This guest blog post by award winning, bestselling author Carrie Fancett Pagels is just a blessing all the way around! It is an honor to have her as a guest blogger here at my 'Inspirationals Blog/Newsletter.' I know you are going to love her amazing insights about making a story just leap off the pages! I truly savored each of her words as her love for history shines through brilliantly, giving us a beautiful glimpse of what makes Carrie the award winning writer she is. Thanks so much Carrie for being here. Readers, I can't wait to read your answers to her giveaway question! I already want to be on Mackinac Island with my parasol and a long, white gown... What a gorgeous book cover! Take it away Carrie! -- Lisa
For my post I'll discuss my characters and story world for my Michigan-set stories, of which I have quite a few.
Growing up in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula, I didn’t realize I had some unique experiences that could help me create a vivid story world and some interesting characters! Having a WWII veteran father, who was almost forty when I was born impacted me as did having neither of his parents alive as grandparents. My paternal grandmother was born in 1895 and my grandfather in 1886 so I often wondered what kind of world they grew up in. And I was blessed with a great-aunt who became a surrogate grandmother to me. She was my grandmother’s younger sister and born after the turn-of-the century. Her life experience was different from her sister’s and that fascinated me, too. Although only six years divided their ages, so much happened during that time frame, in our great country, and in Michigan where they were raised, that their early adult years were very different.
I was a book and history devourer, and enjoyed stories set during the turn-of-the-century. I love stories about all the inventions, innovations, changes in women’s rights and livelihoods, and how all these affected the actual physical landscape of my home state. As the great white pines disappeared, as railroads cross the land, as bicycles and cars began to appear, a very different Michigan was emerging. My great-uncle and great-aunt worked in the auto industry at the beginning of it really taking off. I’ll admit that although I love all those advances, I’m also intrigued by the original pristine beauty of the state and wonder what it may have been like. Having grown up near Tahquamenon Falls, whose state park boasts a climax forest, I was privileged to enjoy a vision of what an untouched forest could be like. Similarly, Hartwick Pines, in Michigan’s lower peninsula, is home to a huge stand of virgin white pines, in their massive beauty.
On my mother’s side of the family, my grandfather was a lumberjack and ran a camp. They started out in Kentucky and there was a huge migration of Kentuckians to the north, to work in lumber camps over a generation. I grew up meeting lumberjacks of all ages and from all nationalities. Michigan was home to an amazing number of immigrants, from all areas of Europe but many from Scandinavia and Germany. I grew up hearing those heavily-accented Finnish voices, for instance. I doubt there are many American kids today who can say the same.
Those experiences of inhaling the rich humosy scent of an old-growth forest, of tramping through the woods, of meeting people from various backgrounds, help me infuse my stories with a “realness” and credibility that are impossible to obtain by research alone. There’s a beauty and a vibrancy in what was happening at that time in my home state. In “Requilted With Love” in The Blue Ribbon Brides collection, I tried to capture that vibe in Michigan’s State Fair of 1889. Set in Lansing, Michigan, the research showed the brand-new location, which was hoped to be the setting for all future Michigan state fairs (it was not!) was a gorgeous place to enjoy a fair! In Tea Shop Folly, I bring a young lady north, out of Kentucky, at a time when the Soo Locks were moving forward into what ultimately has become an engineering wonder. I hope my life experiences have made the story worlds of both come to life.
One of my favorite places to go is Mackinac Island. I actually worked on the island, and lived there, one summer. I also have a good friend whose family is from the island. We visit regularly (to the point my family is sick of my fave story world real life place!) In July, 2017, I have a dream come true, with a novel set there: My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude’s Mooring (Barbour)! Set in 1895, the year my grandmother Maude Carrie Williams Fancett was born, this gilded-age story comes with twists and surprises as an island girl seeks to find her own way while a journalist, under cover, seeks an exposé! This Maggie Award finalist in unpublished manuscripts in 2014 is now about to meet the world!
Bio – Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D.
ECPA-bestselling author Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D., is the award-winning author of a dozen Christian historical romances. Twenty-five years as a psychologist didn't "cure" her overactive imagination! A self-professed “history geek,” she resides with her family in the Historic Triangle of Virginia. Carrie loves to read, bake, bead, and travel – but not all at the same time! You can connect with her at www.CarrieFancettPagels.com.
My latest release is Tea Shop Folly, under new cover. This novella is set in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in the 1890s.
Blue Ribbon Brides released in November, 2016 and is available for purchase on Barnes and Noble- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-blue-ribbon-brides-collection-cynthia-hickey/1125479275?ean=9781634098618
My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude’s Mooring is currently on SALE at HALF OFF Pre-ORDERS on Amazon- https://www.amazon.com/My-Heart-Belongs-Mackinac-Island-ebook/dp/B01MYEQV49/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
and on Barnes and Noble websites http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-heart-belongs-on-mackinac-island-carrie-fancett-pagels/1125314619?ean=9781683220886
Also available on CBD- https://www.christianbook.com/heart-belongs-mackinac-island-maudes-mooring/carrie-pagels/9781683220886/pd/220886?event=ESRCG
My giveaway is a signed paperback of ECPA Bestseller, The Blue Ribbon Brides collection (Barbour, Nov 2016), which includes my novella, “Requilted With Love.” Or you may substitute a pre-order of My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island: Maude’s Mooring OR Tea Shop Folly. Answer my question: What most pulls you into a setting?