I recently shared with my newsletter subscribers and followers on Facebook that a story I’ve been working on won first place in a writing contest and that the judging editor requested the full story! You can view the Facebook announcement HERE
What I haven’t shared is how this story came to be.
TITANIC IDEAS
A couple of years ago I was having a conversation with my best friend. We were chatting about some of the recent historical books we’d read. She is a brilliant ideas person, and as such, she declared, “You should write a novel about the Titanic!” And that way, we could read a story we both wanted to read.
The seed took root and I started researching the Titanic. I read reference books, articles, and fiction books on the topic. I joined two Facebook groups where followers were highly interactive.
What I hadn’t realized is how avid and particular Titanic followers are.
Details mean everything to them. Get one thing wrong, and that is unacceptable.
Could I really write a story about the tragedy?
I felt inadequate and schooled by avid Titanic followers. However, perhaps I could come at it from another angle.
What about a story from the Canadian perspective, of passengers destined for the Port of Montreal?
FINDING ANOTHER STORY
The Titanic idea wasn’t going to work the way I wanted my story to, even after checking the Montreal angle. But I kept reading. All great research inevitably leads to a rabbit trail, and I’m not one to resist the lure for more facts and details. This time period is so fascinating, life was changing at a rapid pace, and great movements toward changing the social fabric of society were achieved.
In one of many articles, there was mentioned prohibition in the US. Which brought me to the question, did Canada have prohibition too? I couldn’t remember studying that in my Grade Nine Canadian History class (but who really remembers much of their academic studies as a young teen?), so I started digging deeper.
Canada did in fact have prohibition (and I wrote about it HERE).
One group of people stood out in particular in all the articles I read about Canadian Prohibition. A faithful group of women seemed to merit a mention in many of the blog posts, newspaper articles, and textbook citations I’d been reading. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
I’d finally found my spark of inspiration for my first attempt at writing a historical fiction novel.
And what I’d uncover in the subsequent months of research to follow was astounding.
Stay tuned for part two…
About Though Trials Come
Though Trials Come is a compelling story inspired by the murder of a six-year-old girl in Montreal, 1906, and the women who brought her case forward, fighting for justice in changing the Canadian Criminal Code.