“Don’t Forget to Write” – Inspiration on the Back of a Postcard
By Guest | July 29, 2013 |
Today’s guest post is from Jessica Brockmole. Her debut novel, Letters From Skye, was published in July 2013, and is a story told within letters between two continents and two world wars. Jessica spent several years living in Scotland, where she knew too well the challenges in maintaining relationships from a distance. She plotted her novel on a long drive from the Isle of Skye to Edinburgh.
[A] remarkable story of two women, their loves, their secrets, and two world wars… [in which] the beauty of Scotland, the tragedy of war, the longings of the heart, and the struggles of a family torn apart by disloyalty are brilliantly drawn, leaving just enough blanks to be filled by the reader’s imagination. — Publishers Weekly, starred review
You can follow Jessica on Facebook, Twitter, and check out her book trailer.
“Don’t Forget to Write”—Inspiration on the Back of a Postcard
When searching for inspiration for a new story, I’ve always thought that the very best place to find it is by peeking back in history. The objects and the legends left behind only need to be dusted off to reveal characters and stories, forgotten by time.
Perhaps this is why, at flea markets or antique shops or garage sales, I can be found digging through shoeboxes of old postcards and photos, looking specifically for those with messages on the back. There is a story to be found in that hopeful scrawl. Why does Sioux City remind Ethel so much of Jim and his bicycle? What’s keeping Una from Ontario this summer, when she’s clearly living it up in Detroit? Why is Florence’s nickname “That’s All Rite”?
Some are so deliciously cryptic that you can’t help but assume secrets lie within. “How was your Uno? Have they sent the stuff to Davenport? I got a letter from Flo. Apples are 40 cents dozen. They have another heir.” Surely James Bond is behind such a postcard. Or the intriguing message, written on a jaunty collegiate card: “Frank – how many chickens have you got. Wave – Two hens. Frank – One of them a rooster.” A joke? A cypher? The mind races.
It’s not just the backs of the cards that provide fascinating story fodder. Why did Violet mail a cheerful postcard of an Iowa farmer to tell Dale that their relationship was over? Why did one traveler buy a dozen postcards of Montmartre from her visit to Paris, but only one of the Eiffel Tower? Who was so bold as to actually choose and send the get well card with an outhouse on the front and the sentences, “I can’t wait forever so please come out.” Who was the unfortunate (and likely embarrassed) recipient?
Not all are enigmatic or absurd. I have in my collection some charming love notes and missives of friendship. The terse and hopeful “Oh do be careful when I’m away. H. H.” The breezy “Don’t wait for me to write for I am always busy.” The stack of photo postcards of a young woman, addressed but not sent, were they meant for a sweetheart? The story hinted at is full of yearning.
While I look to postcards for inspiration, snippets of stories long past can be found much closer. You needn’t sneeze in dusty corners of antique shops to find them. After all, we all have histories of our own.
- Delve into family stories, the kind pulled out over the Thanksgiving table each year. Your grandparents’ first date, the time Uncle Dave borrowed the town church bell, the day cousin Sam went off to war. You know the ones. They add depth to fictional characters by reminding you that real characters exist.
- Flip through photo albums and remember all of the emotions tied to each picture. Your prom photo might bring up a blush and a feeling of awkwardness. The photo of the first newborn you ever held, a sense of wonder.
- Take a cue from those nostalgic objects lining your shelves. Dad’s medical bag. Aunt Ruby’s collection of silver thimbles from her travels. Great-grandpa’s jug where he hid his Prohibition-era moonshine. All hint at people carving out a place in their own histories.
Letters from Skye
But for me it always comes back to the postcards, those I’ve collected and those much closer to home, tucked in family albums and scrapbooks and shoeboxes under the bed. The cards my parents would mail to one another while dating. The ones my grandfathers would send home in times of war. The choices they made with the cards and with the words printed on the backs. In them I find tales unfinished and characters to be heard. Our own history is full of mysteries ripe for the novelist.
So take your inspiration from the postcard-writers and story-keepers of bygone years. Seek the universal threads, the mysteries, the questions that cause one to pick up a pen. Hold tight to those family legends and the shelves of memories. Dig through those dusty shoeboxes—real or figurative—for the stories waiting to be brought to life.
Where do you seek out inspiration?
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
I’ve gotten inspiration from my favorite novelist and script writers, from conversation here at the WU, from coworkers, from family, and from life observations. Lol, my latest inspiration comes from the present story I’m working on. When the ideas don’t fit into my present WIP it’s thrown into another story. or a new story idea is created.
Brian, I do the same! Ideas or bits of research that don’t make it into one book are often tucked away for a future story. My next novel sprung from a footnote I came across while researching Letters from Skye.
I just found a note in my basement which must have been left by the previous owner. In old-fashioned scrawly handwriting, it says “Lavender with purple lips.”
No idea what that might refer to!
How intriguing! I’d love to know the story behind that one!
It’s the fun part of writing a novel when a snippet of an old story comes to mind and can be worked into your new story.
Thoroughly enjoyed Letters from Skye!
So glad you enjoyed Letters from Skye, Carmel! I agree that it can be fun to bring in bits of old stories into the new!
Jessica-
Robert Olen Butler (Pulitzer Prize, 1993) also collects postcards, not for the images but the messages on the back. The stories in his collection “Had a Good Time” (2004) are inspired by those postcards.
But of course inspiration can come from anywhere. Many authors love to people watch, making up stories about those they see, but truly I believe that most stories have their roots in our childhoods.
Novels are those memories and experiences transposed, grown and made redemptive as art. It can start with a ribbon, a newspaper clipping or a photograph but eventually it becomes a narrative that reaches from one heart to many through the ink on the page.
Beautifully said! Something–whether a postcard, an object, a little thread of history–speaks to our experience, speaks to our soul and becomes a whole story.
What a great resource! Postcards are still out there for all in this digital age.
They are, Patricia! My best friend lives overseas and, despite keeping in touch with email, we still love sending post cards back and forth! It’s the little extra touch that reminds someone that you are thinking of them.
First: Congrats on the book, Jessica, and so glad to see you on WU!
I love the cryptic messages. And postcards really lend themselves to it. The fact that they are unconcealed messages, and the forced brevity push normal writers toward the absurd, I think. I have a series of “Victory Postcards”–government issued postcards that helped fund WWII–between my dad, who spent most of the war in the Blackhawk Division infantry, and a captain he’d befriended in the Airborne at Chanute Field before the war–a decorated pilot who flew bombers out of England over Europe. I can feel the “forced optimism” of their correspondence, right up until the cards cease in mid-’44. There’s a newspaper clipping packed in the box with the cards, announcing that my dad’s pilot friend was shot down and killed that summer.
There are a dozen novels waiting to be written in the two big boxes of WWII clippings, photos, and correspondence, just waiting to be written. I’d better get busy, eh? Fun post, Jessica! Wishing you all the best with Letters From Skye!
Vaughn, what stories contained in those boxes of ephemera that you have! Thank you so much for sharing with me!
I also enjoy picking through those boxes of postcards and photos at garage sales, etc. Estate sales, too, are full of objects that hold memories and stories just waiting to be told. And I like a good news story – a weird, offbeat one – to get my mind asking “Why? What if?”
I just loved LETTERS FROM SKYE! I got to read it in ARC form and I couldn’t wait for it to come out so everyone else could read it, too. :)
Those “what-ifs” seduce the writer, don’t they?
So glad you enjoyed Letters from Skye! Thanks for reading!
After my husband’s grandmother’s death, a box of old letters was found in her closet. Many shed light of things past and answered a lot of questions.
How wonderful that you have that saved history, Mary Jo!
That “wonder if she dreams of me” postcard looks like it depicts a non-sparkly Edward!
I’ve always loved the color palettes and aesthetics of old postcards.
As for inspiration, I often find it in the news, and then my mind wants to travel forwards, to see the implications of the story realized, or backwards, to their genesis.
I agree about the designs and colors of old postcards. Sometimes I just line them up along my desk!
The news is another rich source for ideas, not only in the event, but in the unraveling forwards and back, as you said. Absolutely.
Congrats on a beautiful debut. Also, how wonderful is your post–you gave us many great writing prompts to use. I would add that your ideas can be used as triggers to ease out a chapter or scene or character motivation, particularly if we are feeling stuck or blocked. At a recent retreat, the teacher had a few handwritten “prompts” in folded paper in front of the class. When we were done with instruction and going off for private writing time, we could pick one if we wanted a prompt. On the first day I did pick one and it ended up as an entire chapter (one of the sexiest and most pivotal of my book). The next few days, I chose new prompts and each one became a chapter. But the most amazing thing about your post here is that (1) I collect postcards too (2) I never realized until right now the connection between my collection and my novel. In my novel, a single “postcard” initiates the beginning of all of the action. It is sent to the protagonist and signed “The Venetian Ghosts.” PLUS I am sending my queries out to agents today. An Omen? I sure hope so. Thanks for a fantastic and practical post.
Diana, I’ve done the same, with the box of prompts! I used to bring one along when I met with a local writing group. We’d all contribute to it–characters, lines, situations–and draw from it when we became stuck. I built a wonderful scene out of a prompt about a potato!
Thank you for your article, Jessica. I really enjoyed reading it. Much like yourself, I’ve drawn inspiration from family stories, postcards and letters–and even folklore. When I was a little girl I listened with rapt attentive to my grandrather tell a folktale about a old woman who lived on the tallest mountain peek in Iceland. He told me that if I was bad, “She’ll sneak through your bedroom window, take me up to her cabin and eat me.” This tale stayed with me until one morning I woke with a happy ending for this tale. I held the pen as it flew across the paper–the result, my short story Something Good to Eat.
That sounds like a terrifying story! Glad that you were able to turn it on end into something happier. Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations on Letters From Skye! I have always loved letters and postcards and stories told through them. My closest relationships all involve mail. I’ve saved all the correspondence between my husband and me; we still write daily letters. And my daughter and I keep a journal together. Great fun, and it gives us an avenue to bring something to light. Of course, inspiration comes from everywhere, even the mundane, quotidian tasks. I’m thankful for the time to sit and ponder and write.
What a wonderful idea, to keep a shared journal with your daughter! It keeps communication open, while providing a record of memories. Perfect!
Congratulations on your debut, Jessica! I loved Letters From Skye and will be reviewing it on my blog this Friday.
The novel I am querying now is what I call the “imagined version of my great-grandparents’ story” and was inspired by my great-grandfather’s paintings (he was a noted painter in his day) and my great-grandmother’s memoir of their lives together. Their passionate and scandalous love story has fascinated me for many years and it only got more interesting with research!
Thank you for a great post, and a great read!
Thank you so much, Kim! Very glad you enjoyed!
I’ve found your research fascinating, and how you were able to draw on so much history both within your family and outside. Best of luck!