Guest post written by author Tracey Enerson Wood
Tracey Enerson Wood is a retired registered nurse and published playwright whose family is steeped in military tradition. Her first novel, THE ENGINEER’S WIFE, is an international bestseller and The War Nurse releases on July 6th 2021 from Sourcebooks Landmark. You can find Tracy on Instagram and Twitter, as well as at her website.
I’m often asked where I get ideas for my books. And the answer is never a quick one.
Since my novels center on real women in history, who did amazing, yet unrecognized things, finding them is a matter of researching until I find the most inspiring and interesting persons, whose stories just demand to be told.
But as it is fiction, I get to make up the details of the story that are lost to history. The setting, the dialog, the emotions, all have to be created in a way that draws the reader in, and makes sense for the characters and plot.
Sometimes, I enjoy imagining a place I’ve never been. Do I smell smoke from a distant forest fire, or hear the drumbeats of a tribal dance? Does the raw wind chafe my cheeks, or is it damp and warm as a dish sponge? Do I hear raucous laughter from patrons tumbling out of a pub, or waves tinkling against an icy shore? Documentaries such as Netflix’s Night on Earth are very helpful for sight and sounds of places I’ve never been, and a trip to a specialty food store can provide a wealth input for the other senses.
Usually, scenes are developed from a combination of my own experiences, and ones I imagine. I choose scenes from my own life when there is something memorable about them, that is somehow connected to my characters’ experience, especially in a very emotional, or sensory way.
For example, in The War Nurse, Julie receives a gift of fragrant white lilacs. As she muses about why they are special to her, she reveals that as a child, she had the honor of placing a crown of lilacs on a statue of Mary, Mother of Jesus. This stemmed from my own childhood experience at a catholic school ceremony that had forever imprinted in me the powerful fragrance, as well as how it felt to be suddenly thrust in the spotlight.
Another example occurs in The Engineer’s Wife in a very emotional scene between Wash and Emily. They have reached a critical point in their marriage, and Wash needs to give Emily some rather disturbing news. I chose to set the scene in a fairly mundane place. This would help to ground the reader, so that they could focus on the emotional development of the characters. In this scene, Wash and Emily share an impromptu before-dawn breakfast.
Wash cooks Taylor Ham, a meat product that is both historically accurate for the time period and their location, but is still a beloved local favorite enjoyed by and hotly debated by many, like me, who grew up and/or live in the NY/NJ/Eastern PA area. In addition to providing my characters something superficial to talk about while they’re getting to the real conflict, putting the ham in the story was a little wink to my fellow Tri-staters, and our nostalgia for its special foods and traditions.
As I research historical women in order to settle on my next heroine, I think about the environment she lived in. Do I have something in my own life experience that will add to the depth of the world I will build for her? Did our paths cross, merely separated by time? Perhaps they lost a loved one in a way that I can empathize with, or faced a physical or emotional challenge to which I can relate.
Adding in personally experienced details does not replace the creativity of imagined ones. They add depth and a sense of reality that enriches the reader’s experience.
