Harry Potter & The Conditions in China, Part I
I don't know whether or not I should be embarrassed to divulge this, but the Harry Potter series is one of my favorite collections of books of all time. It's witty, funny, heartbreaking, clever, and has a cast of characters so relatable that I almost expect to see Professor McGonagall when I go to my grandmother's house to visit. As a reader, I eat it up. As an author, I am profoundly jealous. I want to write the way J.K. Rowling does, as effortlessly and as fun as it is to read!
I sat down a few years ago and tried my hand at it. I didn't create any magical worlds or schools, but I invented some characters and attempted to come up with a story that was as witty, funny, sad, and touching as J.K. Rowling's masterpieces. For a while I was very dedicated. I synthesized a plot line, sketched out some characters, and had a killer ending that would leave all my readers crying and clamoring for more. Even the dialog crackled. For example:
“Hey!”
“Hi Mom!”
“You’re early!”
“Where’s that good looking woman?”
“Don’t you start!”
“Hi Grandma.”
“You’ve grown another foot! Slow down!”
“Mmmm, something smells good!”
Just magical. J.K. would have hidden her head in shame. But then, about 30,000 words into it (which is roughly a third of the way into a novel of average length), I came across a slight hitch. None of the characters was doing anything remotely interesting and the ending seemed to be more impossible the more I wrote. So I tried to rework the plot a little bit and fell into a tiger pit. I hadn't even created an antagonist. You know, the character that creates conflict? That opposes the main character? That makes the story interesting?
That cold splash of water happened three years ago and I haven't touched the story since. Remember, kids, never quit on your dreams!
I'm so glad I quit. I realized I was writing the wrong stories in the wrong style and in the wrong genre. I've never been a very good "ideas" guy, so it only makes sense that I would fail at fiction writing. Non-fiction, however, suddenly became very appealing. I've always loved history, but telling stories from history started to get me very excited. The stories were already there! I just had to find them!
So when I found Ah Toy (or rather she found me), I knew I had a winner. Here was a story ready to go. It had drama, intrigue, crime, money, corruption, culture clashes, the works! Even better, no one else had tried to give a true, full accounting of her and her wild experiences. So as any author and historian would do, I swooped in to make the story mine.
Now I'm finding that historical storytelling has its own share of challenges. First and foremost is, obviously, that I can't just invent the things that Ah Toy did. It's lazy. I've come across a few authors who have done that and their books are therefore useless to me. History has to guide me, and it's my responsibility find the facts and piece together her life.
However, each new fact leads to more questions. "Ah Toy came to San Francisco on a ship in 1849," says a book. Cool! What was the ship like? Whom did she travel with? How long did it take? What did she eat? Were there other women on-board? Did she get seasick? Did she get sick sick? Did she get bored? What was she thinking about? "Ummm, well...." says the book, "she lived in southern China!" Cool! What did she do there? When was she born? What was her family like? What were the living conditions in China? Did she meet any of the Christian missionaries in Canton? What made her want to leave her home, her family, her culture, her language, her friends, basically everything, and journey to California? How did she feel when she arrived? On many of these questions, history doesn't say.
I can see why J.K. Rowling chose fiction. She can answer any question at all for any of her characters, and that's that. For me, it's a relief that history contains this ready-made story for me to write. I just have to go out and find the damn thing!
Coincidentally, I'm now taking applications for anyone interested in joining my team of researcher(s). The work is hard, but it just may become the next seven-part international bestseller!
I sat down a few years ago and tried my hand at it. I didn't create any magical worlds or schools, but I invented some characters and attempted to come up with a story that was as witty, funny, sad, and touching as J.K. Rowling's masterpieces. For a while I was very dedicated. I synthesized a plot line, sketched out some characters, and had a killer ending that would leave all my readers crying and clamoring for more. Even the dialog crackled. For example:
“Hey!”
“Hi Mom!”
“You’re early!”
“Where’s that good looking woman?”
“Don’t you start!”
“Hi Grandma.”
“You’ve grown another foot! Slow down!”
“Mmmm, something smells good!”
Just magical. J.K. would have hidden her head in shame. But then, about 30,000 words into it (which is roughly a third of the way into a novel of average length), I came across a slight hitch. None of the characters was doing anything remotely interesting and the ending seemed to be more impossible the more I wrote. So I tried to rework the plot a little bit and fell into a tiger pit. I hadn't even created an antagonist. You know, the character that creates conflict? That opposes the main character? That makes the story interesting?
That cold splash of water happened three years ago and I haven't touched the story since. Remember, kids, never quit on your dreams!
I'm so glad I quit. I realized I was writing the wrong stories in the wrong style and in the wrong genre. I've never been a very good "ideas" guy, so it only makes sense that I would fail at fiction writing. Non-fiction, however, suddenly became very appealing. I've always loved history, but telling stories from history started to get me very excited. The stories were already there! I just had to find them!
So when I found Ah Toy (or rather she found me), I knew I had a winner. Here was a story ready to go. It had drama, intrigue, crime, money, corruption, culture clashes, the works! Even better, no one else had tried to give a true, full accounting of her and her wild experiences. So as any author and historian would do, I swooped in to make the story mine.
Now I'm finding that historical storytelling has its own share of challenges. First and foremost is, obviously, that I can't just invent the things that Ah Toy did. It's lazy. I've come across a few authors who have done that and their books are therefore useless to me. History has to guide me, and it's my responsibility find the facts and piece together her life.
However, each new fact leads to more questions. "Ah Toy came to San Francisco on a ship in 1849," says a book. Cool! What was the ship like? Whom did she travel with? How long did it take? What did she eat? Were there other women on-board? Did she get seasick? Did she get sick sick? Did she get bored? What was she thinking about? "Ummm, well...." says the book, "she lived in southern China!" Cool! What did she do there? When was she born? What was her family like? What were the living conditions in China? Did she meet any of the Christian missionaries in Canton? What made her want to leave her home, her family, her culture, her language, her friends, basically everything, and journey to California? How did she feel when she arrived? On many of these questions, history doesn't say.
I can see why J.K. Rowling chose fiction. She can answer any question at all for any of her characters, and that's that. For me, it's a relief that history contains this ready-made story for me to write. I just have to go out and find the damn thing!
Coincidentally, I'm now taking applications for anyone interested in joining my team of researcher(s). The work is hard, but it just may become the next seven-part international bestseller!
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