Ramblings-n-Writings

Archive for August 12th, 2008

I mentioned before that I’ve been spending quite a bit of time studying my family tree and that the history I am learning has prompted story ideas. I promised to tell you a little about those ideas…

On both sides of my tree, I have relatives that immigrated to America. My father’s side came in the 1700s mainly from an area that is now part of Germany and they settled in Pennsylvania.

My mother’s side came much later in the early 1900s. Her father came over in the 1930s from Czechoslovakia, and her mother’s parents came sometime before 1918 (my grandmother was born in America). In the years preceding my grandfather’s arrival, various other relatives, mainly his aunts and uncles, immigrated too.

As I work on finding documents and other interesting facts about those who came from Slovakia, I’ve been wondering what it must have been like to leave everything you know and cross the ocean.

So, if you put all that together, one of my main characters will leave Slovakia to come to America. She is given the responsibility of caring for a young child and delivering that child to her father upon arrival in America. They’re able to travel 2nd class on the ship, but are detained during the immigration process. (To me, the idea of traveling 3rd class (steerage) is over done, probably because of the Titanic.)

Another idea includes a sparking romance between the child’s father and the main character. I’m also considering some type of suspense – theft, murder, mistaken identity – or something like that onboard the ship with the consequences following the main character once she leaves the boat.

As I’m developing my ideas, I have a few questions for you. You can leave your answer in the comments or send me an email (kara at skalacreative dot com – insert the appropriate symbols)
1. Have you read any novels about the life of an immigrant? If so, what were the titles? What did you think of the novels?
2. Besides homesickness, what other emotional struggles do you think the main character would have?
3. In your opinion, what would make for a good conflict onboard the ship?

Thanks for taking the time to help me out! =)