Writing a Family Saga
Have you ever wanted to write about a family that includes multiple generations within one or more books? "Family Sagas" would be your genre. A saga is about two or more generations, and the plots include things like:
Business
Adventure
Family curses
Properties
Heirlooms
War or other political issues
Many of these books will include a timeline at the beginning so the reader can turn back to that page if they become confused, much like a map to follow the story through time. Timelines are also good for the writer to be able to plot out the story, what to include in the story and a way to create the overarching storylines that lead toward the conclusion. The plots will eventually resolve at the end, but not until the issues have worked their way through the generations.
Things to include while plotting out your family saga:
1. Choose an outstanding location. Make it memorable and significant. Often, the sense of place and the literal site of the story is so substantial it becomes a character in the book. Bring many descriptive words into the landscape, so your writers can picture themselves there. Make them yearn to visit that place. Create such a vision of the home, business, landscape, or area in their mind that when the book ends, they will miss it and want to visit it someday. Think of "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. The white-columned house, Tara, became so important to the story that it was the place Scarlet always wanted to be. She needed and desired to be at Tara. She worked hard to keep it. It symbolized her, her family, her struggles, and the world she was losing. All of that is within one building: her family's palatial estate. Wouldn't you love to be able to find out where Tara is and live within its space? That's how well Margaret Mitchell created that important location and wove it throughout the story. Now think of other sagas like "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough or "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. What are the locations? Do you feel like they are essential to the story? Do they add to the story, the characters' personalities, and the themes in the book?
2. A strong group of characters. Choose a powerful and intelligent matriarch and/or patriarch who are the backbone of the family. They need to be strong and with a clear goal. They put significant stock in their family's reputation and will do anything to keep it. They look toward the future to create an extraordinary legacy for generations. They think five paces ahead of others and know they are building something meaningful. Other characters will be family members and the community around them. Think of any character tropes you want. In "Gone with the Wind," Scarlet O'Hara is your usual spoiled Southern Belle who wants things she can't have. Rhett Butler is a rule-breaker and charismatic scoundrel. Ashley Wilkes is a passive and weak Southern gentleman. Melanie is kind and gentle. Think of the types of personalities that would work well together toward the final goal of the family. Make their personalities contradictory to the goal so tension and excitement can blossom. It can't be easy to attain the goal, so the people themselves could be those who block the progress. Stubborn, weak, headstrong, spoiled, whatever you decide, opposing forces will create the spark and intrigue.
3. Plan out at least three books for your series. Although you can think of many family sagas, such as "Roots" by Alex Haley (704 pages), "Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee (490 pages), and Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides (529 pages) that tell the full generational story in only one book, think about making yours a series. This will give your readers bite-sized chunks instead of the more considerable, perhaps overwhelming book-length of 1,024 pages in "Gone with the Wind." Plus, you'll have three books to sell instead of one long one. Cha-ching. For instance, Father Andrew M. Greeley wrote a family saga series: A Chronicle of the O'Malleys. Book #1: Golden Years (304 pages), Book #2: Second Spring A Love Story (352 pages), and Book #3 September Song (317 pages). I haven't read them, but they sound intriguing. I think that, possibly, when "Gone with the Wind" (1936) was written, a true family saga must be long to be considered a true saga. It's all in the presentation. Nowadays, though, things have changed, maybe. Perhaps we now need multiple books to provide the vision of a true saga. Besides, holding those big, thick books hurt my hands. LOL.
4. Social and political issues. Since family sagas tell the story of a family through multiple generations, it's your chance to explore social problems, political issues, and gender roles/issues. You're walking your readers through many influential and contradictory laws that have been a part of people's lives that have affected their decisions and given away or provided them with opportunities over the years. Think of things that were legal in the 1800s and how that affected your characters such as:
1. Marrying Your First Cousin. Up until the 1860s, the practice of marrying your first cousin was common across Europe and the United States.
2. Prostitution. The majority of states adopted prostitution laws between 1910 and 1915 due to the influence of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. But before that, nope.
3. Cocaine availability: In 1885, the U.S. manufacturer Parke-Davis sold cocaine in various forms, including cigarettes and powders. In 1886, coca leaves (from which cocaine is derived) were included in the new soft drink, Coca-Cola. Cocaine was used as a stimulant.
4. Slavery The first slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619. In 1808, Congress banned the importation of slaves from Africa, and in 1820, the Missouri Compromise banned slavery north of the southern boundary of Missouri. Following the Civil War, the 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, declaring that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude...shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
5. Segregation Racial divisions continued after the Civil War, and by 1900, new laws and older customs had created a segregated society.
6. Women Unable To Vote It wasn't until the 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, that women achieved the right to vote.
7. Drinking At Age 18 Prior to 1984, the minimum drinking age in the United States was 18 years old, and each state either chose to keep that or put in a stricter drinking age of 21. At the urging of groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, President Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act on July 17, 1984, raising the national minimum drinking age to 21.
8. Child Labor In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act regulated the minimum ages of employment and the number of hours children could work.
9. Domestic Violence All states made wife beating illegal by 1920. In 1866 The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was formed. It predates the founding of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, established in 1875. Both predate any organization aimed at preventing cruelty to women.
10. Open Immigration In 1875, the United States Supreme Court determined that Immigration came under federal jurisdiction, and the Immigration Service was established in 1891.
11. Not Wearing Seat Belts New York was the first state to pass a seat belt law in 1984, in which vehicle occupants were required to wear seat belts. The rest of the states followed.
12. Sending Children by Parcel Post On January 1, 1913, the U.S. Post Service stated that packages could not weigh more than 50 lbs. On February 19, 1914, a four-year-old's parents mailed their daughter from Grangeville, Idaho, to her grandparents in Lewiston, Idaho, for 53 cents worth of postal stamps pinned to her jacket. After several children were sent by mail, the Postmaster General issued regulations against sending children by mail.
After choosing your setting and characters, deciding if you want a large book or a series, and what political or social aspects you'll add to the story to create depth, place your characters within the story by taking a deep dive into your plot. To do this: create a timeline. This will help you determine what your characters are doing within the world where they exist. Within the timeline, decide on each plot point:
Beginning: where/when does the story begin? Who are the characters who start the ball rolling? Their age, name, anything about them. What is their goal?
Inciting incident: What happens to get them to go after their goal? Is war brewing? Is the government changing their way of life? Do they find an important heirloom? Do they begin a business, or perhaps the opposite is happening, and the business is shutting down? Did the patriarch or matriarch die? Is there a fire? Etc. it can be anything that happens to start the action.
End of Act One: At this point, something very exciting is happening. If the war was brewing when the book started, it's in full swing now. If the government is changing their life, it's completely changing now, and they are suffering. If they found a critical heirloom, they are now discovering why it's necessary or how it affects the story. This part isn't the end of anything, but the tension is progressively rising.
Obstacles get in their way. Choose a few obstacles that help build the tension toward a twist at the midpoint. The story's action is building, and nothing is resolved, but your reader is pulling for the characters to succeed. Think of Scarlett being so hungry, trying to save the house and feed everyone.
Midpoint: This is when we realize that Scarlet has changed from the selfish, spoiled brat, and she says, "I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again." Then she dresses up in the curtains to get money from Rhett, who seems to be the only human with cash.
The action rises while you throw these in the path:
· Obstacle:
· Disaster:
· Crisis:
We now have the end of Act Two and the most important climax of the story. The main character achieves their goal and must live with the consequences. Then the story wraps up, and we have the end. If this is a three-part saga, it will bring you into the next book, so not all of the storylines will wrap up.
Where do these plot points fall in the timeline of the story? Decide what that looks like and how they affect which characters, and plan the entire story before writing the book(s). Just a tip, though. Be willing to move or update your outline as you write the story and as you build personalities and locations. Some things may change within your system once the characters decide what's happening. Because, let's face it, just because these characters are fictional doesn't mean they don't take over the story and direct you toward the outcome. They are in charge. Not the writer. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?
Enjoy!
Have fun with family sagas!
