I had planned four Laura
Ingalls Wilder lessons for July, and then I was going to move on. However, my
plans, like my fiction writing, are flexible.
As I prepared last
month’s blog posts, I became interested in Laura’s first book, which was an
actual autobiography (not a fictionalized version) written for adults. The manuscript
was not published in either Laura’s or Rose’s lifetime, but it is now available
as Pioneer Girl: The Annotated
Autobiography edited (and annotated) by Pamela Smith Hill. I didn’t have
it, so I found it on Amazon and bought a copy.
Laura’s Pioneer Girl manuscript went through
several drafts, most of which contained Rose’s edits. To get as close to
Laura’s voice as possible, Hill used the original unedited draft and noted
where the changes occurred in subsequent versions. This manuscript apparently
became the master reference for Laura when writing the Little House books, so
Hill also noted the differences between Laura’s recollections of her life and
the fictionalized versions.
One issue hinted at in The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
and explicitly mentioned in the Pioneer
Girl annotations is the choice to cut out some incidents and details that
didn’t contribute to the fictional stories. Laura’s reluctance to cut some of these
details resonates with me because I have the same problem.
On the Banks of Plum Creek contains a scene where Laura plays on a
plank used as a bridge. The creek is swollen from the spring rains, and Laura is
almost swept away in the rushing waters. In real life, Ma was very sick and Laura
was trying to reach the neighbor on the other side of the stream to ask him to go
to town and telegraph for the doctor, who was 40 miles away. Why did the scene
get transformed? Here is part of the exchange of letters between Laura and
Rose, as quoted in note 66 on page 85 of the annotated Pioneer Girl.
“I am doubtful about Ma’s sickness,” Lane wrote her mother on
June 13, 1936. “It is such a wretched miserable time, and in that kind of nasty
grasshopper atmosphere, I think the grasshoppers are enough. I believe it would
be better to cut out Ma’s sickness altogether.” But, she added, “the part about
the creek is a pity to leave out.” Wilder, however, considered the entire
episode important. She wrote Lane, “I do think the picture of two little girls
doing what they did while Ma was sick and the fact that it was nothing for a Dr
to be 40 miles away and no auto, would make a great impression on children who
are so carefully doctored in schools and all.” [Internal cites omitted.]
In the end, Laura agreed
to cut Ma’s sickness from On the Banks of
Plum Creek.
When writing my
historical fiction, I often want to include details and events that I believe
my audience should learn about. Unfortunately, not all of them add to the
story, and some even detract from it. And Laura and I aren’t the only ones who
have struggled with this problem. I have read and critiqued other authors
dealing with the same issue.
It hurts me to cut
educational scenes that don’t add to the story, but I am getting better at it.
For the reader, the story comes first, and the writer needs to honor that.
That’s this week’s lesson
from Laura Ingalls Wilder.
__________
The photo shows the banks
of Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota. The sign marks the spot where the
Ingalls’ dugout was located. I took the picture in 2010.
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