Linda Ulleseit

This might also be called “A Pantser’s relationship with Google.” If you don’t know, a pantser is what writers are called who write without an outline. Today my goal is to work on chapter 10 of my WIP. All I have is an idea of what I want to cover. The chapter takes place in 1922 Coney Island. Fanny and her husband, Joe, are from immigrant Jewish families living in Brooklyn. My goal for this chapter is for Fanny and Joe’s relationship to continue deteriorating, and for her to find a way to leave him. Here is how a writing session goes.

In 1922, her brother Abe married a lovely girl who brought light into the family. 

This is what was written before today. I add a description of Arlene, their almost-two-year-old, and summarize family activities for three paragraphs. Then the neighbor across the hall, Mabel, comes to visit. What do they do? As an adult, the real Fanny loved to crochet. I need to add crochet into the novel. 

Google: crochet projects in 1922. RABBIT HOLE: Crochet patterns are readily available for everything from jackets to baby swimsuits. I go back to Chapter 3 and add in Fanny making crocheted cloche hats to sell to a department store. I add several other references to crochet in other chapters. 

Back to chapter 10.

The two women sat on the couch and Fanny picked up her crochet. She pulled out the blue striped lap blanket she was working on.

“Still making blankets for the hospital?” Mabel asked. 

“They need blankets. It can get cold in the wards.” Fanny waited for Mabel to point out that it was summer. No one would need blankets for months.

Fanny needs a job to give her enough money to leave Joe and take her daughter. Family legend says she was a nurse. When did she go to nursing school? What did that entail?

Google: How did someone become a nurse in 1922? RESULT: They worked at a teaching hospital for two to three years. A further search reveals Coney Island Hospital, a teaching hospital. Perfect. I go back to Chapter 8 and add a scene where she is volunteering at the hospital during the flu epidemic to establish her interest. 

Back to Chapter 10. I write three pages where the neighbor encourages Fanny to get her nursing license and offers to watch Arlene.

Now I need a bit of detail about the hospital and the actual duties of the nurse.

Google: Nursing in 1922. RABBIT HOLE: The end result of many sub-searches is that nursing students were single women who lived on hospital property. They never hired married women or Jews. Delete three pages.

I need her to be at a hospital, because she will meet someone important at a hospital in 1930.

Google: Non-nursing jobs for women at hospitals in 1922. RESULT: stenographers, telephone operators, laundry. 

Google: hospital laundries in 1922. 

Google: Coney Island Hospital laundry 1922. 

Google: administrative personnel at Coney Island Hospital 1922.

By now Google is automatically filling in “1922” on my searches. I write about Fanny interviewing for the job and getting it. I describe the laundry room

The roar of heavy machinery dominated the space. Miss Perkins automatically raised her voice to compensate. “We follow the latest sanitary standards. Our linens are used only once before they are washed. They are soaked in borax and cleaned with alkaline soap. Our washing machines are steam heated and operated by levers and valves.” She waved to one corner. “The wringers press out most of the water before the laundry goes to a heated drying room.”

I go on to write about her first day and remember to include some interior thinking.

Fanny changed back into her own dress before going home. Miss Perkins had told her that she’d get a clean uniform every three days, which meant Monday and Thursday. Fanny realized she hadn’t even flinched when she’d been told she would work Saturdays. The goal of earning money so she could leave Joe dominated even her faith.

My writing time expires. I have seven rough pages. I haven’t said anything about Fanny’s family or Joe, and I need more emotion from Fanny. That’s the plan for tomorrow.