The Devil You Knew
Apr. 3rd, 2012 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madwriterThis chapter is a constant reminder of why I love living in the Internet Age. I know I've said this here before, but it still pleases me to no end: The storyline, about the Franciscan friars among the Hopis in 17th century Arizona, would have been nearly impossible for me to write with much historical accuracy two decades ago, when my sources would have been limited almost exclusively to my local (Virginia) library and the occasional interlibrary loan. Now thanks to the Web I have access to all kinds of historical documents and secondary sources that I need, including English translations of the friars' journals and letters, making the chapter much richer than would have been otherwise.
Today proved this all over again. I wrote 600 words, and though I had time to write more, I didn't mainly because I ran across a whole ream of new information that I could incorporate into the story, and I needed to do some mental rewriting. I don't mind this at all, not only since it will help make for a better story, but (and this is always appreciated) it came when I needed it instead of somewhere down the road, when I'd have to go back and rewrite.
The source of all this new info was a single database search on one name, a historical figure in mid-17th century Arizona: Salvador de Guerra, best known in Southwestern U.S. circles as a friar who burned one of the Hopi to death for "worshiping idols" in 1655. (In fact the rumor at the time was that the victim knew too much about an affair the friar was having with one of the Hopi women, and this was the way Guerra silenced him.)
Of course I know that this means that I'll also be held to a much higher standard of historical accuracy, but I'm pretty certain that I'm getting the better end of the deal.
PROGRESS REPORT
New Words: 600 on Chapter 5 ("Spirit, Faith, and Reason") of Arizona. The friars who succeeded in ousting Miguel find that they don't like his replacement any better.
Total Words: 97700.
Reason For Stopping: An embarrassment of riches.
Book Year: 1651.
Mammalian Assistance: Vegas guarded his box pile while Nugget guarded my lap.
Exercise: Walking down to campus.
Stimulants: None.
Submissions Sent Out In March: 1.
Submissions Out Right Now: 5, including one I just realized has been out for a year as of this month.
Today's Opening Passage: Miguel’s replacement, Fray Salvador de Guerra, was initially a disappointment to the friars who were hoping for someone more lenient about all things done in the name of glorifying the church. Adopting his predecessors’ habit of meeting with them in San Bernadino’s walled courtyard, their first gathering in the summer of 1651 saw that tranquil garden shake with the drumbeats of his righteous anger.
Darling Du Jour: Nothing leaps out at me.
Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: More; re-reading chapters of Stephen Baxter's Evolution; Hypatia - Her Life and Times by Faith L. Justice.
Today proved this all over again. I wrote 600 words, and though I had time to write more, I didn't mainly because I ran across a whole ream of new information that I could incorporate into the story, and I needed to do some mental rewriting. I don't mind this at all, not only since it will help make for a better story, but (and this is always appreciated) it came when I needed it instead of somewhere down the road, when I'd have to go back and rewrite.
The source of all this new info was a single database search on one name, a historical figure in mid-17th century Arizona: Salvador de Guerra, best known in Southwestern U.S. circles as a friar who burned one of the Hopi to death for "worshiping idols" in 1655. (In fact the rumor at the time was that the victim knew too much about an affair the friar was having with one of the Hopi women, and this was the way Guerra silenced him.)
Of course I know that this means that I'll also be held to a much higher standard of historical accuracy, but I'm pretty certain that I'm getting the better end of the deal.
New Words: 600 on Chapter 5 ("Spirit, Faith, and Reason") of Arizona. The friars who succeeded in ousting Miguel find that they don't like his replacement any better.
Total Words: 97700.
Reason For Stopping: An embarrassment of riches.
Book Year: 1651.
Mammalian Assistance: Vegas guarded his box pile while Nugget guarded my lap.
Exercise: Walking down to campus.
Stimulants: None.
Submissions Sent Out In March: 1.
Submissions Out Right Now: 5, including one I just realized has been out for a year as of this month.
Today's Opening Passage: Miguel’s replacement, Fray Salvador de Guerra, was initially a disappointment to the friars who were hoping for someone more lenient about all things done in the name of glorifying the church. Adopting his predecessors’ habit of meeting with them in San Bernadino’s walled courtyard, their first gathering in the summer of 1651 saw that tranquil garden shake with the drumbeats of his righteous anger.
Darling Du Jour: Nothing leaps out at me.
Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: More; re-reading chapters of Stephen Baxter's Evolution; Hypatia - Her Life and Times by Faith L. Justice.
