Opinions needed

[Divia]

I've been doing a lot of soul searching recently. I've found that I dont think I can write an adult book, but I believe I have what it takes to do YA.

Originally I had an American Civil War story about a girl who volunteered as a nurse. I do love the idea a lot(something that I havent read about). But if I changed to YA then I need to change somethings.

Women had to be 30 and homely(strongly suggested) to be a nurse. However, if my character is a teen she'll be around 17 or so. I was going to have her father either work at a hospital and give his permission to his daughter in order to nurse.

This isnt historically accurate. Do you think I should try the story anyway and at the end do some authors note explaining the things I fudge or do you think its so out there and so untrue that its best to be left alone?

Thanks for your input.

[boswellbaxter]

I'd try the story, and either explain the age issue in the storyline or deal with it in the author's note. Maybe you could have a shortage of nurses in the area so that younger girls and women are needed? Or maybe she could lie about her age?

[Chatterbox]

Or, have her mother be an official nurse, and she works alongside her mother unofficially, since her mother can't leave her behind at home alone (if that doesn't mess up any other plot details.)
Or have her in some other way dependent on the hospital -- an orphan, even -- and doing the job unofficially? I'm sure that probably happened in some way.
Is she going to meet Walt Whitman?

[Divia]

No I'm afraid she isnt going to meet Walt Whitman. :)

I suppose her mother could volunteer as well, although they are upper middle class and for the most part that might be frowned upon. She also has two younger sisters, but I suppose the governess can take them.

Hmm interesting. thanks.

[Anna Elliott]

I'd absolutely write the story you're most passionate about telling. There's surely a way to get around the age issue--maybe the governess' brother/sweetheart is a patient and they go with her to visit? And your heroine is so struck by the need for nurses that she persuades those in charge to take her on despite her age?

I can think of dozens of YA HF books that feature heroines in slightly historically improbable situations--but they're still great reads because the author does such a good job of evoking the time and place. Bottom line, just be true to your story and your characters and for the rest--well, that's what author's notes are for! :)

[Divia]

Thanks for the input. :)

I'm usually pretty hardcore when it comes to facts in novels, but maybe I do need to waver a little and write the story. My first draft is done and I really wouldn't have to do a lot to change it.

I'm trying to get ideas hammered out for the conference. :)

Thanks everyone!

[Chatterbox]

I think as long as you give a plausible story as to why she's there and learning to nurse, you'll be fine. If she's kidnapped by pirates and on her escape falls in love with a doctor and decides to nurse because of him... well, you take my point.

I'm sure there probably were exceptions to the rules. Perhaps her mother was a nurse, or supported the hospital financially or the governess's brother was running the hospital or....

Work the reason into the plot and by tacitly acknowledging that she's an exception to the rule, you'll have showed you've done your research and pre-empt niggly critics.

[MLE]

Exceptions are what make stories worth telling. Think of the anecdotes you tell about your own experiences: do you relate the average drive to work, or the one where you got a flat tire in the rain and as a result ran into somebody you hadn't seen in ten years?

Why don't you make your character both homely and strong? Surely there are many YA readers who are both, and would like to see themselves represented now and then. I'm a little weary of all these good-looking protagonists myself, although in my day I was passable enough.

If it is really unusual that the girl is a nurse, make the story revolve around that anomaly, let it be the springboard for whatever else happens to her. You could have everybody repeatedly send her home, but she keeps popping up again, following the battles.

Or she could be part black. People were generally less concerned about propriety in their case -- after all, how many young black women were treated like cattle? Even in the North, prejudice and ignorance ran strong.

[Divia]

Well, she isnt a beauty. :) Though I wouldnt call her homely.

However, she becomes a nurse (in the original story)because she is too unconventional (along the lines of William Lloyd Garrison) and is an outcast who doesnt fit in. Her main support system has just died and she feels alone and isolated. She believes in the cause and wants to make herself useful.

The more I think about it the more I believe this can be done. Everyone makes a lot of sense here. I'm too caught up in the specifics of things when I could bend the rules a tad. I think I will. Civil War stuff isnt hot for adults, but I have seen some books still being marketed for the YA crowd.

[SarahWoodbury]

And she could run into my great-grandfather! He was 15 when he enlisted in the Northern Army. He managed to survive and we have his letters home.

[LoveHistory]

Absolutely go for it, Divia. It's called fiction for a reason. If the writing is good, no one will mind if one aspect of the plot is a bit innacurate, and as others have stated there are ways to make it work or even make it integral to the story.

[Leyland]

This isnt historically accurate. Do you think I should try the story anyway and at the end do some authors note explaining the things I fudge or do you think its so out there and so untrue that its best to be left alone?Divia - I think it is rather historically accurate in a sense. One of my favorite elementary/middle school books as a young kid was about Florence Nightingale - I read it over and over and over ... in fact I went to nursing school for a year when I was 19. Anyhoo - she was from a rich upper class British family and when she decided to enter nursing in 1845 her parents were angered and distressed, but we know how her story turned out. Maybe your MC has been inspired by Miss Nightingale's accomplishments. Miss Nightingale even refused to be married due to her calling - she had an offer from a baron no less! Check out her experiences as a nurse during the Crimean War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightengale