Sagas and Saga Writing

1. What is a saga? In today’s fiction market a saga is part of the larger romantic genre. A saga is a family story, usually set some time in the past and focussing on several characters from the same or contrasting extended family and following their ups and downs over many years - possibly down several generations. Nowadays, the regional saga, homing in on a particular geographical region in the UK, is very popular.

2. What is the common length of a saga? 100,000 words and upwards. This length is to accommodate the various storylines that a saga plot usually encompasses. Anything over 150,000 words may become harder to sell, because of printing and paper costs. Usually, sagas are between 110,000 - 130,000 words in length.

3. What kind of viewpoints within a saga? Usually third person plural, often with a woman, or several women, as the main and ‘leading’ protagonists. Writers have written sagas from single third person viewpoint and from first person, but the third person plural, where the reader can enter the heads and thoughts of many characters, remains popular. Usually only the main characters’ viewpoints are explored - perhaps no more than 6 or 8. After that, readers tend to become confused and the story can lose power since the readers aren’t sure who are the main characters with whom they are expected to follow.

4. Time periods when sagas are set. ‘Period’ settings were and remain very popular - I.e. Victorian, Edwardian and World War I. These time frames have been done a lot, so it might be more difficult for a new writer to break into the saga market with those time periods. More recent time settings - WWII, 1950s, even 1960s are becoming popular.
If you want a good example of strong regional sagas based around WWII, take a look at Freda Lightfoot’s sagas. Freda specialises in regional settings, unusual occupations for her heroines and times of strife before, during and after WWII, when many women worked in jobs that had been previously done almost exclusively by men. This scenario and the time period gives Freda lots of scope for trouble and strife. In her novel ‘Gracie‘s Sin,’ she looks at women in WWII who worked in forestry land, doing what had been men’s work.
Freda researches her novels by talking to the women who worked in either the mills, or the timber areas, or whatever job her fictional characters have to do. From these talks she gains insight and the telling detail that she can thread into her work. Sometimes she is given photographs to borrow or keep. In the case of her novel ‘Gracie’s Sin,’ she was given a photo of a group of timber girls that appeared as part of the cover art of the novel.

Freda Lightfoot has a website at www.fredalightfoot.co.uk
Audrey Howard is another excellent saga writer, as are Benita Brown and Harry Bowling. Harry Bowling wrote London West End sagas full of strong, immediate settings and speech - not so much as to be impenetrable to those not from London, but enough to give a flavour. Cynthia Harrod-Eagles has written a long series of novels covering the fortunes of a particular family, (The Morland Dynasty) down from the middle ages to the present day. These are richly plotted novels that are excellent examples of the saga - the more ‘aristocratic’ type of saga. Cynthia has a website at www.twbooks.co.uk/authors/cheagles.html

For the outer reaches of the saga, and how you can adapt and extend the genre, take a look at Philippa Gregory’s ‘Wideacre’ trilogy. The first book ‘Wideacre’ has a wonderful Scarlet O’Hara ambiguous type heroine. The second novel, ‘The Favoured Child’ has many of the family elements of a saga - concern with family property, inheritance, birth-rights, family survival, births, marriages deaths - with a heroine who experiences an almost mystical union with the land that is her family’s. ‘Meridon’ completes the trilogy.

5. Conventions in sagas. These conventions have been done over and over and reappear, so if you are thinking of writing a saga you will need to apply them in a fresh way, find ways of writing about them in a fresh way.

1. Working class, lower middle class protagonists are common as the heroes and heroines of sagas, especially the regional saga. This helps reader identification. There is also an aspirational element in many sagas, where a working class hero or heroine struggles against overwhelming odds and privilege to win though. There may also be a clash of classes - working class verses upper, or perhaps working class and upper fall in love and are forbidden to see each other.

2. The heroine who is or who becomes her own woman, who develops and grows through the novel. She may have ideals from the start of come to have them. She may wish to excel ‘out of the box’ - that is, what is expected of her because of her class, or age, or experience.

3. The hero may have a similar story arc as the heroine (above) and he learns to appreciate the heroine. The brooding Heathcliffe-style hero is less popular now than in the past.

4. Characters who suffer, who learn, who are set back but usually ultimately win through. Villains may get their comeuppance.

5. Plot threads that go down through generations. A family secret. Revenge and counter-revenge. Forbidden love. Events that impact down generations. Enmity coming down generations. People living in the past and affecting the futures of themselves and their family members.

6. Heroine or hero or both may be wounded in some way - physically or psychologically - and the novel shows their healing, coming to terms. Other wounded characters within the saga may grow or diminish.

7. A ‘mirroring’ of stories down the generations - the 3 women thing, working either down the generations or as contrasting or mirroring characters all at the same time. 3 sisters. 3 cousins. 3 friends in the same street.

8. Suffering and set backs. Struggle against great odds. Grinding poverty. The good-heartedness or narrowness of other family members or neighbours.

9. Family ties and pressures - marriages, births, deaths. Whole lifetimes. Multiple subplots. A richness that readers can enjoy. Several key characters and their stories.

10. Various Cinderella type themes for both sexes. The plain girl in a society household who is made to feel useless and excluded. The young woman who wants to be a doctor when only nursing was considered acceptable for women. The man who wants to succeed in a world where privilege is considered essential. In sagas, the reader sees their struggles impact not only on themselves but on the larger family unit.

11. ‘Family’ can be thought of as extended family, or people who regard themselves as family - not just simple blood ties.


These are only guidelines and certainly not set in stone! If you want to learn more, have a look at the new blog group, Historical Saga Novels, http://historicalsaganovels.blogspot.com/ There are many wonderful writers of this rich and varied genre.

A new release

On the 7th of August, Wild Rose Press will release “Kindertransport”.
This is a poignant story-taking place in pre war Nazi Germany.



Nurse Erika Lehmier cares for the children housed at Grafeneck Castle as though they were her own. When the SS confiscates Grafeneck, Erika discovers plans to turn the castle into a treatment center that will end the lives of children with disabilities.



One of her children, Heidi, has no visible handicap, and thereby has a small chance to escape the Nazi destruction, but for the rest, Erika must find a way to escape—or face the heartbreaking decision to give them a peaceful death by her own hand.



Will she find a way out?

Can she trust Rickard, when he wears an SS uniform?

A Break from the Blog

Hi everyone, it's my turn to blog today but my mother passed away yesterday. I'm taking the week off from writing and blogging.
Take care, Susan

'Now and then': making the past seem present

How to create a living past in a historical or contemporary romance is always a challenge for me. We all live both 'in the moment' and in the past of our memories and experiences, and in my writing I aim to transport my readers to another past, whether that past is recent or long ago.

This is what I do to aid the rebuilding of the past, and what I would suggest is useful.

1. Read the contemporary accounts of the period: sagas, chronicles, Books of Hours, histories, autobiographies, biographies, newspapers. magazines, letters, local histories, children's books. Absorb the style of the language used so that you can 'echo' it in your work - not always as a direct recreation, more a flavour. Note the popular expressions, the slang, the attitudes. Then you can have your characters speak some of the slang and reflect some of the attitudes.

If available, you can also look at films of the time, radio and TV broadcasts, postcards, photographs and the messages scribbled on the backs of photographs. Again note the rhythms and kind of speech, the attitudes and beliefs, the fashions and settings. Your local history library may have an oral sound archive or local history archives. You can go there to listen and to look. Street names can be treasure troves of history and evocative in themselves. Keep an eye out for them and use them if you can.

2. If writing about the recent past, talk to those who lived through it. Ask them specific questions. What was X like? What was it like, working and living then? How did people feel? What do they remember? Again, the local archives and newspapers may be a fund of information for you.

3. Use language in the straight narrative of your fiction that does not date - unless you are attempting an entire re-creation of a period by using the language of the period. In speech you can use the slang of the time, or what you feel could be the appropriate slang of the time. Georgette Heyer did this in her Regency historical romances: she devised what she felt could pass as expressions of the time, thereby adding intimacy and immediacy to her work.

4. If writing about more distant times, be careful of using a lot of olde-worlde expressions that may actually 'break the spell' of your now-past. You can suggest a present-past by putting in occasional expressions that imply a flavour of the time. Also your characters can reflect certain common attitudes of a period via their thoughts, actions and speech.

5. People have not changed so much yet in 35000 years. We still feel the same emotions: love, hate, fear, passion. The more you create living characters, the more you will transport your reader with them into the world of their sorrows, fears, hopes, dreams, wishes, aims and loves.

6. Put the reader into the past with you. Let them savour the flavours, music, passions, fashions, the main ideas and ideals of the time. Thread in these references. If some are difficult and offensive to present day audiences, then perhaps you can places such ideas in the minds and mouths of your secondary characters, or of your main characters if you can make your lead characters compelling and appealing in other ways. Have your characters humming a popular song, or drinking frothy coffee, or eating fondue or their first prawn cocktail. Seize upon those items, songs, fashions, flavours, that tend to 'sum up' a period for present-day readers. Make it personal, too - allow the reader to feel with the character how a mini-skirt feels, how constricting a corset is, how heavy and hot a suit of armour. Always show and give the reader the experience of being and living in your 'now' past.

Ny first publication

My first publication:

I wish it were as simple as putting pen to paper and creating a masterpiece of literature.
I joined Romance Writers of America three years ago and quickly learned there was a lot to learn. Our chapter was invaluable with the workshops and business meetings. Our guest speakers shed light on different aspects of the craft and made the writing better.
The chapter members themselves are a constant source of support. I had a head bursting with story ideas and worked on about four projects at one time. I decided I had to commit to a manuscript, see it to “the end” and get with my critique partner.

The story facts are researched. Is there a murder? Brush up on police procedure. Is your heroine in bank security? Learn her job. Details make the story believable and put the reader in the characters shoes, experiencing what they experience.
The idea for my story came at a random moment. I read about a man asking if the Kindertransport could be included in a holocaust memorial, and he was told “I never heard of you.” this piqued my interest. I read more about the transport and researching led me to Grafeneck castle. An interesting place with its own a history. My story would take place in pre war Nazi Germany.

I knew my heroine right away. A nurse brought up to be compassionate. An innocent girl tossed into a circumstance beyond her control. Her faith challenged, she had to make a choice. Erika Lehmier learns Grafeneck castle is going to be changed from a monastery housing handicapped children to a killing center bent on destroying “useless eaters.”

My hero was more elusive at first. I thought American right away but the historical timeline wasn’t right. The story is set in 1939. American involvement wouldn’t happen for another two years. British? Possible but the last transport happened before the war started. My hero needed to be home grown. Nazi’s aren’t generally romantic heroes but what if he had an agenda? My decision to keep the story first person kept us out of our hero’s head but kept the heroine always wondering about him.

There were some challenges in writing about a place I had never been during a time before I was born. I interviewed a couple of war brides and read “Inside Nazi Germany.” to find out what life was like for the average person in 1939.

The word “honey” was never used in Europe. This term of endearment was an American import adopted by Europeans during the war. Being a southern girl, it was very difficult not to use the word. Of course, American slang and culture based expressions had to go. Germans are not “off base” nor do they “drop the ball” when they make a mistake. No Americanisms allowed. You don’t realize how often you use colloquialism until you have to go back and delete them all from a 300-page manuscript.

I wrote, rewrote, and reworked the story over again before I submitted. After torturing my critique partner, and a thousand rewrites, I was ready to submit my manuscript. I worked on my query letter and synopsis, and then I submitted. I got a very nice rejection recommending changes to make and a request to resubmit. I followed her instructions and resubmitted, it was then accepted.

I got to work with an editor and spent more time “fluffing and folding” until the manuscript was ready for print.
The book cover is beautiful. Grafeneck castle is seen in the background while the edelweiss flower is in the foreground, a faded swastika behind it. The symbolism of the edelweiss flower dominating a fading swastika: pure love’s domination over evil. Nicola Martinez is a wonderful artist.

Kindertransport is released on August the seventh from Wild Rose Press.

Ideas

I was talking with a bunch of teenagers and the subject came up about how I keep track of my ideas for stories, or ideas for the story I'm currently working on. When I got home I began to wonder how many other authors have the same type of system I do?

1.) I have a few notebook strategically placed around the house, the biggest right beside my bed.
2.) I have a dry erase board in my office, but that is mainly my writing schedule( or what I wish it was).
3.) I'm working on two series that I'm working on. For these I have a poster board with sectioned by story and any important details listed under the right one.
4.) Whenever I come up with an interesting idea I jot it down, who knows when it might come in handy.

How many of you other authors out there have similar process for recording you random ideas?

Writing to Fit the Genre

During a recent interview I was asked how I’m able to write both romances and mysteries. My first thought…writing is writing. Write in one genre and you can easily write in another. However, the next time I sat down to work on my WIP, I realized that’s not 100% true. Each genre has its own set of rules and ‘standards’. Knowing what the standards is essential if you want to sell in a particular genre. So how do you do just that?

Read
This might sound like something you already know or do, but read as many books in your genre of choice before you sit down to write one. Not only will you get a feel for the backbones of the genre but you’ll soon figure out what type of book you’d like to write. I’ll use mysteries and romances as examples.

Mysteries-do you like legal dramas or perhaps you’re hooked on books featuring an amateur sleuth.

Romances-are you a fan of romantic suspense or do you get whisked away to another time with historicals? And if you’re a fan of category romances, think about what line you’d like to write for. Is it Silhouette Romantic Suspense or maybe a sexy Harlequin Blaze?

Take Notes
The first time you read the book, do it just for pure reading pleasure. Then read it again with a notebook handy. Jot down notes about the hero/heroine, conflict, etc. then read a second book, making notes of any similarities to the first one. Do you see any pattern forming? While the stories are obviously very different, each genre has certain things readers and yes, publishers have come to expect.

Mysteries-a crime is committed. There’s a cast of suspects and a sleuth. And, yes, a few red herrings. In the end the guilty person is caught and hopefully punished for their crime.

Romance-there’s a heroine the reader can identify with and live vicariously through. A hero who both the heroine and reader can fall in love with. A conflict that keeps them apart and an issue they have to work out. Sexual tension is a must. How about that first kiss? And depending on the line or publisher, the first time the couple make love. And let’s not forget the happy ending.

Choose Favorites
Who are the genre’s bestsellers?
Pick up some books written by them and learn from the masters.Try and figure out what makes this particular writer so popular with their readers? Is it because each chapter is more suspenseful than the next? Is it because the author takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride?

Some Publishers Make It Easier Than the Rest
Some publishers give us clues about what their ‘standards’ are. If a publisher offers guidelines, read them through until you know them by heart. Do they have a rigid word count? What type of plots are they looking for? What type of plots aren’t they looking for?

Writing to fit a genre can be the key to making your first or next sale.

Susan Palmquist is the author of three published novels and the upcoming paranormal romance, Sleeping with Fairies that will be published by Lyrical Press later this summer. You can check out her interviews with writers, editors and publishers at her monthly blog at Between the Lines www.blog.lyndacoker.net. And learn more about Susan and her work at www.susanpalmquist.com