Word Out 2014

We are so lucky to have a post from Caroline Pignat the author of the novel "Unspeakable" discussing her creative and writing process, enjoy!

Discovering Story

Caroline Pignat

People often ask me where I come up with my ideas, but writing historical fiction feels more like a an archaeological dig than an invention. The stories are there — in our past — just waiting to be discovered. You don’t have to look long or hard to find an amazing fact. A little sifting always unearths a skeleton of a story. Something that makes you stop and say — wow! Something you want to tell others — hey guys, did you know this?

 As a little kid, I loved the dinosaur museum. It amazed me how they could pull together the bones of a T-rex so that I could see its size and shape and imagine what it must have really been like back then.

 History Museums do that too. They may miss a few pieces or details, just like any archaeological find might, but what they’ve pulled together, what they’ve preserved, and recreated for us are the bare bones of an amazing story so that we can imagine what it must have been like. Whether it’s a war or a famine or a sailing or a sinking, someone lived through that event — or died because of it. Someone sat in that chair or wore that cap. Someone wrote in that diary. Someone walked in those boots. Where were they going? Did they ever get there?

 The Museum of Canadian History, right across the Ottawa River from Parliament, has a fantastic exhibit on the Empress of Ireland. They created it to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking on May 29, 1914. You can’t walk through that exhibit without being affected by the thousand stories it holds. Of people that perished. Of those who survived. Passengers. Crew. Men, women, and children. Each one had a story.

 The artifact that moved me most was the porthole. Its glass was cracked. It seemed so small. Had someone escaped through it? Had someone tried… and failed?

 As I researched Unspeakable, I learned more and more about the fate ofThe Empress of Ireland — how it collided with another ship in the foggy St. Lawrence; how the water gushed in the hole and open portholes causing it to sink in fourteen minutes taking 1,012 souls along with it. I read survivor accounts of people escaping through the portholes as the ship lay on its side moments before it was completely submerged.

 Imagine that. Trapped in a sinking ship. Climbing up to a small round window overhead, hoping you’ll reach it before it sinks forever. That one fact drew me in to the story and I imagined how that night must have been. I put myself there with my family. What would I have done? How would I have felt? What if I got through — but my husband couldn’t fit? That’s where fact becomes fiction. But, more than that, I think that’s where empathy lives.

We are so lucky to have so many fantastic museums in Canada. Think about the ones you’ve visited, the amazing exhibits you’ve seen. Which ones affected you? Which ones moved you? What intriguing item or fascinating fact stayed with you long after you left?

 Learn. Imagine… and then write. But, above all, remember. Always remember those stories.

And then pass them on.

Visit the Canadian Museum of History’s website for more information on The Empress of Ir eland — Canada’s Titanic.

http://www.historymuseum.ca/empress

Visit Caroline’s website for more photos and information on her novels and research

http://www.carolinepignat.com/unspeakable-research.html

With special thanks to Caroline for taking the time to write this essay.