As you know I’m writing a novel that covers a span of time starting right after the Korean War in the1950s and goes until… The setting for the novel is in small town northern Minnesota. Early in the novel, it is a time when people grew up and had to move away because there were no jobs, but a few lucky or hardy souls were able to stay. I follow them in this novel. In many ways, they live in a world very alien to the modern-day reader,but they are very human. Whether they are young or old, they fall in love. They get hurt in love. They try to make the very best future they can for themselves. In other words, their human emotions are not very different than ours. As young people must do as dictated by nature, they fall in love. Their knowledge of sexuality was very limited by today’s standards. In schools, girls were separated from boys and taught about menstruation. Boys were taught about “nocturnal emissions.” And both sexes were taught about the dangers of masturbation. Outside of school, they were told that sex outside of marriage was forbidden.
In the novel, I’m trying to convey all this background information without giving the reader a boring history lesson. I do it simply by telling the story of relationships.Take for example the prohibition of sex outside of marriage, two young people very much in love are kissing and hugging and the boy starts to slide his hand up the girl’s dress and is reminded that he must wait until after they’re married and he agrees.
In another case, the young man finds out after being rejected many times by his girlfriend and told to wait until after they are married that she has become pregnant by another man. This clearly shows the duplicitous nature of society where some people are paying lip service to society no-no’s while engaging in sexual relationships.
I am sure you can see how the history was woven into the story line of the novel. However, I would like to ask you a question. Do you remember when you fell in love? Can you suggest how that might be portrayed in a novel? In advance, I’ll say thanks. I’m sure some of your ideas will be much better than what I’ve come up with in the novel.
