Authenticity vs. Storytelling
The Boeckel Family Genealogy stored in the Moravian Archives.
“The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like. ”
This month’s blog is perfect for history buffs! One of the toughest jobs of the historical fiction writer is to be as authentic as possible, while still telling an entertaining story. This is a true balancing act as the writer strives to get the facts straight but still tell a story that readers will have trouble putting down! Here are some examples of how I incorporated history into The Bookmark.
Frederick Boeckel’s Relationship with Liesl
Frederick Boeckel's translated memoir stored in the Moravian Archives.
When I visited the Moravian Archives, Tom McCullough, the Assistant Archivist, gave me access to a major find: The Boeckel Family Genealogy. This was an excellent source of information about the family including Frederick Boeckel’s memoir, which offered a tantalizing glimpse into his character, and the kind of relationship he might have had with his daughter Liesl.
This is the portion of the memoir that caught my eye:
“The salvation of his children was close to his heart: in a little note-book, in which he had recorded the dates of their birth, he wrote at the end: ‘All that are not growing up for Thee, those I would rather see soon in the congregation above than that they become entangled with this world and leave Thee, their Lord who would so much like to have them saved.’”
Because of this brief passage, the very first scene I ever wrote for The Bookmark was the confrontation between Liesl and her father at the end of the book, the one where he brandishes a fireplace poker and threatens her life. Yes, it was a dramatic bit of storytelling, and it helped to shape the interactions between Liesl and her father throughout the book. But most importantly, it was based in truth.
Liesl’s Impersonal Memoir
Liesl Boeckel’s original Memoir (written in German) stored in the Moravian Archives
Liesl’s memoir also held some surprises. Fortunately, Tom McCullough was able (& willing) to translate her memoir from the Old German, and just like Abbey in The Bookmark, I hunted in vain for some mention of Lafayette. Despite that disappointment, the first line immediately got my attention:
“On October 1 [1831], our Sister Elisabeth Böckel blessedly departed; she did not leave behind anything in writing about her course of life through this time; therefore, only the following can be said:”
This seemed very unusual to me since Moravians were strongly encouraged to write memoirs, and the documents were considered an important part of Moravian history. With additional research, I learned that Moravian memoirs were sometimes rewritten to save the community from embarrassment if the memoir failed to reflect the proper ideals. This possibility provided an interesting story twist and allowed me to expand Adam Wright’s role in helping Abbey solve the mystery of Liesl. Once again, history added a bit of intrigue.
The Lot
Replica of a Lot canister and the three individual tubes from the Moravian Museum
I first learned about The Lot at the Moravian Museum. The practice was not unique to Moravians and was used throughout the American Colonies as a way for God to tell people what he wanted them to do. The Lot consisted of a container along with three leather tubes. Each tube contained a rolled-up piece of paper: one paper with the word YES, one with NO, and the third a blank one which meant to pray and ask again later.
I was fascinated to learn that The Lot could prevent a marriage, and at some point (probably when I was sound asleep), I wondered what would happen if The Lot were rigged? It seemed like a perfect job for our nasty Labouress, and just like that, a central storyline was born.
The characters of Matthew and the Labouress are fictional, but The Lot is authentic, and although there is no record of it ever being rigged, it was possible. In many ways, this plot twist of The Lot drives the entire story to its conclusion. I believe Liesl would never have gone to Lafayette that last night without a powerful reason, and discovering the Labouress had deprived her of all her happiness with Matthew may have been enough.
Juggling between authenticity and good storytelling is one of the frustrations of writing this type of fiction, but it’s also one of the joys. Nothing made me happier than when I stumbled on a bit of history that I could turn into a heck of a story twist!
If you enjoyed this blog about the craft of writing historical fiction, please let me know, and I will write similar blogs in the future. I will always reference The Bookmark as I did here to give you an inside look at how this book was created.
