Why write about Wright?

We received a gift catalog from Taliesin yesterday which had, in amongst all the expensive furniture, pillows, vases and scarves, an offering for the book Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. This novel (which I haven't read) is told from the viewpoint of Mamah Cheney, the woman with whom Frank Lloyd Wright had a torrid affair in the early 1900s and for whom he left his wife and six children. Quite a story.

Anyway, with the continuing public fascination with Wright, is there any need to include him in yet another book? Don't we know everything about this man there is to know? Well, yes, and several capable biographers (Meryle Secrist's book is fantastic) have pulled apart his life in minute detail; but isn't it interesting to speculate about his actions in situations that haven't been documented? Why did Mrs. Dana (a real person who figures prominantly in my novel) let him have such a "free hand" in designing her opulent house (Dana-Thomas House, Springfield, Illinois)? We'll never know for sure, but one explanation is in my book.

That's the exciting part of writing a novel based on real events and including real people. You can take what you know about them, put them into a situation and see what happens. It's fun to write and, hopefully, fun to read as well.

Re-writes

Now that I am beginning the THIRD re-write of my novel, I'm wondering how many times I should do this. It sounds facetious, but it's a question I ponder often. At what point do you just shelve the book, put the years of research and writing behind you and chalk the whole thing up to experience?

From everything I've read, the answer is the same as the answer to most other questions -- "It depends." Charles Frazier rewrote Cold Mountain 12 times (I think) and would have continued to "perfect" it if his wife hadn't given it to an agent to read without his knowledge. But then I've heard of many other novelists who have written (and shelved) several books before writing the one that finally was published.

It would be easier for me to leave this novel behind if I wasn't so sold on the concept. The idea of weaving a novel around a real event and real people (Frank Lloyd Wright, Vachel Lindsay, Charles Deneen) is fascinating to me. EL Doctorow's Ragtime (and probably his other books too) does this to perfection and illuminates a time period in a way that non-fiction doesn't (at least to me). So I'll keep "perfecting" this novel until I'm so sick of it that I can't do it again. Or until it's published!

Readers and critiques

Who should read your novel and give you feedback? I know there is a big contingent of writers out there who swear by writing group comments. I'm not so sure though. My experience with writing groups is that there is a group dynamic happening that is not about the writing, but more about the people in the group. So they're a great way to meet other kindred spirits questing for publication, but not such a good way to get valid feedback.

That said, I admit that only one person has made it through all 95,000 words of my tome -- a friend from my writing group. But she read it as a personal project, so it escaped a "group" critique.

Stephen King, in his excellent book "On Writing" says to write the first draft "with the door shut" and then let readers (he has his wife read his work) take a look. Its a fine line you walk as you sift through the comments and decide which ones you accept and which one you don't. At some point though, the time for revising is complete. I just wish I was at that point with this book!

Katy's comment to my previous post on NOT having friends and relatives as readers makes sense. I'm sure they wouldn't want to hurt my feelings by suggesting the book could be improved by making changes.

The Springfield Race Riots of 1908

I know that's a pretty rough way to start a blog, but it's on my mind and has been on my mind for about 3 years now. That's because the two-day riots in Mr. Lincoln's fair city are at the climax of a novel I've completed.

The more research I did on these riots, the more interesting they became, not only as a historic incident but as a bellwether of the tone of the city even to this day. Amazing how the racial division of Springfield, Illinois has maintained and even deepened in the past century. The novel is a chip in the surface of something large and hideous -- showing how one black woman and one white man navigate the waters of society leading up to the riot. Learn more about this at http://library.thinkquest.org/2986/