry. Most of us stick to free-style poems, but venture out into a new form. Sometimes having a set form as a guide makes it easier to focus on the thought you wish to convey.

3.       Learn about different types of rhyme. End word rhyme schemes are not the only ones that exist. Study different schemes and dare to use one.

4.       Take as long as you need. Rarely is a poem written in 10 minutes and perfect. Writing poetry is no different than any other form of writing. Many times it takes sleeping on it and editing it later to produce a finished product.

5.       Read more poetry. We, as writers, learn by reading. The novelist is sure to read many novels before completing their own, and poets are no different.

6.       Learn to analyze poetry. Break the poetry you are reading down into stanzas, verses, and meters. Look at what makes the poem work. How does the author use the words on the page to convey their thought, literally and figuratively? How does the author use white space to contribute to content?

7.       Write more poetry. They do say practice makes perfect.

8.       Read your poetry aloud. Reading your work aloud gives you a sense of how natural it sounds. Forced flow is not conducive to poetry, so make sure it sounds organic and flowing.

9.       Live life! It is easier to write about things you have experienced. Go live your life and use your experiences as a basis for your poems. Travel! Endeavor to see the world through a writer’s eyes.

10.   Seek out and listen to critiques. Just as with all writing, peer review is an absolute must. Look for someone who will be honest with you and will give helpful feedback.

These tips may not make you the next William Butler Yeats, but they will give you a great start to learning to be more comfortable with writing poetry. Why not take out a blank sheet and give it a shot?



VIDA: Uncovering Inequality in the Literary World

by

Shelby Engelhardt

 

            Just this week, I was searching the web for literary criticism to use in one of the papers I am writing for my international women’s literature class. As I combed through page after page, I began to realize that most articles I found were written by men. This actually shocked me because the book is about the issue of gender inequality.

I have never been one to really even realize or comment on the inequality of women, but this reminded me about an email that I had sitting in my inbox about VIDA. Let me be honest, before this email, I had never heard of VIDA, but I knew from reading the first line, that they were about uncovering the inequality of gender in some way. So, I logged on to my email and clicked the link. That is when I suddenly realized how much inequality exists within the literary field!

            VIDA began in 2009 as a group of women who spent countless hours scouring literary publications and book reviews to find out how many women are involved. It has now evolved into a huge project that occurs each year, and they are now looking for people to help undertake this enormous task. The numbers for 2013 were just released. Did you know that New York Review of Books consists of 80% of male authors, meaning only 20% of their books reviewed were written by women? They are not the only ones: The Atlantic, London Review of Books, New Republic, and New Yorker are high on the list of publications that subscribe to the good ol’ boys mentality.

This group makes sure women know that they are not forgotten in the literary world and is starting to open the eyes of editors at major publications. They are shining the spotlight on female authors such as Jesmyn Ward (Salvage the Bones and Men We Reaped). VIDA is calling out national publications like Times Literary Supplement for their lack of publishing of female writers and praising publications such as Ninth Letter (62% of their published works come from women) and Tin House (69% coming from women).

 They have definitely started ruffling some feathers, but the group warns that this fight is nowhere near over. They have just started the battle, and it is up to all of us, men and women alike, to continue to fight to reach equality in every field and not just literature and publishing.

            I encourage each of you to take a few minutes to visit the site and consider joining in the count! You can access this year’s and previous years’ statistics at http://www.vidaweb.org.



 



Wanderlust, Women, and Writing

by

Shelby Engelhardt

 

I often find myself daydreaming, filled with wanderlust. The desire to travel and roam over a foreign land can be overwhelming at times. Lucky for me, who is firmly planted in Northwest Indiana for the time being, relatable female writers are becoming more and more prominent in the travel writing world. Through their journeys, I can explore different areas of the world and dream about my future travel plans. Let me share a few of my favorite reads with you.

 

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman

            I love this book and I think my ability to relate to the writer is a major factor in doing so. Rita Golden Gelman, an out of shape, middle-aged woman going through a divorce, is looking for a niche in life. On a trip to Mexico, she finds it. She travels the world and allows others to live out their dreams of doing so through her writing. Gelman recounts 15 years of travel in places such as Bali, New Zealand, and Thailand

 

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald

            After traveling to India once, all Sarah Macdonald could recall was the filth and odor that she encountered; however, her husband’s acceptance of a job lands them back in India. She is not thrilled by the prospect of living in this country. Tagging along, she garners a new love for modern New Delhi.  Macdonald, an atheist, becomes enchanted by India’s religions. This book is an easy read, is honest, and often comical.

 

Somebody’s Heart is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa by Tanya Shaffer

            After turning down her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Tanya Shaffer sets off to travel through Africa. Like many, Shaffer tries to travel as cheap as possible and accomplishes this by volunteering in many of the communities she visits. Her travels take her to Mali, Kenya and Ghana. Her descriptions of the people she meets along the way are captivating. Shaffer has an audaciousness in her writing that keeps the reader wanting more.

 

Traveling in foreign lands requires wit and fortitude, neither of which are lacking in wandering women writers.  The next time you are daydreaming and need to fill that wanderlust that sets in, pick up a woman’s travelogue and quench it. Or maybe, one of their tales will spark the planning of your own adventure.



Black Presses: How Three Got Their Start

*In celebration of Black History Month, the Indiana Writers’ Consortium presents…

 

Black Presses: How Three Got Their Start

By Shelby Engelhardt

It doesn’t take one long to come to the realization that publishing, as many of us know it, is becoming a dying art. With the rise of e-books it seems that the end may be near for a traditional book consisting of a spine and bound pages. Now add in the challenge of finding a publisher who is dedicated to bringing forth some of today’s best African-American literature, and you can find yourself facing a conundrum.  After searching high and low, I have compiled a short, and by no means all inclusive, list of African-American owned publishing companies and a little about each.

Small Press Publishing

The owner of Small Press Publishing, Haki Madhubuti, started peddling books on a street corner in Chicago.  He sold his poetry collection for one dollar per copy and sold 600 copies in one day.   After winning a literary award for $400, he purchased a mimeograph machine and set up shop in his basement. In 1967 Madhubuti, a lead figure in the Black Arts Movement, was distributing the work of many writers including Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez and Amiri Baraka.  What emerged from this was a mix of scholarly works and literature promoting some of the greatest black thought in the world.

Africa World Press/Red Sea Press

Searching for the American dream, Kassahun Checole left Eritrea (then still a part of Ethiopia) to settle in upstate New York. He began teaching sociology and African studies at Rutgers University. While teaching, he realized that there needed to be more scholarly texts on African history and culture.  He launched Africa World Press (AWP) in 1983 with Barrel of a Pen: Resistance to Repression in Neo-Colonial Kenya by Ngugi wa Thiong’o. The Red Sea Press (RSP) was established in 1985 to distribute AWP’s catalogue, a task it took on for other presses as well. Each year it now publishes over 100 titles, mostly scholarly offerings, but poetry and international fiction have also found a home with these presses.

RedBone Press

After being told that there was no market for her collection of works on coming to terms with her sexuality, Lisa C. Moore self-published her work, does your momma know?, in 1997. Not long after, Moore was asked to publish another writer’s works on the same topic and that is how RedBone Press came to be. The Washington, DC based company has become a highly respected source of black queer fiction and poetry. Its authors have been recognized by many organizations including the Pen American Center, The Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Lambda Literary Foundation. All of this becomes more impressive when one realizes that RedBone Press is still a one-woman operation.

 

From a man peddling his poetry on street corners to a woman self-publishing her stories about coming out, many black presses have interesting histories and offer a wealth of knowledge to those seeking it. They give many black writers their start in a rewarding career. As writers, we know how hard it is for publishers to continue their art. Please support these independent presses, as they are the key to keeping publishing alive.