The Compromise: An American Novel
Author's log of writing The Compromise
Image: “Paddle-steamer in a Storm” c. 1840 J.M.W. Turner. [PD] via Wikimedia commons The first phase of writing a novel is like preparing to set sail on a voyage around the world and asking what to bring, what to discard, and what can be found along the way. Will it be dangerous, exciting and life-changing,…
Will the protagonist defeat or overcome her shadow-side antagonist or do we have a braided narrative in which each has her inner shadow and each finds her way to adult consciousness?
The only way I know to write is to pay very close attention, to write experiences which imply and do not state. This is, of course, to show and not tell. It may seem to come from the words, but an underground network is far better. The novel aspires to be, therefore, a Socratic novel. Is this possible? Can we cope with not knowing? Do we know that we know nothing?
Willing yet not so surefooted, I write through rocks and brambles towards what is concealed. It is a descent into what is often hidden in American history, theft and degradation. This is the reality of history, but fiction can thread human experience with alternative truths.
A library encases cultural bounty that may change the direction of our lives. Scenes of The Compromise which are set in the Abolitionist Library attempt to show that learning is constructive and generates consciousness. Ideals are tested and remade. It enables an understanding of relationships, social identities, political values, and spirituality. These affordances, the story aspires to say, come to each of us through generations of cultural knowledge and broad societal work to provide the conditions for learning. Not all of us are educators, but not one of us is excluded from the responsibility of securing these for others. Several characters take form in these scenes: a wealthy benefactor, mentors, activists, teachers, and teachers-to-be, including those who call the learner to aspire, persist, and resist.
The story of a young enslaved man maturing with conflicting loyalties parallels the nation’s story of slavery and abolition.
This cold morning, I am grateful to the midwife who worked in Rigby, Idaho in the winter of 1916. My father, A. Ray Tolman was born into a Mormon enclave in a house with no electricity. My grandmother told stories of how the warm water beside her birthing bed steamed and then froze in the sub-zero temperature. Their stories were framed by children, seasons, and weather conditions. I do the same as I write The Compromise: An American Novel.
Something comes first in a coming-of-age novel. Like a living thing, it is only small and simple for a moment. It expands and grows more complex with each word. Writing has been an exquisite task, such that I might wish drafting to never end. Revising the opening yet again, has reinforced the mind’s nonlinear capacities….
Otis is enslaved, a shadow to those who enslave him. What constrains him and what finally lets him step out of that shadow? What identity does he step into? What if his enslavers are also his family living across the deepest divides? Here I explore the shape of his character as revealed in the opening of the novel.
Reading, we leap away from monotonous daily events to explore the exceptional, those events that we know will come but don’t know when or how. There is much social and psychological responsibility associated with that. Ten to fifteen hours of a reader’s attention is precious.