Radio Time for Bishop Hill (Part 2)

 

Now that I’ve recorded my second Scribble* interview at WVIK in Rock Island, I have had time to think, and ask, what do I wish I would have included? My answer: Stories. I wish I’d talked about my use of stories within the story.

When I laid out the basic plan for the second novel, Shadows Over Bishop Hill, I knew I wanted to include some invented stories to develop the background and to move the plot along. I just hadn’t a clue about how readily they would proliferate and evolve.

First up was a depression era saga of bootlegging types loosely based on John Looney of Rock Island fame. I ended up using more than one version of this tale, since a story can change after it gets passed along from person to person, generation to generation, before settling in with a self-serving type of opportunist.

Then I included a spooky yarn my husband crafted for our children when they were youngsters. It was left rather incomplete as I tried to remember more of it and failed. However, what I had still paired nicely with my story of a shadowy figure looking for buried treasure on moonlit nights. That one formed a nice link to a central theme about money.

Crafting an all-new story around Bishop Hill’s obsolete currency took time, but it came together nicely with some other plot points involving money-making schemes within the time frame of the book. (Being a less than perfect planner, or a pantser in NaNoWriMo terms, isn’t all bad.)

Of course, I had to continue the colony-era love story I put together for the first book, Clouds Over Bishop Hill. This time it involved a major shifting about in character roles, as in who would become a victim and to what degree.

I wasn’t sure if I should have used all these stories, that maybe I was over doing it. Then I read The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. After that, I was pretty sure I was on the right track.

I wish I’d seized the opportunity to discuss all this with Rebecca Wee, a teacher of creative non-fiction at Augustana College. She might have found it interesting. Or not. But that would be in the nature of a having a conversation and joining an ongoing discussion.

 

*Scribble is a weekly radio feature hosted by Don Wooten and Rebecca Wee at noon Saturdays on WVIK 90.3 FM Quad Cities and 95.9 Dubuque. The hosts “muse about writing, poetry and the craft.” All books are fair game for lively commentary. Book reviews are welcome. Contact information: contactscribble.1014@gmail.com