Q&A with Sarah Blake discussion

This is the thread where we can talk about writing, about my process in particular, but also writing in general--how I get down to it, how I keep at...how I don't!

I guess I will go first. Where do you get your inspiration for your characters? Do you have a complete idea of who they are when you begin or do they develop as you write?

Hi Jolene,

My characters arrive and then I follow them out the door into their world, describing it as I go. Do you remember Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon? It's a little children's book from the fifties ( I think), and the story is brought on by the whims of the main character---my characters develop as I write because each scene works like an introduction, a deepening for me as I write!

The Postmistress began with an image that flashed into my head of a woman in the sorting room of a post office, looking at a letter she held in her hand, and simply pocketing it--not delivering it. Iris grew out of that image and that situation. I followed her to town, and set her talking.

Sarah wrote: "Hi Jolene,

My characters arrive and then I follow them out the door into their world, describing it as I go. Do you remember Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon? It's a little children..."

Thanks Sarah. I have never heard of Harold and the Purple Crayon... I will check it out.

When I first started reading the Postmistress I thought that Iris would be even more deviant then she was. I was half expecting her to keep more letters especially ones that were about the war in order to protect the people from finding out what was really going on. She was into everyone's business so how did you decide which letters she kept? Did you have alternatives plans at all?

What do you think makes a great character?

I am especially interested in the order in which you conducted your research for The Postmistress. I guess my question can be boiled down to "What came first the research or the story?" Had you previously gathered lots of historical research on World War II (the Blitz, the Underground shelters, the evacuations on trains, etc) and then try to create a story around that research? Or, did you create the characters first and then try to add credibility to their stories by conducting intensive research on their historical context?
Thanks!

Jolene wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Hi Jolene,

My characters arrive and then I follow them out the door into their world, describing it as I go. Do you remember Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon? It's a..."

For me, always, Iris was a straight up character--one who believes in the sublime order of the postal service, one who shows her love for Harry by certifying herself on a clean white piece of paper! So, to keep a letter, to keep it from moving forward, was a huge deviation for her--and that was interesting to me. The war and its effects boiled down to this single moment when she is knocked off her course and steps into what she had always stayed out of.

Janebrownvi wrote: "What do you think makes a great character?"

I think a great character is someone you might imagine knowing, but rarely get a chance to know so well. EM Forster spoke of the difference between "round" and "flat" characters--and though schematic it is useful to think of round characters as those that are multi-dimensional, and thus, surprising in some way.

Biblioblond wrote: "I am especially interested in the order in which you conducted your research for The Postmistress. I guess my question can be boiled down to "What came first the research or the story?" Had you pre..."

The story came first! Actually, before the story, came the image of a woman in a post office pocketing a letter. And the image was so strong, and the gesture so fantastic, that I just started writing to find out who the woman was and why she had done it. Also whose letter was it? As I began to write my way toward the answers to those questions, Iris, and the town of Franklin, and Emma and Will grew. I knew only that it was going to be set sometime during the war, and so I began to dive into the years between 1938 and 1945 in search of material. The characters and what they required led me to the time period. But then, the research I was doing started to feed my story as well. So the process became more hand and hand, the deeper I dove in.

On another note...as I write my way into characters, I often get to know them better by getting them speaking, and I find that the diction of the time period I'm working in helps me understand who the characters are.

I'm wondering if any of you could help me with common words or phrases from the fifties to go into the novel I'm working on now, which is set partly in 1959. Anything colorful, or especially particular to that era that you remember?

Sarah

Hi Sarah,
Re: Your request about words fromthe '50's.
It's Lynne from Charlottesville, VA (who wrote you about death of Harry as excissive, a question I now take back because your point about atonement is wonderful).
I just finished reading Sally Ryder Upton's beautifully written memoir A BOX OF DARKNESS The Story of a Marriage. (Her husband Upton Brady became Director of Atlantic Monthly Press). I was born in 1940,a year after Sally Upton. Her memoir starts in the '50's and continues to 2008. She nails what the times were like for the middle class, educated, Catholic or church-going young adult of the late '50's and '60's. "Queer" was the word for a "gay" man. My life mirrored Sally's to a great extent and her book helped me forgive myself for past mistakes partly beause she wrote in the context of the times. Each generation has its own moral view depending on its awareness, consciousness during that time, as you beautifully illustrate in your own writing.

Sarah wrote: "On another note...as I write my way into characters, I often get to know them better by getting them speaking, and I find that the diction of the time period I'm working in helps me understand who ..."

aaah.... before my time!

Lynne wrote: "Hi Sarah,
Re: Your request about words fromthe '50's.
It's Lynne from Charlottesville, VA (who wrote you about death of Harry as excissive, a question I now take back because your point about ato..."

Oh that's a great tip, Lynne. Thanks! I'm going to check this memoir out.