A Path to Mapping a Story Setting

August 31, 2017| Lynn| 0 Comments|

In our last instalment of setting and social history, we talked about how setting can be a key component in our stories especially when we view it as a character in our family history stories.

Today, we will look at mapping our setting. We will look at the purpose of a map as a tool in writing our family history stories. I’ll show you how I created my own setting map for guiding my writing. There are three features I like to keep in mind when creating my setting map; the main setting, beyond the central location and the activities and occupation that provide the movement throughout the setting. Let’s get started by looking at each one of these key elements.

Your Main Setting

In most cases, the primary setting of your story will take place in a city, town or village. However, your story could be on a ship or any other of many locations. Regardless of where your setting is taking place, we need to include all the internal buildings and places within the setting. For example your ancestor’s home, his place of work, where he worships and where he gathers with other towns people to visit.

Beyond the Central Location

You’ll also want to consider what is beyond the central location. For example, if your story takes places in a small town is it surrounded by lakes, forests, swamps or is it a city surrounded by industry or a ship surrounded by water.

Activities and Occupation

If your ancestor was a farmer, (we have a lot of those in our research), then details of how he performed his job and how he moved about in his day to day activities is very much a part of your story setting. Describing the physical characteristics of a farm, the land, the buildings and so on is one aspect of the setting. Explaining how to fix a broken wagon or harvest the crops in the field is also an element of your story setting. How did your ancestor move about to school, church, and get the groceries? Where were these places located in relationship to your ancestor’s home?

The Purpose of a Setting Map

Creating setting map can be very helpful when writing your family history stories and dealing with the location and activities of your ancestor. They can aid your writing in many ways.

Maps can enable the tracking of your ancestor’s location throughout the story.

As your ancestor moves about, from his job to home and church or the grocery store, it’s important to know where each of these locations is located in the story setting. Place them on your map as a visual tool.

Your map can help to reflect on your ancestor’s awareness of their surroundings.

As you move your ancestor through their activities, your map can help you develop an awareness of your ancestor’s surroundings.

A setting map can act as a tool for measuring your ancestor’s movement from point a to point b.

As you write your ancestor’s tale, he’ll have to move from one location to the next physically. Your map can help you with that. What’s the distance, does he walk, ride a horse, take a boat. This might lead to some further research to answer these questions.

A setting map can help you describe your ancestor’s journey and the world to your reader.

Your setting map will allow you to consider what your ancestor is doing at the place he is on the map and what do the surroundings look like? How is he interacting with his surroundings? Whether it is a short journey to the neighbour’s house or a long journey across the ocean, a map can guide you through writing those details into your stories.

A setting map can help you to visualise the scene and the proximity of your ancestor to other characters and places.

With the movement of your ancestors, they will come in contact with other characters in the story and other locations. Your setting map will make it easier to know when they are within the proximity of greeting another character or hearing the church bells ring.

How to Create a Map

First, you have to take the time to get to know your story setting through research and then as you are discovering the setting or after you’ve completed your research you can create a map of the setting. I like to create the map while I’m researching.

Here’s an example from my research. The town of Stratford is the setting for the story I’m currently investigating. It’s important for me to understand where some key places are located as my main character/ancestor makes his way about town.

As I went about doing my research this summer, I created a map. I uncovered clues and mentions of various places that allowed me to put them on the map. Keep in mind my story is set in 1847, so I need to research and understand what Stratford looked like during this time.

The local museum had a map that is from the period of my story. They allowed me to take a digital picture of the map. I then uploaded the picture to Evernote. This is where it got fun.

This summer, as I worked through my setting and social history research each time I uncovered the location of an important place I marked it on the map. I did this right inside Evernote. In Evernote, I used the annotate feature and created a key with coloured dots, so I have an easy reference to where various places are within the setting. Once I start to write, as I move my ancestor through the story, I can quickly reference where he is on the map and what the surroundings look like and how he might be interacting with those surroundings.

Also in this Evernote note, I created internal links to the information and pictures that I have for each location making it very easy to not only find the place on the map but to find my description notes within my research notebook.

Of course, this is only one of many ways to create a setting map. You certainly can sketch a map out if you like or use mind map programs, you are only limited by your imagination. Here’s an example of a setting map done with Prezi for The Great Gatsby.

Regardless of how you build your map or your map’s purpose, I hope you’ll consider including a map among your writing tools as a means to keeping your family history story on the right path.

Writing a Family History When You Don’t Have All the FactsWriting a Family History When You Don’t Have All the Facts

Probably the most commonly asked question throughout my online classes, speaking engagements, and workshops are how do I write my family history when I don’t have all the facts?

What do I do when I don’t have enough family history research?

What do I do if I’ve never met them; I don’t even have a picture of them?

How do I write their stories when my research just isn’t enough?

In my early days of writing my family history stories I wondered this myself. The answer is simple, and yet at the same time complicated; by placing your ancestor within the historical context of the time.

What does it mean to place your ancestor in historical context?

Historical context uses historical knowledge of people, events, trends, and cultures to shed some light on your ancestor. To get to know them on a more intimate level, to understand their actions and reactions to events in their life. When we take both the intimidate knowledge of our ancestors that we have acquired through our research and the understanding of the times in which they lived, we can interpret them and their actions. We can close in on those missing pieces of our stories.

It was a book called Bringing Your Family History to Life through Social History by Katherine Scott Sturdevant that helped me to understand historical context on a deeper level.

The simple statement in Katherine’s book brought it home for me. “Social history is the study of ordinary people’s everyday lives. ”

It all starts with your research, the documents, pictures, and artefacts you have acquired over the years. You’re ready to shape that story, but there are some holes, somethings you just don’t know enough about your ancestor that you feel is necessary to write their story. You then must turn to understanding the social history of your ancestor’s life. Even if there are no holes in your research, social history can give you a greater depth of knowledge of their life and decisions.

When we study social history, we place our ancestors in groups and understand and learn how these groups behaved. We can then begin to fill in some of those behaviours and thought patterns of our ancestors. When we place our ancestors into social groups based on their culture, religion, age, sex, social status (the list is plentiful), we begin to fill in the missing pieces. We start understanding our ancestor on a deeper level, have knowledge of their actions and reactions and the influences that shaped their decisions. We get inside their head.

As an example, if I wanted to write the story of my three times great-grandfather, I need to understand the social history of his day. What was life like for an Irish man in Kilkenny in 1820’s? What was it like to be a Catholic at that time? To be a peasant farmer? To be an immigrant during that period? How did he cope as an early settler in the rugged unchartered land known as Upper Canada? When I study these groups, I can help to understand what my ancestor experienced, put him in those experiences and ultimately understand his actions and reactions. Social history can help me to shed some light on who my ancestor was, on how and why he made the decisions that he made.

When we understand the historical context of our ancestor’s time, we can make some inferences about their lives.

An inference is an art of drawing from evidence to recognise the relevant results of something. It is the act of drawing conclusions based on a premise and accumulated facts. It is speculation. Genealogists speculate all the time. We draw assumptions based on what we suspect might be true scenarios based on the research we have acquired. An inference is the same. We can speculate on our ancestor’s lives not only based on our research but in addition to the historical and social history influences of the day.

By researching social history, the study of ordinary, similar people to your ancestors, and blending that information with the specific research of your ancestors you can paint a fuller story of your ancestor’s life.

Your inference is then based on solid social history research that you can in fact source and cite.

You will also state your conclusions directly never implying them and misleading the reader. When you write a statement of fact, you have a document that backs up your claim. If you do not then, you need to reword what you’ve written and make it clear that you are inferring or speculating.

Using Tag Words

You can use tag words such as ‘almost certainly,’ ‘probably,’ or ‘perhaps’ to indicate that you are speculating and to not mislead the reader.

In the article “Perhapsing”: The Use of Speculation in Creative Nonfiction, author Lisa Knopp explains,

In order to write the essay, Kingston needed a deeper, fuller understanding of her aunt’s life and a clearer picture of what happened the night she drowned. Since the only information Kingston had was the bare-bones story that her mother had told her, Kingston chose to speculate an interior life for her aunt. I call this technique “perhapsing.”

Using an Introduction

Your speculation can also come in the form of an introduction at the beginning of your story, such as in the case of Only a Few Bones by John Phillip Colletta. John lays out clearly to the reader that he is recreating the setting, that there are no fictional characters, and he depicts no action that is not suggested by documented circumstances. John goes on to state that he labels supposition. He also goes on to elaborate how he handles dialogue.

John states, “For family historians, therefore, this book represents a case study of how to build historical context around an ancestral event.”

When we infer or speculate we do so from evidence; evidence that we have accumulated through our genealogical data and social history research. We must have sufficient enough historical knowledge to infer, knowledge that can be cited and sourced. We can then conclude or deduce a conclusion based on a premise and our accumulated facts. We can interpret the peoples and or their actions. We can close in on those missing pieces and ultimately write a family history narrative that will satisfy the reader and that we trust is based on sound research, historical context and speculation.

Watch for part 2 in Writing a Family History When You Don’t Have All the Facts, as we delve into the study of social history research – the various topics we can research and where to find them.

World BuildingWorld Building

I’ve been thinking a lot about my ancestor’s world as of late as I prepare to write the story of my 4^th great grandfather. John Phelan immigrated from Kilkenny, Ireland to Stratford, Ontario in 1833. I’m not going to give away the plot, but I will tell you that it takes place in Stratford, Ontario in 1847. It revolves around 2-3 days and involves many of the local townspeople. Before I sit down to write I need to have a clear picture of what Stratford looked like in 1847, I want to understand the personality of this community and its people. I want my readers to experience Stratford in 1847, I want it to be as authentic as possible. So, in a few weeks time, I’m heading to Stratford for a little local and social history research. I’ll keep you posted. But let’s take a look at some of setting elements I’m going investigate while in Stratford to help build my ancestor’s world.

If you’re writing your family history stories, then you’re probably aware of the importance setting plays in writing stories. By giving great detail and description to the setting we bring that world to life for the reader, drawing them deeper into a different place and time and making the ancestor’s life and the event we are recreating on the page come to life for the reader.

Too often we rely on the old standbys to create story setting, reliables like landscape, architecture, rooms, furniture, and the climate is predictable in a story setting.

Unfortunately, too many writers stop there when there is likely a lot more detail and description that we might be able to include to paint a clearer more realistic and accurate picture of our ancestor’s life.

Let’s push beyond the obvious and consider some other aspects of our ancestor’s world that could help bring the setting to the page for the reader.

8 of My Favourite World Building Details

Food – I love to use food where possible because it can be a great sensory experience, allowing us to use a good majority of our senses when we describe it, hear, feel, see, smell and touch. Look for the types of food you’re your ancestor would have cooked, the everyday dishes, special occasion food, what was the local agriculture to the area and how did they prepare and cook their meals.

Government and Politics – We often underestimate how much the world and local politics affected our ancestors. Who rules? Kings? Queens? Presidents? Dictators? How did government affect our ancestor’s lives? Consider taxes, for instance, local taxes could put a strain on a family and that could easily be reflected in their surroundings, what they could afford and their opinions and dialogue. Sometimes it even caused them to pick up and move.

Health – Our ancestor got sick, even died. How does healthcare work into the time of your ancestor? How did society treat sick people? How did they perceive medicine? Doctors? What were the practices of the time? What medications were available, doctors visits, general health practices?

Communication – How did your ancestor communicate with others in the town, with their neighbours or families far away. Even in one town, there could be a variety cultures and therefore languages, there also might be a variety of dialects, slang words and accents.

Currency – What was the currency of the day? Did your ancestor use paper money or coins? Did the local shopkeeper manage accounts for the townspeople or was bartering a common occurrence.

Religion – You don’t have to be religious to understand that religion had a great influence on how our ancestors behaved. It influenced their movements, thoughts and behaviours. It is impossible not to have religion in your ancestor’s town. Religion is a foundational element to all cultures. They affect the way people eat, sleep and relate to others. There may be multiple religions in your ancestor’s village. Learn about the local religions, their moral codes, beliefs and history so you can better understand the make-up of your ancestor’s village.

Races – Did your ancestor live in a multi-cultural community? How did this affect their behaviour, their exposure to different foods, clothing and beliefs? How did they view others races? Did racism exist in their community? Did your ancestor live in a liberal community that embraced diversity?

Recreation – What did your ancestor do for fun? Did they play sports or other activities that were part of their daily life? Did they read? Play board games? Tell stories? How they spent their free time reflects their cultures and enriches your world building.

Where to Find World Building Details

A little research into the local and social history of your ancestor’s part of the world can help to reveal how some of these elements were a part of their world. Now by now means is this a complete list. You can find a much more extensive list in Authentic Ancestors. But it is a great representation that can help us push beyond the standard description of their surroundings, dig a little deeper to truly understand the world they were living in and build that world with confidence for your reader. Look at your library, online libraries, historical societies, genealogical centres, newspapers, letter and diaries and city directories to help you flesh out the setting and social history details.

Recently I spent some time on Amazon looking for local and social history books for my upcoming writing project. I found some great resources, but they shouldn’t take the place of visiting the archives and museums of the local areas that your ancestor lived. Don’t just use one resource but a variety to build your ancestor’s world.

Here are some of my recent discoveries on Amazon.

These first two are going to help me out a great deal with my upcoming project.

The Canadian Settler’s Guide

The Backwoods of Canada, (download to Kindle for .99)

I also stumbled upon this a series of books called A Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life, each book addresses a different time period. I thought they might come in handy for some of you.

Everyday Life in Colonial America

Everyday Life in the Middle Ages

Everyday Life in the 1800’s

Everyday Life in the Wild West

Everyday Life During the Civil War

Everyday Life in the 1800’s

Everyday Life from Prohibition through to World War II

Everyday Life in Renaissance England

( I do receive a small compensation from Amazon if you purchase through one of these links.)

Now, we’ve offered up lots of ideas. Of course, we don’t want to overdo it. We might have to pick and choose which details and descriptions best suit our story. It’s up to you to decide what will ultimately serve your story and reader. We can’t include it all, but it’s nice to know we have options. Take some time before you write to research and learn what setting options are available to you so that you can build your ancestor’s world with authenticity.

Watch for future instalments of My Summer of Setting and Social History. Come along with me on my travel and writing journey. Next: Creating a Setting and Social History Research List.