Writing good history is like…
Locks, Hooks and Books interviewed author Dave Tabler this week about where inspiration comes from, the most difficult part of writing, and coming up with a book cover idea.
What is the most difficult part about writing for you?
Uncovering the emotional truth in a historical scene. When history is written without a heartbeat, it reads like a tedious list of dates, battles, and treaties that feel a world away from our own. So, my task is to dig out the human heart beating at the center of those events.
For example?
I’m working right now on the third book in my series about Delaware history, “Delaware from Freeways to E-Ways.” One of the segments deals with the first airport built in Delaware. The federal government swept through at the beginning of WWII and instructed the state to create airports in each county for defense purposes. The move required the use of eminent domain to get the airports built quickly.
Now, I could have related the story in a very neutral tone and just told that reader that land was acquired, that the building began on thus and such date and completed in x number of months. I could have talked about the capacity of the airport, and what types of military uses it was put to. Instead, I focused on the impact of eminent domain on the very last family to hold out.
This family had lived on that land for generations. Their ancestors were all buried nearby. This wasn’t just a parcel of land. It was their home, and they couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Their story made the news, and so I had lots of firsthand material on how eminent domain wrecked this family’s life. But of course, they were the tip of the iceberg. In the end 50 families suffered the same fate. And that’s a story that’s not often told in traditional history books.
Tell us about the process for coming up with the cover of “Delaware from Railways to Freeways”.
I worked with book cover designer Onur Burc, whom I found through Fivver. He’s based in Istanbul, and so he brings no pre-conceived notions about what Delaware is or isn’t. We worked together on my first book, “Delaware Before the Railroads.” So, a template was in place, as this is a three-book series.
I wanted to carry over the type treatment, and at least several visual elements. The first book cover had a map of Delaware, a ship, and the state seal. For “Delaware from Railways to Freeways” I told Onur I wanted the state map and something to do with railways pointing to freeways. He came up with the brilliant idea of the state map as a literal portal, through which a locomotive passes. As it rolls through the opening, the train tracks below magically turn into a roadway.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
I think about my 8th grade geography teacher, Mr. Jarboe, quite often. On the very first day of class, he wrote “Pizarro was a Pig Farmer!” in huge letters on the chalkboard. Rather than present Francisco Pizzaro, the mighty conqueror of the Inca empire, through a series of triumphs, Mr. Jarboe focused instead on how the man rose from humble beginnings. Pizzaro’s pig farming years happened to line up exactly with an 8th grader’s age.
Mr. Jarboe, through his energized history storytelling, wanted us to understand that anyone can start from an unimpressive background and pull themselves up to greatness. He clearly loved breaking through to young minds and was always conscious of bringing his audience along with the narrative. He would stride throughout the classroom waving his arms, bouncing up and down, eyes aflame. Mr. Jarboe, though impressive, didn’t seek to impress. Mr. Jarboe, though entertaining, didn’t seek to entertain.
This teacher, like all great teachers, sought to usher his listeners into a new world, to challenge them to live through that world viscerally, and to leave them forever changed by the experience.
What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
Oddly enough, my favorite authors were not initially history writers. I was, and am, hugely impacted by masters of the short story such as Chekhov, O’Henry, Saki and Maupassant. Each in their own way can pare a tale down to its essence. Every utterance in their writings has a purpose. There’s no fat, no long-winded digressions.
Short story writing is akin to history writing in that, without filling page after page with minutiae, the wise writer captures the gist. I find I’m regularly presented with the challenge of creating a fully fleshed out narrative with a limited set of facts. The economical methods of the short story author, in this scenario, have served me well.
