Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Photo-A-Day: July

"Character is story." --Elizabeth George

July's photo-a-day project came with a twist, an historical twist that is. My WIP, a middle-grade historical fiction, is set in mid-1800s Ohio. The challenge? Step back in time and attempt to capture images of things my character might have seen, smelled, tasted, touched, or heard. Such an exercise held out the promise of getting to know my character better.

And help bring her to life...

"It takes a long time (to write YA)...I have to let the characters live inside my head awhile. You have to know what's on your character's walls and what's in their closet--even if you're not going to use that in your book. It's a way of bringing your characters to life before they're on paper." --Paula Danzinger

"When characters are really alive, before their author, the latter does nothing but follow them in action." --Luigi Pirandello

"Once we have begun it, we continue reading a novel largely because we care about what happens to the characters. But for us actually to care about these actors in the drama on those printed pages, they must become real people to us. An event alone cannot hold a story together. Nor can a series of events. Only characters effecting events and events effecting characters can do that." --Elizabeth George, Write Away

So without further ado, here's July's photo gallery, sample images of what a young girl might have encountered in a similar month 150 years ago--except that they were captured through the lens of a 21st century camera!
Of course I'd loved to have snapped a slew of others. A mule for instance. A hand-crafted checkerboard. A pontoon bridge and a hollyhock doll or two. But I'll leave that for the imagination--and the finished book :-)

Enjoy.
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11 comments:

  1. Love the photos! Some things are just timeless. :) Thanks for sharing inspiration through the quotes.

    Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks, Karen :-) Wishing you a great week back!

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  2. What a wonderful idea. I think I'll steal it. ;) My new book takes place somewhere around 1916-1925. I can certainly look for timeless images, as well as pulling historical images off the web.

    Great pictures!

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    1. Cathy--I think you'd like doing this. It's challenging but quite rewarding. Good luck on your new project :-)

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    1. Thanks, Suzan. Can't compare to your work, but I have learned a lot from you! Miss you...

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    1. Thanks so much, Rachna. And thanks for stopping by and taking a look :-)

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  5. What a fantastic idea to try! It's inspirational.

    ~Debbie

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  6. Your photos made me smile. I love how these simple things bridge the present and the past! Your story will have such a personal touch!

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  7. I love these photos! The middle grade I'm querying now takes place in 1860 :)

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