I doubt very much that most of my audience is familiar with Elijah Lovejoy. Outside of Illinois, many people have never heard of him. Even here in the Midwest, his name is often only briefly mentioned in history books. Yet in 1837, Elija Lovejoy was one of the most controversial men in America. So, whoContinue reading “Who Was Elijah Lovejoy?”
Tag Archives: fiction
When History Isn’t Enough
One of the biggest surprises I encountered while writing Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy was learning that good history doesn’t automatically become a good novel. I spent years reading court transcripts, newspaper accounts, speeches, letters, and memoirs. I wanted to understand not only what happened, but how the people involved thought and felt. AtContinue reading “When History Isn’t Enough”
How Much of a Historical Novel Is Real?
One of the questions I am asked most often is, “How much of your novel is true?” The answer isn’t as simple as you might think. Every historical novel is different. Some authors use history simply as a backdrop for an entirely fictional story. Others stay very close to the historical record. Neither approach isContinue reading “How Much of a Historical Novel Is Real?”
How Do You Bring a Historical Character to Life
I spend months–and sometimes years–collecting pieces of a person’s life. Newspaper articles. Letters. Court records. Speeches. memoirs. Census records. Even advertisements and legal notices can reveal something about a person’s character. One source rarely tells the whole story. A newspaper might describe a dramatic event. A court record may reveal what actually happened. A letterContinue reading “How Do You Bring a Historical Character to Life”
Why Was Everyone Talking About Alton?
To those of you who have been exploring Lincoln’s world with me, welcome back. As I wrote Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy, I thought about a question that would have seemed perfectly natural in Illinois during the autumn of 1837: Why was everyone talking about Alton? Today, Alton is a quiet river town onContinue reading “Why Was Everyone Talking About Alton?”
Returning to Lincoln’s World
To those of you who have been exploring Lincoln’s world with me, thank you for your patience. You may have noticed that my Tuesday and Thursday posts suddenly stopped for a couple of weeks. I wanted to let you know why. My father had a catastrophic fall and was in hospice, and shortly afterward heContinue reading “Returning to Lincoln’s World”
What Did Lincoln Know About Alton?
One of the questions I had to answer to write Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy was: What did Abrahm Lincoln know about the growing crisis in Alton. Today we can look back on history and see events as if they were inevitable. We know how the stories end. The people living through them didContinue reading “What Did Lincoln Know About Alton?”
Why Lincoln Could Not Ignore Alton
One of the questions I had to answer while writing my novel was obvious to me yet also a central premise of the work: Why would Abraham Lincoln care about Elijah Lovejoy? Why would he care about what happened in Alton and feel compelled to go there? Lincoln and Lovejoy never met. When I beganContinue reading “Why Lincoln Could Not Ignore Alton”
Before They Were Rivals–Lincoln and Douglas
This week I ended up returning to Chapter 3 of my novel after uncovering comments from my writers group that I had not fully addressed. It felt a little unhappy moving backward in the manuscript instead of forward, but revision often works that way. Sometimes the foundation needs attention before the upper floors can beContinue reading “Before They Were Rivals–Lincoln and Douglas”
The Speech That Helped Make Abrham Lincoln President
When we look back at Abrahma Lincon’s life, it is easy to assume that his rise to the prsidency was inevitable. It wasn’t. Lincoln experienced political defeats, business failures, and years of uncertainty before he became a national figure. For much of his career, he was known primarily as an Illinois lawyer and plitician. OneContinue reading “The Speech That Helped Make Abrham Lincoln President”
The View From The Imaginarium 