PORT TOWNSEND — There are several differences between writing a biography and a historical novel, according to the author of The Forest Lover, who had a series of successes in the latter category.
“A biography begins and ends with birth and death,” Susan Vreeland told about 175 people Thursday night.
“With historical fiction, you can write about what the characters are feeling during that particular time, which is something that a biographer cannot do.”
Vreeland’s appearance was the final act of the Port Townsend Library’s 2011 Community Read, which featured her book, The Forest Lover, a dramatization of the life of Canadian painter Emily Carr, who lived from 1871 to 1945.
Thursday’s presentation followed several weeks of public events and presentations meant to bring the town together in a singular literary experience.
Vreeland spent most of the hour discussing the 2004 book and how it developed, also touching on her writing process.
“There is something that is bigger than facts: the underlying spirit, all it stands for, the mood and the vastness,” Vreeland said.
Vreeland said historical novels are thematically based, and biographies rarely are.
The Forest Lover’s theme had to do with Carr’s affection for place.
“Can love for a place be a substitute for romance or a more human love?” Vreeland asked.
“It took me years to find this theme. If I had identified it earlier, I would have finished the book much earlier.”
Vreeland admitted to “making a lot of stuff up” but said there were boundaries.
“I do not change history,” she said.
“I can put words into a character’s mouth if they fit with what I have learned about that character, but I will not change his attitudes or change his situation.
“I will invent where it is needed to develop the theme as long as it does not distort the truth.”
She said she will not change a character’s gender, but such a “re-assignment” occurred in a television movie when actress Glenn Close wanted to play a character in Vreeland’s The Girl in Hyacinth Blue that was written to be a man.
During a discussion about her writing habits, Vreeland grew animated, waving her hands as if she were moving parts of the story around in the air.
“Here is Chapter 1, and it has holes in it, and I try to fill those holes,” she said.
“Then, I go over Chapter 2 and the same thing, but maybe something in Chapter 2 belongs in Chapter 1, so I pull it out and put it there.”
She gestures to match her words.
“Did you ever play with a slinky when you were young, and you stretch it out and it goes like this?”
After Vreeland’s presentation, Theresa Percy, the library’s executive director, deemed this year’s program a success.
“It created a lot of buzz,” she said.
“It helped connect the library to the community and gives us a presence, which makes a lot of sense because it is all about literacy and getting people to join the discussion who normally wouldn’t participate.”
________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.