So, Are You Interested?

While I, myself, know I have a great interest in the events that took place during the 1704 Deerfield Massacre, I was unsure of how the topic would be of interest to potential readers and/or publishers.

However, after looking at the comments on the order page for the Captive Histories book, I saw comments such as the one below.

This encouraged me to see that there are indeed audiences with interest, not only in the raid itself, but in Eunice Williams; whom I previously stated I would like to follow in my narrative.

I am also aware that non-fiction stories are growing in popularity with contemporary audiences and therefore, should be of interest to publishers.

In my research, I discovered a couple of books already on the topic; however, besides the ones written by captives themselves, most are fiction stories. Mercy by Caroline B. Cooney is based on a real person called Mercy Carter, who was also a captive that decided to stay just like Eunice. Mercy is a piece of fiction and therefore, many events have been fabricated with very little fact actually present in the book.

While works of fiction, these books give me hope that my story will be of interest to audiences and publishers alike, possibly even more so, as the added feature of being a true story could potentially engage people even more.

Problems, Problems, and Just More Problems!

My biggest issue with the Deerfield Massacre, as a non-fiction story, is the lack of dialogue. While I can find plenty of information from many different sources, a lot of my dialogue will be coming solely from Reverend John Williams in The Redeemed Captive.

To try and solve this problem, I looked online in an attempt to find any other records which may include quotes from other captors, and I was able to find mention of a book. Captive Histories: English, French and Native Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid (Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History & the Contemporary) of which is said to “draw together an unusually rich body of original sources that tell the story of the 1704 French and Indian attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, from different vantage points.” as well as letters between the captives.

While this book should be very helpful, there are no online copies, nor can I find it in any local libraries. I was therefore forced to order the book but it has not yet arrived. This could prove difficult if it doesn’t arrive with enough time for me to analyse dialogue, and comparing captive stories to try and work out the truth.

Gutkind said, ‘Libel law requires writers to be certain that what they write is true.’ But in a slight contradiction, he added, ‘By contrast, you can pretty much say what you want about dead people.’ Which makes me believe that, as long as I state I am writing with presumption instead of solid fact, I can write as I wish.