Newland Chapter 3

I've been studiously banging away at the keyboard, working at chapter 3. It's been a little bit of a struggle as the holes in my research begin to surface. I've managed to get my family from the boat to the shore and they have just stepped onto the main thoroughfare of the colonial harbour but I researched the family's next port of call, I've done little or no research on their initial docking station.

This is one of the little facts I learned on my research trip--the ships first docked at HoldFast Bay and then the colonists went to different places by other ships or overland. I originally thought the group I was interested in went straight to another bay. So I stand corrected and now need to research the Holdfast Bay area before I can conclude this chapter.

Frustrating. The story in my head happens mainly in the second setting and I haven't got there yet. This isn't to say I'm filling the first few chapters with padding or drivel, They allow me to setup some back story and place a few interesting shadowing clues to keep the reader turning the pages. It's coming out alright at the moment. I just need to do more research which I'm gathering is the bane of historical fiction writers. Imagine getting it all correct and then having to change a few things to a) make it fictional and b) make it dark.

The other difficult part of this book is the second half. I can't write it till I've finished the first half. "Well, duh!" I hear you all cry. Let me explain what I mean. The first part I'm writing happens in or around the mid 1800s. The second part happens over 150 years latter. The two will intertwine to create the full story. I'm working on chapter three at the moment but when done it will actually be chapter five. Chapter one will be in the past, chapter two will be in the near future, chapter three will be in the past, chapter four - near future, etc, etc.

Does that make sense? I need to write the old bit first so it then becomes easier to pick out what needs to be in the future, or at least I'd find it easier that way. I also imagine the second bit will be easier to write with research much easy to do.

So that's it for me on chapter 3 for today. 1400+ words and only a final confrontation scene to write but I'm unable to due to a hole in my research on the setting. I need to be able to see it in my minds eye and if the place I'm thinking of doesn't actually exist in the time frame I'm working in, then it blows my authenticity to all hell and back.

Time to do a lot more reading.

Speak to you later.

BT