Story lines and research

The thing I like most about research is the story ideas it generates.

I had initially decided that Nancy's father did sign up to join the forces in WW2 and it was a couple of years after the war when the story begins. That part of the problem between he and his wife was that she had tasted independence during the war and she liked it. She didn’t like having to go back into the role society had deemed appropriate for her and she resented it. But thinking about this story line now, it’s looking a tad cliché’.

So I started wondering how realistic it was for him to not to have signed up at all. I knew that initially men would volunteer, but I wasn't sure if there was conscription as the war progressed. So it was back to the library.

I found that there was conscription when Australia was under threat by the Japanese, but up until then it was signing up was voluntary. And during the conscription phase of the war you a man could still get out of it if you were a conscientious objector. Interestingly, officially you could still be forced to serve in the military in a non-combative role or assigned to work under civilian control, but due to the administration problems involved in managing this and because the number of men doing this were so low, it wasn’t really enforced.

A whole new story idea came from this information.

I could change the time of year my story begins. Again. But if I do change it to Anzac day it won’t fit in the Nancy having been to the show if I set the novel in Victoria. Wrong time of year. And it is important to the story lines in the second part of the book that she has recently been to the show.

But if I have the father getting out of going into military service because of a conscientious objection and having him getting called into non-combative service, it open’s up a completely different aspect to the dynamic between the mother and father.

Because of the conventions of the day around girls that get themselves pregnant out of wedlock, the story could instead begin with Nancy’s mother finding herself 5 years into a marriage with a coward and a liar.

This way the father is more complex and there would be more intensity in the conflict that sets off the argument between he and his wife that is the catalyst of the story. It also has the added bonus of making it easier for me to show more about his character quite quickly.

I really wanted to use the Royal Show in either Sydney or Melbourne because it is links in to the second part of the book. If I set the book in Sydney instead of Melbourne it is easier to establish the father’s character quickly and show the information I want to give about him rather than tell it. The Anzac motif also opens up other potential story lines in the second part of the book.

But if I use Anzac day and the show it doesn't fit in with my decision to set the story in Melbourne instead of Sydney, thus making it easier for me to research. Decisions. Decisions.

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