Coincidence or Confirmation?

  

Last November, as part of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), I wrote the first draft of the latest novel in my Regency-era ‘Legacy of Grace’ series. A few weeks ago I completed the edits on this story, which concerns a young artist from 1819, and the exhibition of a painting at the Royal Academy of Art at Somerset House in London.

Are these the 16th C windows?

Three days later I was celebrating Australia Day at nearby Berrima, a town considered by some to be Australia’s ‘Georgian’ town, due to the high numbers of remaining early colonial buildings. I was attending for a number of reasons, one of which involved taking my children to hear my mother play the pipe organ at Holy Trinity Anglican church, a beautiful Edmund Blackett designed church built in 1849, which is reputed to have stained glass windows dating from the 16^th century. (Reputed, because it’s mentioned on a handout, but nobody present could confirm or deny. I’m happy to go with it.) After listening to Nanna play, we wandered down to the church hall, where the local residents group was holding a jumble sale (gotta love a ‘jumble’ sale – how Agatha Christie!).

For me, any excuse to check out secondhand books is a good excuse, so I perused the tables of books whilst my family checked out the cakes and biscuits on sale. Imagine my astonishment when ‘jumbled’ among contemporary paperbacks and decade-old mags I discovered several fairly non-prepossessing old volumes – pictorial catalogues from London’s Royal Academy of Art from the late 1800s.

Coincidence? I think not.

Confirmation? Quite possibly.

I love how God, the “author and perfecter of our lives” is continually orchestrating moments so we can recognize just how all-powerful and omniscient He is. It may seem such a little thing, but seeing that book, filled with illustrations of paintings exhibited in 1891, really boosted my confidence in the things I’d previously researched and imagined. Because seriously, how many copies of such a book would exist in Australia, let alone be in a place where I (possibly the only person in Australia who might be interested!) could find it, let alone afford it. (Thank you to the very nice man who sold it to me for a LOT less than I expect it might sell on e-bay – don’t worry, I’m not selling!) 

Newby Hall's Robert Adams-designed
entrance hall

The cream atop this wonderful piece of metaphorical pie was another find perfect for research purposes: a pictorial guide to Newby Hall, a house in North Yorkshire with Robert Adams-designed rooms—just like I’d written about in my novel. 

Coincidence? Confirmation?

Through this experience, God again showed how He can make the invisible visible, how He is always doing more behind the scenes than we ever give him credit for. One of my pastors once said: ‘God has a plan, He is is faithful, and we can trust Him.’ To these truths I like to add that God loves us, and He has a good plan, He is faithful, and we can trust Him.

I don’t always see it, but deep down I know He is orchestrating that which is invisible to one day perhaps be visible. That the story on my heart might be shared beyond my faithful beta-readers. That the frustrating, tangled relationship might be resolved. That the pain might have purpose.

The Author is doing way more than we realize – or give Him credit for - as a thousand times each day He proves His love, His good plans for his children, His faithfulness. 

So I trust Him.

How about you? Do you have instances where God has worked a seeming ‘coincidence’ into confirmation? Did you notice God's at the time or was it something you realized later?

                                   Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of romance, especially that of the Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her novels have won or finaled in over a dozen contests, including the 2014 RWA ‘Touched by Love’ and 2014 ACFW Genesis contests. Carolyn is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and My Book Therapy, and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Connect with her: www.carolynmiller.org    

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The History of an Important Symbol

The History of @ 

Do you ever wonder how these Symbols came to be used?  I do.

Called the “snail” by Italians and the “monkey tail” by the Dutch, @ is the sine qua non of electronic communication, thanks to e-mail addresses and Twitter handles. @ has even been inducted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, which cited its modern use as an example of “elegance, economy, and a sense of the possible future directions that are embedded in the arts of our time.”

The origin of the symbol itself, one of the most graceful characters on the keyboard, is something of a mystery. One theory is that medieval monks, looking for shortcuts while copying manuscripts, converted the Latin word for '“toward'”—” with the back part of the '“d'” as a tail. Or it came from the French word for “at ”—à —and scribes, striving for efficiency, swept the nib of the pen around the top and side. Or the symbol evolved from an abbreviation of “each at ”—the '“a”' being encased by an “e.” Its first documented use was in 1536, in a letter by Francesco Lapi, a Florentine merchant, who used @ to denote units of wine called amphorae, which were shipped in large clay jars.

The symbol later took on a historic role in commerce. Merchants have long used it to signify “at the rate of”— as in “12 widgets @ $1.” (That the total is $12, not $1, speaks to the symbol’s pivotal importance.) Still, the machine age was not so kind to @. The first typewriters, built in the mid-1800s, didn'’t include @. Likewise, @ was not among the symbolic array of the earliest punch-card tabulating systems (first used in collecting and processing the 1890 U.S. census), which were precursors to computer programming.

The symbol’s modern obscurity ended in 1971, when a computer scientist named Ray Tomlinson was facing a vexing problem: how to connect people who programmed computers with one another. At that time, each programmer was typically connected to a particular mainframe machine via a phone connection and a teletype machine—basically a keyboard with a built-in printer. But these computers weren'’t connected to one another, a shortcoming the U.S. government sought to overcome when it hired BBN Technologies, the Cambridge, Massachusetts company Tomlinson worked for, to help develop a network called Arpanet, forerunner of the Internet.

Tomlinson’'s challenge was how to address a message created by one person and sent through Arpanet to someone at a different computer. The address needed an individual'’s name, as well as the name of the computer, which might service many users. The symbol separating those two address elements could not already be widely used in programs and operating systems, lest computers be confused.

Tomlinson’'s saw @, poised above “P” on his Model 33 teletype. "“I was mostly looking for a symbol that wasn’t used much",” he told Smithsonian. "“There weren'’t a lot of options —such as an exclamation point or a comma. I could have used an equal sign, but that wouldn'’t have made much sense".” So Ray Tomlinson chose @ —“probably saving it from going the way of the ‘cent’ sign on computer keyboards.

Just think, we use our little @ nearly every day!


Rita Stella Galieh is always researching and discovering interesting (but sometimes trivial) facts. It's a given when she is a historical romance writer. She has recently published her second book in the Victoriana Series, The Tie That Binds. And A Parcel of Promises is on the way to print in a couple of months.

Details can be found at:
www.ritastellapress.com/author-blog

Research in Creative Nonfiction Part 2 - Nola Passmore

Gathering Information

Last week, I looked at how research can add credibility and depth to your creative nonfiction piece and strike a universal chord that draws readers in.  So how do you gather the right material?

Archival Research

Archival research involves looking through documents to gain information.  These could include shipping lists; birth, death and marriage certificates; newspaper articles; letters; diary extracts; photographs or any other relevant documents.  Some of these will be harder to come by than others and there may be some things you can’t access due to confidentiality (e.g. medical records).  However, you might be surprised at what you can find.  One advantage of the digital age is that a lot of historical documents have been scanned and are now available online.  For those in Australia, the National Archives and the National Library are good places to start.  For those in other countries, a quick Google search should help you locate similar resources.  

It’s also worth noting the difference between a primary and secondary source.  As the name suggests, a primary source includes the original information.  Let’s say you wanted to write a biography about your late grandmother.  A theatre program that lists her as a tap-dancing juggler would be a primary source.  You have direct proof of her former profession.  A secondary source is one step removed (e.g. a book about the history of tap-dancing jugglers that mentions your grandmother).  It’s always good to go back to the primary source so that you can verify the information.  If that’s not possible, use secondary sources that are credible, such as those that back up what they say with evidence.  Many urban myths have been perpetuated by people circulating stories they’ve seen on the internet that have no basis in fact.

Reading documents and looking at photographs can only take you so far.  It’s not as good as being there. That’s where sites like YouTube can help.  Yes, it does have all of those funny cat videos, but you can also access documentaries and news stories on historic and current events.  For example, if you type ‘tap-dancing juggler’ into the search box on YouTube, you’ll be able to access a number of videos that show what your grandmother’s theatre act might have looked like.  Click here for an inspiring example of an actual tap-dancing Grandma (minus the juggling) and note the variety of interesting archival documents her grandson used in making his four-minute film.

Observation

If you can directly observe the phenomenon you want to write about, that’s even better.  This can range from unobtrusive observation (standing on a street corner and watching a busker who can tap-dance and juggle), participant observation (taking part in a tap-dancing juggling workshop) to full immersion (spending a year living with a circus or theatre troupe and experiencing the life of a tap-dancing juggler first-hand). However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

• The mere fact that you’re observing people can alter their behaviour.  That busker on the street corner might notice you and trip over his own feet.
• You may need to ask permission to observe certain types of phenomena.  For example, you can’t just go backstage in a theatre and watch performers practising their routines.
• There may be ethical issues involved.  For example, do the people in that tap-dancing juggling workshop know that you’re observing them for a story you’re writing?  This is especially important when dealing with sensitive topics or vulnerable people.  For example, are you befriending people at a homeless shelter because you want to help them or because you think you can sell their story to a magazine?

  

Interviews

Interviews can provide a wealth of information, whether it’s expert opinion about the difficulty of tap-dancing while juggling or the recollections of former dancers at the Theatre Royal.  However, interviewing is an art in itself.

• Take time to establish rapport so that your interviewee is relaxed. 
• If your interviewee is only available for a short period of time, ask the most important questions first.  You can always find out information that’s in the public domain later (e.g. the date that the Theatre Royal was built).
• Unless you’re doing straight fact-checking, ask open questions rather than closed or leading questions.  For example, 'what was it like performing at the Theatre Royal in those days?’ would be an open question, while 'how many people worked at the Theatre Royal?' would be a closed question.
• Try to ask original questions that take the interview in interesting directions.  This is especially important if you’re interviewing a well-known person who’s heard it all before.
• Plan questions ahead of time, but also be prepared to follow unexpected turns.  If an old family friend mentions that Grandma once dated a Romanian Prince who came to one of her performances, you don’t want to miss the chance to find out more.
• Don’t be surprised if people have different recollections of the same event.  In some cases, you can check the facts (e.g. When was that Romanian prince in Australia?).  However, if you’re dealing with emotional truth, different perspectives can add texture and balance to your piece.

So what are you waiting for?  Dig into the archives, observe that phenomenon, and interview those tap-dancing jugglers.  In next week’s conclusion to this series, I’ll give some tips for weaving your research into your manuscript in an engaging way.  In the meantime, what topics would you like to research for a creative nonfiction piece?

Nola Passmore is a freelance writer who has had more than 140 short pieces published, including devotionals, true stories, magazine articles, academic papers, poetry and short fiction.  She loves sharing what God has done in her life and encouraging others to do the same.  She and her husband Tim have their own freelance writing and editing business called The Write Flourish.  You can find her writing tips blog at their website:  http://www.thewriteflourish.com.au  

Research in Creative Nonfiction Part 1 - Nola Passmore

Why Include Research?

You’re about to write the scintillating tale of your charity run around Australia to save the Blue-faced Stripey Tree Worm.  You’ve kept a meticulous diary of your daily travels and have a plethora of anecdotes to enthral your readers.  It’s your journey, your experience, your story.  So why would you include extra research?

Of course, it depends on the type of piece you’re writing.  If you’re penning a news story, academic paper or technical report; readers expect facts and figures.  However, what if you’re writing creative nonfiction?  By that I mean true stories that are told in an engaging way through the use of literary techniques such as action, dialogue, and metaphor. Isn’t the story more important in such writing?  Story certainly is crucial to creative nonfiction, as detailed in my series of posts earlier this year (Post 1, Post 2, Post 3).  However, good research can enhance the tale you want to tell.  Here are some reasons why.

Credibility

Have you ever read an article where something was stated as true, but no evidence was given to back it up?  If you’re like me, this can lead to scepticism.  Why should I give money to save the Blue-faced Stripey Tree Worm just because so-and-so says I should?  Including research from credible sources verifies what you’re saying and carries more weight with readers.  Conversely, if your information is obviously faulty (e.g. stating that the journey around Australia is only 5000 km), readers may question whether you’ve also taken liberties with the rest of the story.

Depth

Dave Hood notes that we can increase our own understanding of a topic by conducting research.  While running around Australia, you may have passed a cemetery on Port Drive in the Western Australian town of Broome.  Without doing research, would you know that it’s the resting place for hundreds of Japanese divers who died while working in the pearling industry?  Maybe you could draw a link between your endangered Blue-faced Stripey Tree Worm and the divers whose lives were put at risk by the working conditions of the time. Understanding more about the people, places and topics you’re writing about can add context and depth to your writing.

Universal Truth

Lee Gutkind notes that you can increase your readership if you ‘strike a universal chord’.  Did you take up the running challenge after a health scare?  If so, giving a few facts about the health condition could put readers in the picture and make them think, ‘Hey this could happen to me.  Maybe I should do something to get fitter and healthier’.  The Blue-faced Stripey Tree Worm might only live in the Daintree Rainforest, thus making it difficult for non-locals to feel for its predicament.  If research shows that each state has dozens of endangered species, it might help readers see that they can help the wildlife of their region.  By looking for the universal truth, you’re going beyond one person’s story and showing how everyone has a stake.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll look at how to gather research material for a non-fiction story and how to embed it in your narrative so that it captivates, rather than bores, your readers.

In the meantime, can you think of articles or books that have included research in an interesting way?  I’d love to hear your examples.

Sources

Gutkind, L.  (2012).  You can’t make this stuff up: The complete guide to writing creative nonfiction from memoir to literary journalism and everything in between.  Boston, MA: Da Capo Press.

Hood, D.  (2012).  Creative nonfiction: Doing research to increase understanding. Retrieved from  https://davehood59.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/creative-nonfiction-doing-research-to-increase-understanding/

Nola Passmore is a freelance writer who has had more than 140 short pieces published, including devotionals, true stories, magazine articles, academic papers, poetry and short fiction.  She loves sharing what God has done in her life and encouraging others to do the same.  She and her husband Tim have their own freelance writing and editing business called The Write Flourish.  You can find her weekly writing tips blog at their website:  http://www.thewriteflourish.com.au