I often wish I could talk with Lottie. I’d show her the timeline I put together of her life, and ask her what emotions and motives drove her from one dot on the line to the next.
What to do with questions that research can’t answer?
Last month’s newsletter was all about Ann and Claiborne Scott, slaves who worked at Lottie’s first school away from home, called Hollins College today. Discovering their true story and embedding it into my novel was a thrilling experience. I felt so grateful to include their story that was rooted in historical facts.
But what about the parts of the novel that aren’t anchored in a historical fact? This book isn’t a biography that tells what Lottie did and what happened next. It’s a novel. It’s supposed to bring her timeline to life. But some things aren't recorded, as far as my digging has revealed. Some things are beyond reach simply due to the distance between Lottie’s time alive on earth and mine.
For the questions whose answers are buried with their eye witnesses, I pull from my own life’s experiences and observations, and I pray to our shared God who best knew Lottie and now knows me. While writing Lottie’s story, sometimes it feels like it has become our story.
When my story blends with Lottie’s
Here’s one example of when I had questions that my research couldn’t completely answer. No spoilers this month! I got some valuable feedback about that and will henceforth try not to spoil any plot lines in this newsletter.
I had been staring at my laptop screen for an hour and a half, gathering facts to keep Lottie’s timeline straight, filling it up with as many facts as I could find. Specifically, I was trying to answer these questions:
What sermon did John Broadus preach the night Lottie got saved?
Why did she want to suddenly follow Jesus after 18 years of rebellion?
I found records saying Broadus was an engaging preacher, and I even found a collection of his sermons (many thanks to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s collection!), but I couldn’t find the sermon that Lottie heard the night she got saved. This was supposed to be an important scene. There was no way to get it exactly right, but I didn’t want to get it horribly wrong. Without knowing what happened, it was difficult to connect the dots with what Lottie was feeling and thinking. I was getting frustrated and stressed because who wants to read a novel where the main character doesn’t express any feelings or thoughts?
That writing session ended there because my baby needed a nap, and it was my turn. I rocked her in my arms, singing a tune from Matthew 6:33 (“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”) as she fell asleep with a belly full of milk. Instead of setting her down in her crib, I kept her with me, admiring how when she’s sleeping, her round face looked more like the little baby she was months ago, not the near-toddler she was at the time. I rocked her back and forth while she slept. No phone. No book. Nothing to pass the time.
After 30 minutes of being “stuck” with my daughter, without any screens or even a notepad, I had imagined the next chapter and decided how I’ll write about Lottie's conversion moment.
Some of the best writing advice I’ve received is different versions of – Sit down and do the work, write. Maybe that’s what I was doing in my head while rocking my baby. But I think it’s also good writing advice to step away from the screen or the notepad for a walk, a snack, or sit in a quiet nursery for a while to think and dream.
I thought about my own experiences of striving to do the right thing but then still not being in control what happened to me or around me. I thought about the recently aired season finale of The Chosen season 2 where Jesus talked about the beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I thought about one of the earliest memories I have of coming to Jesus for peace when I put a lot of pressure on myself. I imagined that Lottie felt a lot of pressure too as a high performer with goals. I imagined that Jesus, the source and giver of peace, was probably attractive to her. And then it all came together.
When I meet Lottie Moon in heaven one day, I’ll ask her how it really happened, and she can set the story straight. For now, the version of the story is a mixture of what I’ve lived and what I know about her life.
If you write historical fiction, how does your own story inform the one you’re writing?
Also, if you’re into apps, Substack has a new app! 👇 So now you can read these newsletters on your smartphone a bit easier.
Thanks for reading all the way to the end!! 👏
Til next month,
Emily
It is good that there is still interest in Charlotte Diggs Moon aka "Lottie" . Her sister , I think , was as good if not a better person (my opinion). Oriana was the first woman doctor of the in the CSA. She went back home to raise the kids and did not remain in the war as a surgeon.
Lottie Moon is my 3rd great Aunt. Oriana is my 3rd great grandmother. I have lots on material of Lottie. My Mom was named after her. My Mom and her Mother used to do lectures on Lottie. And I lived in Crewe Virginia & I have her Urn. And other items.
I would enjoy to share more if you wish.