Sometimes I think that Seed will never reach fruition (no pun intended).
My novel-in-waiting, Seed (one I’ve been chipping away on for longer than I want to think about) is under the knife. I’m cutting ruthlessly.
Like Chapter 26. The whole thing.
Actually, I’m dumping the current Chapter 26 and re-writing it.
And I really liked this chapter. It has my mountain-man character, Lee Smith, visiting Fort Vancouver, established in 1825 on the Columbia River by Dr. John McLoughlin (a real, historical figure) with the Hudson Bay Company. I kind of fell in love with Dr. McLoughlin, a lovable rouge if there ever was one. And Fort Vancouver was a lively, happening place (built to take the place of Fort Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia).
So I had a great setting, Fort Vancouver. I had some really nice scenes with Smith interacting with McLoughlin, pondering the mystery of why so many trappers and Indians were disappearing from the area. It worked well. I was happy with it. It moved the story forward.
But there was one, slight, itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny problem that, for the life of me, I couldn’t come to terms with.
Fort Vancouver was built in 1825. The action in the novel takes place in 1822.
Damn. I really wanted to use Fort Vancouver and Dr. McLoughlin. But they didn’t fit into the time line.
So I said, what the hell? It’s a novel. A work of fiction. A little artistic license won’t matter. I’d even read that some authors tweaked their time lines just that way, changing history a bit to better fit their stories.
I decided to do just that. But I couldn’t. It was a three year difference. It bothered me. Seed may well be a paranormal thriller. But it’s a historical paranormal thriller. And history shouldn’t be something we tinker with on a whim, even in a novel.
Then another problem reared its ugly head. Fort Vancouver is way, way off (in terms of distance) from where much of the action in the book is taking place. Characters need to meet and interact. Lee Smith is a trapper, he has to sell his furs. And, this being the early West, horseback (overland) and canoe or keel boat (river) travel is all the rage. And travel from the Columbia River back east was no picnic. It was rough country. Just ask Lewis and Clark.
So, for Chapter 26, it’s back to the drawing board. Maybe I’ll have Smith visit Fort Henry, built on the Yellowstone River in 1822. Or drop in on a camp where a bunch of free trappers are gathered around a campfire, swapping yarns.
Still don’t know if I can work Dr. McLoughlin in, though. But the research is done. Maybe I’ll save it for a tie-in short story. We’ll see.
What’s your thoughts on authors monkeying around with the historical timeline to further their stories?
