5 Secrets for Mining the Stories in Your Own Home To Inspire Compelling Historical Fiction
Bestselling and award-winning writer Yvette Manessis Corporon found family stories passed down through generations were more than just familiar anecdotes, but important historical moments. Here, she shares 5 ways to mine the stories in your life to inspire compelling historical fiction.
Growing up in a loud, boisterous, Greek-American household, there were certain things that were a guarantee for every family event. You could always count on loud conversation and mountains of food, no matter the size of the gathering. The older generation remembered quite well what it was to go without, the lean wartime years back in Greece when food was scarce. Here in America, every meal was a cause for celebration, every morsal to be savored. Typically it was my grandmother, Yia-yia Avgerini, holding court as she doled out generous portions of cherished family recipes along with memories of life on the tiny island of Erikousa, just off the coast of Corfu.
When your father was a boy, we had a donkey that I would use to help me carry vegetables home from our garden. I don’t know who was more stubborn, your father or the donkey.
Everyone on the island said their potato pie recipe was the best, but everyone knew that mine was really the most delicious.
There was a Jewish family on Erikousa that was hiding from the Nazis. His name was Savvas Israel, and he was a tailor and his girls were our friends. Everyone on the island helped to hide and save them. They would leave their hiding place at night to come visit me and I would give them dinner and we would stay up all night talking and sewing.
The story of Savvas Israel was shared with no more significance than the secret to Yia-yia’s potato pie or my father’s adventures with the family donkey. None of us realized that this was more than a story, this was history. And it was hiding in plain sight.
It wasn’t until I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an author that I began to look closer at Yia-yia’s life. As I struggled with what to write, a singular theme emerged, the tried and true write what you know. But what did I know? I realized then that I knew what it was to be the granddaughter of an ordinary Greek woman who did something extraordinary during the war. I realized then that my Yia-yia’s story of Savvas Israel was just as significant as the stories I read in my high school history book.
I’ve since published two books inspired by my Yia-yia Avgernini’s life. My novel, When The Cypress Whispers, and my memoir, Something Beautiful Happened, are both infused with Yia-yia’s tales of Savvas Israel. Since the publication of my books, Yia-yia’s story has generated international press and accolades for the islanders who risked everything to save their Jewish friends. The story of Savvas Israel has also been taught in schools across Israel and here in the U.S.
When the time came to find a topic for my next book, I once again found literary and historical inspiration at home. My new book, Where the Wandering Ends, is the story of two young friends who are separated by unspeakable tragedy during the Greek Civil War. Where the Wandering Ends is also about Queen Frederica’s campaign to save a generation of children during the war, a story I was shocked to realize that few outside of Greece are aware of.
As I struggled with how to approach this often-overlooked moment in Greek history, I found the answers in vivid memories of my mother’s mother, Yia-yia Lamprini. Yia-yia was a poor village mother and Frederica was a Queen, yet Yia-yia was convinced they shared a sacred bond. Inspired by my Yia-yia’s love of a queen, Where the Wandering Ends is historical fiction that examines one of the darkest moments in Greece’s history and the unlikely, ethereal connection between a poor Greek mother and the Greek Royal family.
History is all around us. It exists in our homes, in conversations around the dinner table, and in the fading memories of our loved ones. Sometimes the only difference between our family stories and those studied in history books is that someone took the time to write them down. Finding and documenting the history in your home is likely easier than you think. Of course, there are online genealogy sites and databases that can help you locate documents and records. But as with my own experience, you’ll likely find that the richest stories are all around you, just waiting to be discovered.
Below are my top five secrets for mining the history in your home to inspire compelling historical fiction.
1. Start talking and recording.
It does not matter that you never paid attention before, start today. Start right now. Take out your phone and sit down with your parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, and record your conversations. Ask them what their most significant childhood memories might be and what their fondest memories and greatest regrets are.
The thing about history is that we don’t typically realize when we are living it, we are too busy trying to survive it. You might not know what you are looking for, but if you engage in conversations about the past, you’ll find that history has a way of revealing itself, sometimes in the most surprising ways.
2. Use recipes to tell a story.
Beloved family recipes are a rich source of historical and cultural information. My grandmother became famous for her potato pie recipe during the war when meat and dairy were scarce. My great grandmother lost her son at sea and vowed to never again eat fish because the fish ate her son.
Invite an elder family member into your kitchen to make a favorite family recipe. As you cook, ask them to share the origin of the recipe and memories of making the dish when they were a child. Fascinating glimpses into your family’s past will emerge along with the beloved dishes of your childhood.
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3. Study old photo albums as if they were history books.
Compelling historical fiction introduces us to the people who lived, loved, suffered, and triumphed in challenging times. Pour over your family photos and learn the stories of family members you are not familiar with.
What happened to them? Why did your family lose touch? What clothing are your family members wearing? What does that tell you about them? Each photo is a journey waiting to be followed and a story waiting to be written.
4. Let an object be your guide.
Is there a treasured object from your family’s past that holds special significance? What made this locket, or book, or piece of furniture so meaningful that it has survived the generations? Who were the people who took the time and care to pass this object along and why?
There is often tremendous historical and emotional depth to be mined by tracing the journey of an object through the generations, of the hands it has passed through and the events it witnessed and survived.
5. Focus on a family event and use a small story to tell a larger one.
Family events are a treasure trove of stories, personalities, color, and yes, conflict. Was there an event in your family history that was especially meaningful, dramatic, or impactful? Resist the urge to make sweeping history the focus of your story.
Remember, you are writing a novel, not a textbook. Focusing on an event can help set the time and place and allow the story of your characters to develop over a natural arc while allowing the details of their lives, music, food, weather, traditions, to help to tell the larger story and set the historical context.
Yvette Manessis Corporon is an internationally bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning producer. To date, her books have been translated into 16 languages. A first generation Greek-American with deep family roots on Corfu, Yvette studied classical civilization and journalism at New York University. She lives in Brooklyn with her family where she spends her spare time reading, running, and trying to get into yoga. Follow Yvette on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and her personal website here.
