Target Audience--or What Will My Mother Think?

One of the motivations for my sister and me is that our parents are tuned in to our efforts to write--and to finish--our book. They are in their late 80's--Dad will be 90 in April--and have battled (and mostly conquered) health problems. I guess you might say we feel we have a soft deadline. 

From the first days of the book's inception, we were around our parents, discussing the history of the area in which they live and asking a lot of questions about what life was like 'back in the day'. We've interviewed them both, for the book and just because that's what we do, so, though they don't know a whole lot about the story line, they know their experiences, personalities and even quirks may be reflected directly or indirectly in our characters and the plot itself.

All that has made it more difficult for me to write some of the upcoming scenes that may or may not include--wait for it--sex. Our lead character is a woman in her mid-forties. She has interesting men in her life--one where she works as a college professor, one in her hometown (that bears a striking resemblance to East Grand Forks, MN) and one when she time travels. We (the writers) know where these relationships are going, but not how much detail the reader will enjoy second hand, so to speak. 

I've read some pretty sexy books along the way and often wondered what kind of person writes all that soft porn. Then there was the Girl With a Dragon Tattoo series. Not sure what you call that sex (other than rape). So here I am, deciding whether I'm that kind of person! 

Some practical issues I have to consider are the authenticity of the storyline. If you know me at all you know I will fight like hell to write--with my sister's steadfast input--a story that is the one I want to tell. Another issue is that I don't want to fall into the sugary world of the Hallmark made-for-TV-movie, though those have their place. Do I do like movie directors and insert the required number of F-bombs or nudity to get the movie/book the PG-13 or R rating? I hope not. Do I depict a sexy love scene that adults in their 40's might have? Hmmm. I'm trying to tread lightly here because I've recommended my blog to high school students. But I must admit, brainstorming a love/sex scene is not all bad. :)

Of course I hit the interwebs to find (not only these photos) but articles and blogs about writing to a target audience. I figured maybe someone had suggestions. I didn't read about the sexy part (I dread seeing what I get if I include the word sex in my search string, for starters) but I did find some inspiring and useful tips.

One I found-- http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/how-to-target-an-audience/ had a good checklist that included geographic (check), demographic (maybe), psychographic (?) and behavioural (too deep for me). 

Since we have time travel in our book, I learned that the novel might be categorized as soft sci-fi, which was a new term for me. 

But my favorite link was: http//storyfix.com/6-ways-novelists-can-use-target-marketing-a guest-post-from-jan-bear  
There is a category that the author calls literary sophistication that addresses "unusual narrative techniques for their own sake". Jan Bear references the novel Time Zone by Tom Lichtenberg and discusses the way he uses time travel to show a variety of character interactions and character development. Our plot is not exactly like that, but is similar. As novice writers, it felt like quite a validation--that it's good to write in a way that feels natural--even if it's quirky. Maybe it will hit a target audience and maybe it won't, but at least it won't get lost on the romance novel shelves...assuming it gets on anyones shelf!

So what all this has to do with my target audience is that I'm about to decide--is my mom (or dad*) at the top of my target audience or do I include mildly sexy scenes? Do I avoid sex in order to give the story line more of an historic angle? And then there's the question of what intimate sexual relationships do to tarnish or give credibility to the character of our heroine. 

I believe I mentioned this blog is about the writing of a novel (not the end product)--which, by the way, I can happily report is now nearing the halfway point. So, I guess you'll have to read it to see how steamy it gets...or doesn't. (Sorry, Mom :).) The next scenes I write will answer all these questions and as someone famous once said, "How do I know that I think before I see what I say?".

*Did I ever tell you about how my mom made my dad have a talk with me after they saw the statue I'd carved of a pregnant woman for the high school art show? I point this out only so you don't doubt their level of intolerance for controversy of a sexual nature! 

Incorporating a Gemstone Into a Generational Storyline

  

Chrysoprase is highly prized for its opalescent 
minty, apple-green color. It is one of the 
rarest varieties of chalcedony quartz.

The splendor of gemstones has been with us for centuries. Today, as before, they are treasured for their beauty and worth. Some ascribe to them healing and good fortune.

Revelation 21:18-20 Living Bible (TLB)

The city itself was pure, transparent gold like glass! The wall was made of jasper, and was built on twelve layers of foundation stones inlaid with gems: the first layer with jasper; the second with sapphire; the third with chalcedony; the fourth with emerald; the fifth with sardonyx; the sixth layer with sardus; the seventh with chrysolite; the eighth with beryl; the ninth with topaz; the tenth with chrysoprase; the eleventh with jacinth; the twelfth with amethyst.

     The Bible tells us the tenth layer of the New Jerusalem will be made of chrysoprase, a beautiful green stone.  The meaning of chrysoprase comes from two words, chrys being the Greek for gold or yellow and prase from the Greek for 'leek', referring to the green coloring.

     For over a decade, I have written and recorded radio ads for a jewelry store.  Poring over the glass cases of brilliant, colorful gems set in sparkling gold and silver is an enjoyable part of the research needed for writing effective ad copy. When we decided to include a special, period piece of jewelry for our book, I was eager to take on the challenge. I settled on the chrysoprase gemstone because its rumored abilities to encourage hope, happiness and friendship. These qualities bring meaning to our story line that spans generations. Our main character, Prof. Norah Martin, travels in time throughout the story. At one point, she is taken back to the early 1900’s, and learns that a chrysoprase brooch was worn on a young bride’s wedding day and on special days thereafter.  It was a diamond shape, outlined in filigreed sterling silver.  A costly piece for the times – but valued more, for the love and eternal friendship of the giver. The bride had dreams for the future. Those dreams included her dear husband, her precious daughter and the notion that someday she would pin this chrysoprase brooch to her daughter’s wedding dress. Tragic events related to the turbulent history in the Red River Valley interrupt those dreams until Norah is pulled into the young woman’s life. She unwittingly becomes the missing part of a story that will be told.

Two Books and a Dozen Articles=Three Pages of Our Novel

This is an example of one of the flyers
that would be posted ahead of the train
full of orphans. Notice that in January
of 1907 there were likely children
adopted in Winnebago, MN.

What captivating reading it is to learn about adoption practices in early America!

In our plot line, there is the subject of adoption, so I needed to know what practices were in place during the early 1900's. I knew the most interesting and useful reading would be first-person accounts, but I also needed to base the storyline on common practices.

I started online, of course, looking for any first person accounts I could find. A book entitled The Adoption Reader, edited by Susan Wadia-Ells, was available for $3.99 on Amazon and it ended up sucking up several of my evenings with stories that ranged from joyful to poignant to downright miserable. It's broken down into birth mother stories, adoptive mother's stories and the last section is adopted daughters. (Don't know what happened to the sons.) The stories had all been published in the 1970's and '80's but didn't give any other dates, so it wasn't as directly applicable to what I was trying to do as I would have liked.

Then, I stumbled onto the history of the Orphan Trains. I seriously don't know why it took me so long to discover it, because there are thousands of accounts, photos, novels, movies and documentaries of the Orphan Trains.

Basically, there was a do-gooder in New York City in the 1850's by the name of Charles Loring Brace who was training to be a preacher. He moved to NYC and saw the thousands of homeless children living on the streets and was appalled and saddened. So the children were rounded up and taken to children's aid societies. Their parents were located if they were still living and signed over custody, giving up their parental rights. Then the children were put on trains to what they then called the West (which was the Midwest) where children were wanted for adoption and to work the farms. Generally this occured in the late winter or early spring, in anticipation of the seasonal need for farm hands.

In the Midwestern states, prospective parents would fill out paperwork to determine if they would be fit parents. Some matches were made ahead of time, but many others were made on the spot as the trains went from town to town. Children would be scrubbed up after the long journey, clean clothes would be put on them, and they would be lined up in places like the schoolhouse stage or other public places. Farmers and their wives would walk through the rows of children, looking them over and then say "I pick that one!" The child (if old enough) could refuse if they didn't want to go with that person.

There are many first-person accounts by these children because around 500 of up to 200,000 who were on the orphan trains are still alive today. They will break--and sometimes warm--your heart. (I will include some links below, but there are SO many. Children were split up from their siblings, older boys sometimes ran away to get paying jobs and sometimes there was abuse, but also, many families were blessed by the new additions and the children--especially the youngest ones--often thrived. Two years after the placements, The Children's Aid Society did follow-up visits and sometimes changed the childrens' placement or sent them back to the children's asylums or to jail if they were deemed incorrigible.

The trains first originated out of New York City, but eventually,
other states started their own orphan trains.

This practice continued until 1929--3-4 years after my parents were born, so it seems like quite recent history. Now, with the wisdom of time, we know that it is a tough call whether it was the right thing to do--or not. Usually minorities and the poor were the ones who lost their children, so clearly, there are major human rights violations that occured.  Some people credit the movement with advancing better adoption laws, but other sources blame the orphan trains for delaying improvements. They feel that instead of helping poor parents feed, clothe and house their children, shipping them away buried the seriousness of poverty.

It wasn't until the economy changed and the Midwest didn't need farmhands as much and families began getting social services, that there wasn't the demand for orphans.

If anyone knows of someone who was on an orphan train, I would really appreciate speaking with them. The likelihood is actually quite high, because one of the primary destinations was the Minneapolis/St. Paul train station! They continued all the way to Texas, depending on where they started out, I suppose. Please ask any older members of your family if they know of anyone or even heard about the Orphan Trains. (I was surprised that my dad did not know of them, but then, he grew up in a very small town in a rural area of Wisconsin.)

So, a couple of evenings ago, I sat down to write about our characters and their adoption experience and though I pulled bits and pieces of various accounts into the story, it felt like old news to me. Before I wrote it, I knew exactly what happened to them! (Sometimes surprises when you are writing are a bit more fun.) But it's historically accurate, so yay!

Here are some links the reader might find interesting and worth reading:

http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/about/history/orphan-trains

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcl.american.edu%2Fmodernamerican%2Fdocuments%2FTrammell.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGqbhcCIdtrgQ1l2tuNEtfb4pqXUg

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-srv%2Fnational%2Fhorizon%2Fnov98%2Forphan.htm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEn7S9g6mHI_npVdxdGQtsVnsJegA

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fwgbh%2Famex%2Forphan%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFjdFTRVbJS_W63ov-BcojIjsE-eg

What We're Learning Along the Way....

What we're learning along the way....

1. Having never written historical fiction before, I don't think either one of us realized how time-consuming the research would be. At first it was fun and exciting because everything we found fed into our plot lines. I have to say it is still fun and exciting, but it takes sooooooooo long. I have read about this early history of North Dakota, including first person accounts of the postal workers, the trappers, the lumber workers, the railroad workers and the ladies of the night. We have read the 35-page diary of my Great Aunt Palma Windahl, which was particilarly fascinating, partly because she frequently mentions my grandmother at ages 13-14 and my grandfather (her brother) who was about 10 years older. I know Cindi has been studying Ponzi schemes and jewels, since both tie into our plot. We have also poured over old photos, trying to beam ourselves into the past to feel what people in the early 1900's were feeling, thinking, worrying about, wearing and using for tools. The photo above is a family funeral in the late 1930's??? (Anyone know the year or whose funeral it is?) Of course during all this time, hardly a page of the book is being written.When we had worked on the book on and off for two years and had only 25 pages, it was kind of an eye-opener.

2. The easy part is developing a plot. The hard part is the writing. No matter how developed the plot line is, when you begin to actually write it, there is still so much to decide/resolve/make up. Constant character discussions and plot revisions are required along the way. You just have to blaze through it and deal with any fallout later. Did I say too much--too little? Just get it on paper and worry about that later.

3. Every website about writing a novel says to set goals. Well...that doesn't always work. But, as mentioned in #2 you just have to keep writing. My current goal, which is working out pretty well, is to write a page a day. If you haven't tried to write a book, that seems laughable. Who could not write a page a day. See above...I've almost written a page in 10 minutes. Well, for some reason writing a book is different. You're constantly thinking about where you've been, where you're going and how all the other characters are impacted by what you're writing. So, a page a day (or even 4-5 a week) is a good clip and with two authors, you have a book in a year--especially at the stage where we are--well into it.

4. While this will seem repetitive, it's really not: Don't stop. From the fall of 2013--July of 2014 we stopped. We didn't work during the winter, we didn't Skype--we stopped. That was the point at which I began to doubt whether we would ever have a book. Fortunately, this summer, we had a week to reread, discuss, brainstorm and finally resume the writing process and that's why I won't stop again. Even writing a little--or at least editing--every day, I have to go back and reread parts, refreshing my memory. Where did we leave it, what was the year, exactly what was said? I think once the book is nearing 300-400 pages, that will be even more critical. Never stop!

There are a few  more things I've learned along the way, but I guess I'll save those for another post. Time to do my real job...writing a book!