Writing Tips and Resources for NaNoWriMo

by Chelsea Bennett, Reference Department

Have you ever participated in National Novel Writing Month? A friend and I took part for the first time last year, and this year we recruited two more. I learned a lot from the first go-round. This time, I hope to approach the challenge with more wisdom and strategy – and that includes looking for help.

Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, happens every November. You can read about its history and purpose at www.nanowrimo.org. Essentially, the goal is for an individual to complete a 50,000-word novel (about the length of The Great Gatsby [1]) during the month of November – for no other reason than personal fulfillment. And if the nickname “NaNoWriMo” weren’t so catchy, they might rename it International Novel Writing Month: in 2017, there were “468,104 participants on six continents”! [2]

That’s great news for first-time Wrimos (yeah, that’s what we’re called) and veterans alike. The NaNoWriMo community connects through message boards on the organization’s website, as well as through social media and in-person meet-ups. By fostering camaraderie, inspiration, and accountability, these groups provide support for novelists during the 30-day challenge.

But sometimes even the most accomplished writer needs concrete resources to fall back on. During NaNoWriMo, flagging creativity is especially bad news. So bookmark this post, fellow Wrimos, for I’ve done my best to scrounge up some fun resources and practical ideas that are guaranteed* to help you reach that 50,000 word goal.

1) Don’t feel excluded if you don’t have Microsoft Word. Plenty of word processors do the job for free, such as OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Apple’s free offering is called Pages. Windows users may also like Atomic Scribbler; it’s designed with novelists in mind.

2) All writers have a preferred writing “soundtrack,” be it absolute silence, a curated playlist, the sounds of nature, or the bustle of a coffee shop. If the latter applies to you, but you’re not willing to increase your latte budget, try an app like Coffitivity. It “recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe to boost your creativity and help you work better.” [3]

3) Keep track of those great ideas that strike at inconvenient moments. Carry a notebook that fits in your pocket or purse, or use the built-in note and voice memo apps on your phone. For more in-depth note taking, Wrimos often suggest Evernote and OneNote. Both let users keep track of ideas in many forms – text, audio, photos, drawings, etc. – and access them on other devices.

4) With only a month to write, web-based app Sprinter helps make the most of your limited time. With distraction-free design, it gives you “a 15-minute goal which is meant to get [you] quickly started and stay engaged despite being surrounded by the Internet.” [4] You can also adjust the length of the timer. For Wrimos without the luxury of large chunks of free time (hello, parents of young children!), fifteen minutes of focused writing could make all the difference.

5) Glean wisdom from those who have already been where you want to go. The NaNoWriMo forums  feature tons of practical tips on technology, time management, technique, and more, all from Wrimos who know what you’re going through.

6) Yes, research is important; but to “win” NaNoWriMo, you can’t obsess over details. November’s not for editing! Using symbols and keywords in your draft, such as “[[RESEARCH]],” so you can easily find them during revision. Keep a separate notebook or file of things you need to research, too.

Bookmark sites like Refdesk.com (“Fact Checker for the Internet”), WritetoDone (“Unmissable Articles on Writing”), and OEDb’s 150 Writing Resources (“…to help you write better, faster, and more persuasively”). Come back to them after the rush of November is over.

7) Almost everyone writes on a computer or tablet these days. Tablets in particular have gotten less expensive, and computers are pretty readily available. (The Franklin branch of the WCPL system even has new laptops for patrons to use while in the library.) With internet access, writers can quickly access a wealth of information to make their stories more authentic. But all that connectivity comes at a high cost: distraction. (“Wikipedia wormholes” are a real thing, y’all.)

Sure, you could switch to pen and paper. Lots of Wrimos do, and they love the experience. I myself have opted for an outmoded piece of tech: the AlphaSmart 3000. I love its full-size keyboard, Y2K-era translucent plastic styling, long battery life, and USB connectivity. “That would make me crazy,” said one friend when I showed off my acquisition. And yeah, maybe I’ll get some odd looks when I schlep it to the pub for a writing session. But, for me, it’s a happy medium between writing by hand and typing on a laptop.

If you’re not willing to go to such anachronistic lengths to avoid temptation, though, there are computer-friendly options designed to minimize distraction. My favorite is Calmly Writer Online. Put it in full-screen mode, and you’ve got a blank page with a nice typeface and bookish margins. (You can access the menu by clicking on a subtle lotus icon.) It instantly soothes and sharpens focus.

8) And don’t forget your local library! Whether you need to brush up on your “elements of style,” learn more about writing within your genre of choice, or find a mentor in legends like Ursula K. Le Guin (Steering the Craft) or Steven King (On Writing : a memoir of the craft), if you browse the 800s in Non-Fiction, you won’t leave empty-handed.

What are your favorite writing resources? Share them in the comments below. Then read some fun NaNoWriMo facts from our 2015 post, and go deep into the writing process – from gathering inspiration, to free self-publishing resources the library provides – from my previous NaNoWriMo post. Good luck, Wrimos!

* Guarantee not guaranteed by this blogger, the WCPL, or anyone else for that matter. In fact, we’ll be proud of you whether you finish or not.

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Sources:

• https://www.wikiwrimo.org/wiki/List_of_50,000_Word_Novels
• https://nanowrimo.org/impact
• https://coffitivity.com/
• https://astrohaus.com/sprinter/
• http://vamers.com/2016/11/03/6-useful-apps-nanowrimo/
• http://www.ravenofiernan.net/posts/13-tips-for-success-with-nanowrimo/
• https://www.signature-reads.com/2017/10/the-27-best-books-on-writing/

In the Future, the Year 2000… :Thoughts on Science Fiction

By Chelsea Bennett, Reference Department

Originally posted September 14, 2018

Can you believe we’re living in The Future? For decades, the year 2000 seemed impossibly far away. Folks imagined that, by now, we’d have robot teachers and colonies on Mars, and the end of all disease. Companies would add the number “2000” after model numbers to connote cutting-edge technology from the bright, distant horizon. Marty McFly’s 2015 was a land of flying cars, expanding pizza, and self-tying shoes. (And fax machines. Fax machines were everywhere.)

Some of those visions for the future were spot on; others now seem charmingly out-of-date; and we’re still waiting for many of the rest to be invented. But isn’t it fantastic how often we hear about inventions that were inspired by Science Fiction? If “[science] is magic that works,” as Kurt Vonnegut says in Cat’s Cradle, then Science Fiction is the root of much of that magic. Imagination becomes ideas, which in turn become experiments. Experiments lead to discoveries, then inventions, and ultimately to the commonplace wonders we take for granted: such as the submarine (Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), the cell phone (the direct descendent of the “communicator” from the original Star Trek series), and even nuclear power (H.G. Wells’ The World Set Free). [1]

Wait. A fiction writer born in the 1800s gave the world the idea for nuclear power? It’s true! Decades after its publication, a scientist named Leo Szilard “read [The World Set Free] and was immediately inspired to create what Wells had dreamed up” – for better or for worse. [2] And when a teenaged Robert H. Goddard read Wells’ The War of the Worlds, it set him on a path of “research [that] culminated with the Apollo program, and man’s landing on the moon.” [3] So there’s an undeniable link between the Science Fiction genre and humanity’s incredible achievements. Keep that in mind the next time your friends give you a hard time for being a sci-fi geek!

Another cool thing about the sci-fi genre is that it often combines elements of many other genres, as well. There’s sci-fi horror, sci-fi thriller, sci-fi mystery, sci-fi romance… You get it. So, without further ado, I’m going to leave you with a great list of Science Fiction authors (many of them you’ll find on our genre bookmarks in the library), titles of some of their works, and sometimes the additional genres that come into play. (For example, when you see “humor,” think of it as “sci-fi + humor,” and so on.)

AUTHORS

• Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series (humor)
• A. American – Survivalist series (pulpy but fun)
• Charlie Jane Anders – All the Birds in the Sky
• Hiromu Arakawa – Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)
• Catherine Asaro – Quantum Rose
• Isaac Asimov – Foundation series; Galactic Empire series; Robot series
• Gertrude Barrows Bennett – Citadel of Fear (under pseudonym “Francis Stevens”)
• Alfred Bester – The Stars My Destination (cyberpunk); The Demolished Man
• Leigh Brackett – The Long Tomorrow
• Ray Bradbury – The Martian Chronicles; The Veldt (short story)
• Octavia E. Butler – Xenogenesis series
• Pat Cadigan – Synners (cyberpunk)
• Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game series (YA)
• Margaret Cavendish – The Blazing World (published in 1666!)
• Becky Chambers – A Closed and Common Orbit
• C. L. Cherryh – Downbelow Station
• Arthur C. Clarke – 2001: A Space Odyssey (there are four books in the series); Childhood’s End
• Ernest Cline – Ready Player One; Armada
• Peter Clines – 14 (mystery, horror, paranormal); The Fold (thriller)
• Michael Crichton – Sphere (psychological thriller); Jurassic Park; Prey
• Philip K. Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; Ubik; A Scanner Darkly (police procedural)
• William Gibson – Neuromancer (cyberpunk); The Difference Engine (written with Bruce Sterling) (steampunk); Virtual Light (dark humor, detective)
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Herland
• Joe Haldeman – The Forever War series; The Accidental Time Machine
• Frank Herbert – Dune saga
• Hugh Howey – Silo series (post-apocalyptic)
• Kameron Hurley – The Stars Are Legion
• Aldous Huxley – Brave New World; Ape and Essence
• P. D. James – Children of Men
• Nancy Kress – Beggars in Spain
• Larissa Lai – Salt Fish Girl
• Ursula K. Le Guin – Hainish Cycle; The Eye of the Heron; The Left Hand of Darkness
• Madeleine L’Engle – Kairos cycle (beginning with A Wrinkle in Time) (children’s, “science fantasy”)
• Cixin Liu – Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (hard science fiction)
• Katherine MacLean – Pictures Don’t Lie (stories)
• Emily St. John Mandel – Station Eleven
• George R. R. Martin – Tuf Voyaging; the Wildcards universe
• Robert Masello – The Einstein Prophecy (historical fiction, mystery, thriller)
• Julian May – Pliocene Exile series (high fantasy)
• Anne McCaffrey – The Ship Who Sang
• Seanan McGuire – Parasitology Trilogy series (sociological, under pseudonym “Mira Grant”)
• Maureen F. McHugh – China Mountain Zhang
• Judith Merril – The Tomorrow People
• Elizabeth Moon – The Speed of Dark
• Larry Niven – Tales of Known Space series; Ringworld and the Fleet of Worlds series
• Alice Norton – The Time Traders (under pseudonym “Andre Norton”)
• Christopher Nuttall – The Oncoming Storm (military, space opera); The Royal Sorceress (steampunk, alternate history)
• Nnedi Okorafor – Who Fears Death
• Malka Older – Infomocracy
• George Orwell – 1984 (speculative, “social science fiction”)
• Frederik Pohl – The Coming of the Quantum Cats; the Heechee saga (space opera)
• Kim Stanley Robinson – Mars trilogy (literary)
• Joanna Russ – The Female Man (experimental and not what you think)
• Mary Doria Russell – The Sparrow
• Carl Sagan – Contact
• John Scalzi – Redshirts; Old Man’s War series
• Alice Bradley Sheldon – Her Smoke Rose up Forever (stories, under pseudonym “James Tiptree, Jr.”)
• Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
• Dan Simmons – Ilium series (fantasy); Hyperion Cantos series (fantasy)
• Neal Stephenson – Cryptonomicon (historical fiction); Snow Crash (cyberpunk)
• Karin Tidbek – Amatka
• Jules Verne – Journey to the Center of the Earth (adventure)
• Thea von Harbou – Metropolis
• Kurt Vonnegut – Cat’s Cradle; Slaughterhouse Five; The Sirens of Titan (all conceptual/unconventional)
• Sabrina Vourvoulias – Ink
• David Weber – Honor Harrington series (military); The Apocalypse Troll
• Andy Weir – The Martian; Artemis
• H. G. Wells – The Time Machine; The Island of Doctor Moreau; The Invisible Man; The War of the Worlds
• Martha Wells – The Murderbot Diaries series (described as a fun read!)
• Connie Willis – To Say Nothing of the Dog (historical fiction, rom-com, humor, time travel)

 

That’s enough to get you started, right? Remember, if we don’t have a book at the Williamson County Public Library, we’ll try to locate it with Inter-Library Loan. Enjoy – and be inspired!

 

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Sources:

• https://shop.quirky.com/blogs/news/inventions-inspired-by-science-fiction
• https://www.grunge.com/21808/real-inventions-inspired-science-fiction
• https://io9.gizmodo.com/5832078/10-science-fiction-books-that-changed-the-course-of-history

 

I sourced most of the woman authors and their works from this excellent list: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/50-sci-fi-must-reads-by-women

An Extracted Scot Finds Himself in Hungary: How to Get Started with Ancestry.com

By Stephen McClain, Reference Department

Originally posted November 20, 2015

Did you know that Williamson County Public Library patrons can access Ancestry.com for free while in the library? Neither did I – and I am guessing that many other people in Williamson County don’t know either. Like many people in the United States, I have a multicultural background, but have never been absolutely certain what my ethnicity truly is. I have long been interested in tracing my roots and wondered when my ancestors first arrived on this continent, but without access to the proper resources, I never really looked into it. My surname suggests that I am Scottish and I have always celebrated that part of my lineage without really knowing the percentage or who first emigrated from the land of bagpipes and single malt whisky. Also, I have been told that my maternal side is of German or Austrian descent, but no one is really sure.

Census Records, Birth and Death Certificates and Marriage Records

When I first started searching Ancestry.com for information on my grandparents, the most readily available data that I found was census records. The search tab at the top left side of the home page provides users with a number of search options, but the easiest way to get started is to simply click the green “Begin Searching” button in the middle of the page. Though I was too young to remember meeting him, I know my paternal great grandfather’s full name and where he lived. By searching his name and town of residence, I was able to locate his father’s name via a combination of census, birth and death records. I repeated this process several times, and through the historical mist, I was able to find that my fifth great grandfather was born in Scotland in 1681 and arrived in what would become the United States in 1766. My family name has apparently been in this country for a very long time and the reveal of this information somewhat diminished my feelings of a connection with the Scottish homeland. I am not going to stop enjoying single malt Scotch whisky or listening to the pipes, but maybe I shouldn’t have gotten married in a kilt…either way, I had another side of my family to research.

The maternal side of my lineage has always been somewhat of a mystery. No one in the family seems to know where the names come from. The names of my maternal grandparents both suggest German, Austrian, Slovak or Hungarian lineage. I searched my grandfather’s name and with very little effort, found out that his father was Hungarian. The 1920 U.S. Census records show that he was born in Hungary and his native tongue was Slavish. While his mother was born in Pennsylvania, her parents were born in Hungary as well, with the same linguistic details. I am 3^rd generation Hungarian and never knew it! Maybe that’s why I like stuffed cabbage and lekvar pierogis so much? I don’t know. Regardless, I was excited to know that I had found a relatively recent connection to my European past. And because in many cases, Ancestry.com provides users with an actual scanned copy of the documents, I was able to see that this area in Pennsylvania was a true ethnic community. The birthplaces of the majority of the people (or the birthplaces of their parents) listed on the census record were Eastern European; Austria, Hungary, and Russia. How could my mother and her siblings have grown up not knowing that their grandparents were from Hungary? The reason is probably because so many European migrants of that time wished to disassociate themselves from their past and start a new life in America. They were struggling to make a new start while making a living in a brand new country, most often doing very difficult factory work. Maintaining and passing on a cultural identity was probably not on their list of important things to do.

When I was younger, I remember being told to be careful what you look for, you might find something you didn’t want to know. I grew up knowing most of my great aunts and uncles on my mother’s side of the family. There was only one uncle that I never met, who was killed in WW II…or so I thought he was the only one. Upon examining some census data that listed the household members at my great grandparents’ residence, I read a name listed that I had never heard before. A female child that was unknown to me. This mystery aunt was 2 years older than my oldest great aunt, of whom I grew up visiting on a regular basis. Who was this person? Was she the black sheep of the family that was shunned and disowned? Was she a convicted criminal that the family was keeping hidden? Maybe she was busted for making bathtub gin during Prohibition. I hoped so. That would be so cool. I was both eager and afraid to find out. I had to know who this person was and I could only hope that there was some guarded, veiled story to go along with this ghost on the census form. With anxious trepidation, I called my aunt and asked if she knew the identity of this missing relative. Without hesitation, she said, “That was grandma’s sister who died.” Mystery solved, though, too abruptly for my apprehensive curiosity. But what happened to her and why was she never mentioned? I was told that she died from a common complication after childbirth simply because she didn’t have access to the necessary medication and treatment. Wow. It had happened so long ago that she was never mentioned in my time. No romantic tales of rebellion, crime or calamity, but a somber reminder of harder times, to say the least.

Phone and Street Directories

My searches also produced a large number of scanned city phone directories dating back to the 1920s. When searching for a name on Ancestry.com, users are given categories on the left of the page. One of those choices is “Schools, Directories and Church Histories.” Though it was never mentioned in any family stories, I now know that the likely reason my maternal grandparents met is because their families lived on the same street. These old phone directories most often show not only telephone numbers and addresses, but also the name of individuals who were living at that address, i.e. another relative or a boarder. This is a great tool in locating exactly where a relative may have lived. And if nothing else, it is intriguing to see telephone numbers such as “WAlbridge 1154 and BLackstone 2311.”

Military Records

My paternal grandfather and many of my maternal great uncles were in World War Two. I was able to locate the muster rolls that listed my grandfather’s name and the ship he was on. (Yeah, I never heard the term “muster roll” either. It is the register of the officers and men in a military unit or on a ship. Thanks, Wikipedia.) I also found out that my maternal great uncle was killed at Pearl Harbor and I located a detailed photograph of the monument that lists his name. Additionally in the military records, I was able to find the scanned copies of WW I and WWII draft registration cards for both of my great grandfathers. The documents are hand written and include the signatures of the men. To locate documents such as these, simply type in the name of the person that you are searching and after clicking “Search”, you will see all of the results for that name. To the left of the page, there is a listing of categories, such as “Census and Voter Lists” and “Birth, Marriage and Death.” The third category is “Military.” This option will produce information on draft registration, enlistment, casualties, and gravesites, just to name a few. There is also a great deal of information on Civil War soldiers and the American Revolution.

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This is just a sample of the information available at Ancestry.com and a bit of my personal experience in looking for my roots. It was great fun for me searching through my relative’s collective pasts and getting just a glimpse of their lives well before I was a twinkle in someone’s eye. Whenever you are ready to do your own searching, come to the second floor of the Williamson County Public Library and log on to a computer or visit one of the staff in the Special Collections department and they will help you with your queries. Access to Ancestry.com is only available to patrons while they are physically in the library. On the library’s website, move the mouse over Special Collections on the left of the page and click on Digital Genealogy. From there, click on Access Ancestry Library while visiting the library. The Williamson County Public Library also offers free classes on Introduction to Ancestry.com once a month.

 

But be advised, you may find something you didn’t expect…

Did you know…that July is National Ice-Cream Month?!

By Lisa Lombard, Reference Department

Originally posted on July 17, 2015

You read it correctly; July is National Ice-Cream Month! In addition to celebrating the Fourth of July, we have a month long celebration of ice-cream! Does that not sound awesome? Who does not love an excuse to eat ice-cream (or anything you normally would not have)? On those days when you don’t want to leave the house, want an extra special treat for a birthday party, the Fourth of July, a bar-b-q, or any other type of party homemade ice-cream will be a crowd pleaser! The two following recipes are for vanilla ice-cream, to keep it simple especially if this is your first time making homemade ice-cream. The first recipe you will need an electric ice-cream maker and the second recipe is one sure to get family and friends involved (or a good arm workout for yourself!) and does not require any type of electricity, just good ole fashioned elbow grease! Happy ice-cream making and enjoy the scrumptious summertime treat!

Recipe #1 (This is a Paula Dean Recipe from the FoodNetwork)
Total Time: 3 hr 10 min Prep: 10 min Inactive: 3 hr
Yield: approximately 1 gallon

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated milk
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• Whole milk

Directions:

1. With an electric mixer, cream eggs and sugar. Add evaporated milk, condensed milk, and vanilla. Beat well.
2. Pour into an electric ice cream churn. Add whole milk to fill line. Insert dasher.
3. Pack cooler 1/3 full with ice. Add a layer of rock salt. Repeat layering with ice and salt until full. Note: be careful not to overfill, spilling salt into the churn.
4. When machine starts to labor or shut off, remove the dasher and drain water. Fill with more ice and salt.
5. Cover with a towel and let harden.

Recipe #2 (This recipe was found at the blog, 2 little hooligans)
Ingredients and supplies:

• 2 TBL sugar
• 1 cup half & half (or light cream)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coarse salt or table salt
• ice
• gallon-sized Ziploc bag
• pint-sized Ziploc bag

Directions:

1. Mix the sugar, half & half and vanilla extract together. Pour into a pint-sized Ziploc baggie. Make sure it seals tightly.
2. Now take the gallon-sized Ziploc bag and fill it up halfway with ice and pour the salt over the ice. Now place the cream filled bag into the ice filled bag and seal.
3. Make sure it is sealed tightly and start shaking. Shake for about 5 minutes (or 8 minutes if you use heavy cream).
4. Open the gallon-sized bag and check to see if the ice cream is hard, if not keep shaking. Once the ice cream is finished, quickly run the closed pint-sized baggie under cold water to quickly clean the salt off the baggie. You are now ready to dig in and enjoy!

There you have it, two ways to make homemade ice-cream in celebration of National Ice-Cream month! Do not forget to keep some fun and tasty toppings on hand for those who want to jazz up their classic vanilla ice-cream, enjoy!

What’s In a [Pen] Name?

By Sharon Reily, Reference Department

Originally published Dec 4, 2015

“Pseudonym” comes from the Greek pseudonymos, meaning “having a false name, under a false name,” and writers have used pseudonyms or pen names for centuries. Everybody knows that “Mark Twain” was the pen name for Samuel Clemens, and by now most readers have figured out that “Robert Galbraith” (The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm) is a pseudonym for Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling. But did you know that “J.K. Rowling” is also a pseudonym? Rowling’s real name is Joanne (no middle initial) Rowling! Why would an author choose to write under a different name? And just who are some of these writers who’ve pulled the literary wool over readers’ eyes with alternate identities?

To Conceal Gender

One of the most common reasons for writing under an assumed name is to conceal the author’s gender. Women writers simply weren’t always taken as seriously as their male counterparts, and some of the most celebrated authors of all times had to use masculine pen names to insure their works were given the same consideration as male writers, or even be published at all. Among the most famous are the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Charlotte published her works, including the classic Jane Eyre, under the male pen name “Currer Bell.” Emily used “Ellis Bell” for her masterpiece Wuthering Heights, while Anne wrote Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as “Acton Bell.”

To Conceal Identity

Louisa May Alcott published her most famous work, Little Women, under her real name, but she began her career writing as “A.M. Barnard.” Mary Ann Evans began writing as “George Eliot” to distance herself from the female romance novelists of the Victorian era. She revealed her true identity after her novel Adam Bede was well-received, but continued using her pen name for her other works, including Middlemarch. Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa, is better known as “Isak Dinesen.” Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin is famous as “George Sand.” Women writers still use male or androgynous pen names. Science fiction novelist Alice Mary Norton wrote as “Andre Norton” to increase her marketability with her primarily male audience. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter publishers urged her to use initials instead of her real name Joanne for fear the target audience of young boys wouldn’t read something written by a woman. Jane Austen hid her identity but not her gender when she published Sense and Sensibility as “A Lady.”

To Switch Genres

Sometimes writers known for specific genres just want to try something different, which can be confusing and off-setting to their faithful readers. So they choose to use pen names. Mystery writer Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels as “Mary Westmacott.” Nora Roberts, mainly known for her romance novels, branched out into science fiction as “J.D. Robb.” Anne Rice, famous for her Vampire Chronicles, writes erotic fiction as “A.N. Roquelaure” and “Anne Rampling.” (For the record, her real name is Howard Allen O’Brien, so “Anne Rice” is also a pen name.)

J.K. Rowling wrote her adult mysteries The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm as “Robert Galbraith” to “publish without hype or expectation” and received unbiased reviews from critics without the preconceived notions her name carries. Novelist Evan Hunter (born Salvatore Albert Lombino) saw his most success writing crime fiction as “Ed McBain” (the 87^th Precinct series). Hunter’s 2005 New York Times obituary explained that McBain and Hunter bylines were kept very separate “to avoid any confusion or shock that readers of Evan Hunter’s ‘serious’ books might feel when exposed to the ‘mayhem, bloodshed, and violence’ that were Ed McBain’s meat and drink.” Isaac Asimov, best known for his popular science and science fiction works, wrote a series of juvenile sci-fi novels as “Paul French.” Poet Cecil Day-Lewis published detective novels as “Nicholas Blake.”

To Avoid Saturating The Market

Early in Stephen King’s career, his publishers felt writers should be limited to putting out only one book a year. To get around this restriction, he created “Richard Bachman.” He came up with the name while on the phone with his publisher – he had a Richard Stark novel on his desk and a Bachman Turner Overdrive song was playing. King wrote four novels as Bachman but once his cover was blown, he declared Bachman dead of “cancer of the pseudonym.”

A more extreme example is provided by horror master Dean Koontz. Throughout the 1970s, Koontz published as many as eight books a year, and since his editors told him that writing in different genres under the same name was a bad idea, and risked serious overexposure, he chose some aliases: “Aaron Wolfe,” “Brian Coffey,” “David Axton,” “Deanna Dwyer,” “John Hill,” “K.R. Dwyer,” “Leigh Nichols,” “Anthony North,” “Owen West,” and “Richard Paige.” Koontz is suspected of using other names as well, but only admits to writing under these ten pen names.

To Separate A Writing Career From A “Day Job”

Nevil Shute Norway published his novels, including A Town Like Alice and On the Beach, as “Nevil Shute” to protect his aeronautical engineering and business careers. Renowned Egyptologist Dr. Barbara Mertz is better known as “Elizabeth Peters,” writer of the bestselling Amelia Peabody mystery series. Sir Walter Scott wrote Waverly and other novels anonymously to protect his reputation as a poet. “Ann Landers” was a pen name created by the popular advice column’s original author, Ruth Crowley, who didn’t want it confused with another column she was writing about child care. Joe Klein, TIME magazine political columnist, wrote the novel Primary Colors, based on Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, as “Anonymous” and went to great lengths to protect his true identity.

As a Pen Name for a Group of Writers

It turns out that some well-known writers never existed at all! The Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon was written instead by several ghostwriters. Likewise, the Nancy Drew and Dana Girls series were not the work of Carolyn Keene, who didn’t exist, but by different ghostwriters. Laura Lee Hope, credited with The Bobbsey Twins series, was also just a pseudonym for several ghostwriters.

 

No matter why a writer chooses to use a pseudonym, whether to mask gender, explore different genres, or maintain professional and personal privacy, key results are the unlocking of creativity, the freedom to write as one pleases, and the opportunity to have one’s work made available to readers. Without the use of pen names, some of literature’s greatest masterpieces (and works of popular fiction) might never have been written or published.

June is National Great Outdoors Month. Get out!

By Marcia Fraser, Special Collections Department

Originally posted June 12, 2015

Isn’t June everybody’s favorite month? School is out and the summer is spread out before us like a church picnic. In 1998, President Clinton designated June as Great Outdoors Month, and since then, the month-long celebration has grown by leaps and bounds, with special events planned throughout the month to showcase our nation’s parks and waterways.

This got me thinking — how would I observe and enjoy the great outdoors right here at home? I love exploring historic sites and parks with a camera, not at all hard to do in Williamson County, but if that’s not your cup of tea, opportunities are plentiful for outdoor fun, exercise and relaxation. And the best part? Almost everything is free and ADA accessible. So, what are you waiting for? Get out and find your happy place!

• Timberland Park
  One of the newest of Williamson County Parks, located just south of New Highway 96 on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Timberland has pristine wooded trails, one of which is ADA accessible with a turnaround overlook at the end. There is also a very inviting high rocking chair deck at the interpretive center just waiting for you!
• Franklin Historic Audio Cell Phone Tours
  To tour Franklin historic parks, print a copy of the brochure and tour from the online link below, and then call the number provided. The tour will take you to designated areas of these Historic Franklin parks.
  1) Historical overview of the Battle of Franklin, 2) Winstead Hill, 3) The Cotton Gin Assault on Columbia Avenue, 4) Rest Haven Cemetery, 5) City Cemetery, 6) The Park at Harlinsdale Farm, 7) Fort Granger and Roper’s Knob, 8) Collins Farm, 9) Eastern Flank Battle Park, 10) Toussaint L’Ouverture Cemetery, 11) McLemore House, and 12) Hard Bargain Neighborhood.  Visit Franklin Walking Tour App
• Fort Granger Park and Pinkerton Park
  You can go to one or both from the same entrance off Highway 96. Or, you can walk from Historic Downtown Franklin using the Sue Douglas Berry Memorial Pedestrian Bridge which will take you right into Pinkerton. Signs will direct you to Fort Granger from the bridge.
  • Fort Granger is a hidden gem, quiet and expansive, yet sheltered. It has its own entrance off Eddy Lane which is ADA accessible with ramps that will take you through the park. This is the quiet side of Pinkerton, and you’ll find folks relaxing in hammocks or on the ground having quiet conversations and enjoying the solitude under the shade trees. http://www.franklin-gov.com/government/parks/facilities-and-parks/park-locations-maps/park-locations/fort-granger
  • Pinkerton is the most highly used passive park in the City of Franklin Park system. Pavilions are obtained on a first-come, first-serve basis, and it is a great place for a family reunion. With expansive space, grills, walking trails, and Tinkerbell Park, you can easily spend the day. http://www.franklin-gov.com/government/parks/facilities-and-parks/park-locations-maps/park-locations/pinkerton-park
• City of Franklin Park Trail Systems
  Get mileage, location and surface information here.
• City of Franklin Parkfinder Map
• Franklin Bicentennial Park
  Trailhead and Harpeth River Greenway
• Harpeth River Canoe Access Points
• The Park at Harlinsdale Farm
  Not just for dog lovers, but you can take your dog for a walk or to the dog park in this lovely old horse farm. Also, the farm setting and old barn make it a popular spot for photographing your favorite subject.
• Aspen Grove Park
  So you work in Cool Springs and just need a quiet place to eat your lunch and take a short walk? With its 1/2 mile trail and pavilion, this little park, tucked away off Aspen Grove drive, is the perfect midday getaway.
• The Skate Plaza at Jim Warren Park
  Take your kids to skate, or just sit and watch the amazing teenage skateboarders show off their skills.
• Westhaven Lake, Highway 96 West
  Open to the public and the fishing is easy. Speaking from personal experience, this is a great place to teach your child or grandchild to fish. The lake is full of bream, or sunfish, and they practically jump onto your hook before it hits the water. Please note that Westhaven Lake is catch and release only. Bring your fishing gloves so that you can remove hooks and release the fish safely back into the water.
• Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary, Brentwood
  By reservation only, for nature and wildlife lovers. There is a free hike day scheduled each month. Go online or call to get information about nature classes and interpretive hikes.
• Franklin Farmer’s Market
  For the freshest and most local food, you can’t beat the open air Franklin Farmer’s Market, open on Saturday mornings at the Factory in Franklin.
• Concerts in the Park
  Want to enjoy some amazing music under the stars on summer nights?
  Summer concerts at Crockett Park’s Eddy Arnold Amphitheatre and Franklin’s Carnton Plantation.
• Lawnchair Theatre, Leiper’s Fork
  Fun for the whole family!
• Williamson County Parks
• Franklin City Parks
• Brentwood City Parks

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Not free, but lots of fun!

• Segway Guided Tour of Franklin
  I can’t wait to try this!
• Pedego your way around Franklin!
  Pedego rents electric bikes by the hour. Located at First and Main, what are you waiting for?
• Paddle Dog Adventures at Westhaven Lake
  Boat and paddle board rentals. Have you tried paddle board yoga? You can, now! See their Facebook page for special events and schedules.

Self-Published Poets

By Shannon Owens, Reference Department,

Walt Whitman

Using the lens of today’s microscope, hearing the term “self-published author” is pretty commonplace. With technology being what it is, anybody can publish their work online. It’s easy to forget that this designation can be applied to many of the most famous writers, dating back generations. Point of fact: Walt Whitman self-published his masterpiece collection of poetry. “Leaves of Grass” was first published in 1855; a simple volume with a mere twelve poems. Whitman continued to add new poems, change titles, and regroup poems up until his final, “deathbed” ninth volume 1891-1892. This had turned into a daunting collection, comprised of nearly 400 poems. Whitman influenced several famous poets, including Allen Ginsburg, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams. He never backed away from controversial (at least for the 1800s) topics and changed the game with his unusual rhyme, meter, and cadence patterns.

Today, poetry has seen an epic resurgence of popularity. This is encouraging, given that we’re so inundated with technology of the instant gratification sort: internet, podcasts, Instagram, Netflix, etc. It’s sometimes shocking that people find the time to simply sit down and read a book. Maybe it stands to reason that poetry is the perfect literary hallmark, given that it lends itself to brevity and creativity. Heck, some of today’s most popular poets have gained major steam using that aforementioned source: Instagram. If you’re a poetry connoisseur or just interested in dipping your toe into the poetry waters, we’ve got some great current poets to check out!

Rupi Kaur reading from her book milk and honey in Vancouver – 2017

Rupi Kaur is one of those poets whose poetry is all over Instagram. She’s already a number one New York Times bestseller, with her first collected work, “Milk and Honey”, selling over a million copies. In fact, it’s been translated into 40 languages and has knocked Homer’s “The Odyssey” out of its position as the bestselling poetry book of all time. In 2017, Kaur released her second volume of poetry entitled “The Sun and Her Flowers.” She tackles tough issues familiar to all: love, loss, and trauma.

Tracy K. Smith is the author of four books of poetry, most recently releasing “Wade in the Water” (2018). Her resume and accolades are staggering. She received her BA from Harvard and a MFA in creative writing from Columbia. “Life on Mars” (2011) went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. In 2014 she was awarded the Academy of American Poets fellowship and in 2017 she was named U.S. poet laureate. Her memoir, “Ordinary Light”, was a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction. Academy of American Poets Chancellor, Toi Derricotte, summed Smith’s work up best: “The surfaces of a Tracy K. Smith poem are beautiful and serene, but underneath, there is always a sense of unknown vastness. Her poems take the risk of inviting us to imagine, as the poet does, what it is to travel in another person’s shoes.”

Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on a rice farm. When he was two years old (1990), he immigrated with his family to Connecticut (after spending a year in a refugee camp in the Philippines.) Despite the tender age in which this occurred, one suspects his background influences his work, which seems to explore themes of transformation and traumatic loss. Vuong earned his BA at Brooklyn College and is now works for the MFA program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His collection, “Night Sky with Exit Wounds,” was the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2018. He has had works translated into Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, and Hindi.

Mary Oliver is a fitting final mention, given that she has drawn widespread comparisons to Walt Whitman himself. Her poetry focuses primarily on nature, with a particular regard for the quiet aspects and moments it holds. Her fifth book (“American Primitive”) was written in 1983 and won the Pulitzer Prize. “New and Selected Poems” (1992) was the recipient of the National Book Award. She was a prolific writer, producing a new book or collection every one-two years. Her last release (2017) was a greatest hits of sorts entitled “Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver” and can be found at a bookstore or library near you. Oliver passed away at the age of 83 earlier this year.

ENDANGERED!

After the last male white rhino died in March 2018, only 2 females remain alive in the world.

By Sharon Reily, Reference Department

You may have recently read distressing headlines predicting mass extinctions of species of animals and plants. Most alarming is the U.N.’s new report on biodiversity and ecosystems asserting that up to 1 million species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction, some within decades, including 40% of all amphibians, 33% of marine mammals, and another 33% of shark, shark relatives and reef-forming corals. Since May is Endangered Species Month, this is a good time to explore where information on endangered species comes from. Who collects and analyzes the data? Who decides which plants and animals make it onto the endangered list?  What is the processing for getting on the list? Once an animal is added to the list, who determines what steps are required to protect it? Which animals are currently considered to be in the most danger, and which threatened animals are making a comeback?

The Endangered Species Act

The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep was the first species to be listed under the Endangered Species Act in the 21st century.

In the 1960s, due to hunting, habitat loss and use of the toxic pesticide DDT, the bald eagle had suffered a drastic decrease in population that left only 417 breeding pairs accounted for. In 1966, public outcry over the decline of our national bird and other animals motivated Congress to pass the Endangered Species Preservation Act. The Act eventually evolved into The Endangered Species Act (ESA), which was signed into law in 1973 by President Richard Nixon. The bald eagle was one of the first animals protected by the ESA.

The ESA is our nation’s most powerful tool for protecting wildlife. Its purpose is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. The ESA is administered by the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (responsible for terrestrial and freshwater organisms) and the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service (responsible for marine wildlife such as whales and also fish like the salmon that live in the sea and migrate to fresh water to breed).

Under the ESA, a species can be listed as “endangered” or “threatened.” An “endangered” species is in danger of extinction while a “threatened” species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. All species of plants and animals, except for pest insects, are eligible to be listed in both categories. Currently, 1471 animals and 947 plants species are on the ESA’s endangered list.

Several species of sea turtles are endangered, with many killed in commercial fishing nets.

The ESA lists species as endangered or threatened based on five factors:

• Damage or destruction to their habitat
• Overutilization of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific or educational purposes
• Disease or predation
• Inadequacy of existing protection
• Other natural or manmade factors that effect a species’ continued existence

Numerous other organizations monitor and report on endangered species, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Center for Biological Diversity. They don’t have the regulatory powers of the ESA, but they do provide valuable information used by the ESA and other conservationists.

Animals and plants can be added to the endangered list in one of two ways. Either biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service add candidates based on the findings of their own assessments, or they respond to a public petition. Under the act, anyone can submit a written petition, and must be notified within 90 days whether the request warrants further research, which must be completed within a year. Thirty days after a listing is added, it becomes effective.

Once a species is on the list as either endangered or threatened, the ESA protects it and its habitat by prohibiting interstate or international trade and “take” of the listed animal. Take means “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect” a member of the species. Listed plants are not protected from take, although it is illegal to collect or harm them on Federal land. They’re also protected from commercial trade.

The Endangered Species

The population of the Florida manatee has increased enough that they’ve been downlisted from Endangered to Threatened on the list.

The ESA and other conservation organizations haven’t been able to save every species. Three species of birds went extinct in 2018 – two songbirds from Brazil (the Cryptic Treehunter and the Alagoas Foliage-gleaner) and the Po’ouli from Hawaii.

Nearing extinction are the vaquitas (a small dolphin-like porpoise), the northern white rhino, and the red wolf. Only 30 vaquitas remain in the world. The last male northern white rhino died at a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya last March, and only two females are left. In the U.S., only 40 endangered red wolves remain in the wild and they could become extinct in the next 8 years.

Other endangered species are well known:

• Amur Leopard
• Cross River Gorillas and Mountain Gorillas
• Hawksbill and the Leatherback Sea Turtles
• Sumatran Orangutan
• Sumatran Elephant
• Saola (an antelope-like animal discovered in Vietnam in 1992)
• Tiger
• Black Rhino, Javan Rhino and Sumatran Rhino
• Pangolin (Scaly Anteater)

In April the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is considering adding giraffes to its endangered list and will begin an in-depth review that can take several years.

The number of bald eagles has improved enough that it has been removed from the endangered species list.

But there is also encouraging news. While only 39 species have been declared fully recovered in the ESA’s 46-year history, scientists estimate at least 300 species would have been lost to extinction without the law. According to the National Resources Defense Council, 99 percent of the species granted protection under the act have managed to survive until today.

Some of the success stories include:

• Bald Eagles: recovered from less than 500 breeding pairs to nearly 70,000 birds today.
• Humpback Whales: increased in such numbers that in most habitats, they’ve been delisted.
• Grizzly Bears: numbers are still low, but they’re beginning to rebound thanks to aggressive conservation efforts.
• Florida Manatees: population has increased to the point that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in 2017 that the mammals had been downlisted from Endangered to Threatened on the list.
• California Condors: there are now over 400 birds, up from only 23 in 1982.
• Grey Wolves: starting to make a comeback.
• Whooping Cranes: still endangered with only 800 living today, but the numbers were once in the 20s.
• Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep: after being added to the list, the bighorn has come back from the brink of extinction. Its population is slowly on the rise, although it is still endangered.

Population numbers for the endangered mountain gorilla have recently increased despite ongoing civil conflict, poaching and an encroaching human population in their habitats in the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

In addition, the American peregrine falcon, Eggert’s sunflower, and the red kangaroo have recovered enough to be delisted, meaning they’re no longer in danger.

For more details on specific species and to find out how you might be able to help or get involved, check out the websites of these conservation organizations:

• Center for Biological Diversity: https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
• National Audubon Society: https://www.audubon.org
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN): https://www.iucn.org/
• The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): https://www.nrdc.org
• The Sierra Club:  https://www.sierraclub.org
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF): https://www.worldwildlife.org

If you’d like to learn more about the ESA and endangered species, see the attached sampling of books available at WCPL.

Saved by the Librarian

By Rebecca Tischler, Reference Department

Originally published on April 17, 2015

A few days ago, I was having a relaxing night watching the Fellowship of the Rings and eating dinner, when I had a sudden revelation about the beginning of the movie. When (spoiler alert!) Gandalf realizes that the Ring left to Frodo might be a dangerous and evil object, what’s the first thing he does? He rides through the night, straight to the LIBRARY! Gandalf went to the library to save the world and fight evil. I know, technically, he went to an archive where they preserve all of the important historical documents, but it’s still a library.

In all these wonderful fictional stories, I know that information from a library has saved the world, but that made me start wondering, what about the librarians who saved the world (because we all know that real librarians are awesome every day, right?).  So in honor of National Library Week, here are six librarians who saved the world, and just so you know, past this point are a lot of spoilers.  BEWARE!

6. ZOE HERIOT

For those of you who are familiar with one of the longest running sci-fi series, Doctor Who, Zoe was one of the companions to the Second Doctor from 1968-1969. She is first introduced to the Doctor while working as a librarian on a 21^st century space station. She had a photographic memory and was incredibly smart, especially in mathematics, so basically she’s a complex human calculator. On her most intense adventure with the Doctor, her skills and intellect are instrumental in calculating an explosive chain reaction to destroy enemy ships to stop the Cybermen invasion.

5. REX LIBRIS

Rex is the main character in a science fiction/humor comic book. Everyone knows him as the head Librarian at the Middleton Public Library, but what they don’t know is that he is actually over a thousand years old and was the original librarian at the Library of Alexandria. As a member of the Ordo Biblioteca (a secret international society of librarians), and with the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, Rex travels to the farthest reaches to fight the powers of darkness and ignorance, as well as to collect late book fees.

4. EVELYN (Evie) CARNAHAN

Evie could read and write Ancient Egyptian, decipher hieroglyphics and hieratic, and was the only person within a thousand miles who could properly code and catalog the library where she worked.  Although she was surrounded by more action inclined individuals (an adventurer mother, an explorer father, a treasure-hunting brother, married to a gunslinger and close friends with a Medjai warrior), she was proud to be a librarian.  And rightly so, because the first time she encountered a resurrected mummy, it was her knowledge and research ability that allowed her to strip the cursed mummy of his supernatural abilities.

3. RUPERT (Ripper) GILES

Buffy the vampire slayer’s long-suffering mentor may have seemed like a mild mannered librarian when first introduced. However, as the series continued, it was revealed that he was a wild and dangerous teenager who ended up knee-deep in dark magic, and that magical dabbling ended up costing a friend’s life. While he helped save the world many times with his reference and research skills, he would show that his dark past left him capable of making difficult and morally-questionably decisions to protect not only the world, but those that he loves.

2. BARBARA GORDON

Barbara Gordon was a librarian at the Gotham Public Library, and you might also know her as BATGIRL, or ORACLE.  As  a crime fighter information was her true weapon, along with her ability to kick butt.  She had a near flawless memory and was a computer expert, and after her spine was broken, she continued to  fight crime by acting as a information broker for superheroes (and later operates as the leader of a full team of female crimefighters).  And as all librarians know, the librarian’s special power is finding and organizing information.  She had no superpowers, like Batman himself, and yet she was able to protect others and defeat villains who were powered.

1. FLYNN CARSEN

The main reason I gave Flynn the top spot is because his title is The Librarian. Flynn is the guardian of a secret collection of magical artifacts at  the Metropolitan Public Library.  Originally he was a somewhat lost but insanely intelligent individual (by the time he was 31 he had 22 academic degrees) and it wasn’t until one of his professors kicked him out of college that he stumbled on his librarian career.  Unlike most librarians, however, he travels the world searching for dangerous artifacts like the Judas Chalice, the Spear of Destiny, and King Solomon’s Mines and defeating those who would use those artifacts to harm others.  He saved the world with his intellect, knowledge, research skills, and the fencing skills he learned from the sword Excalibur.  Also, he had apprentice librarians who had their own TV series and saved the world on a weekly basis.

Madness, Paranoia, Blame: What Caused the Salem Witch Trials?

By Shannon Owens, Reference Department

The Salem Witch house of Salem Massachusetts. It is the only house directly connected to the Salem Witch Trial.

On March 1^st, 1692, three women were charged with practicing witchcraft by their neighbors in Salem Village, located in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The charges stemmed from an occurrence in the previous month in which two young girls (9 year old Elizabeth Parris and 11 year old Abigail Williams) were afflicted with strange fits and other odd maladies. A local doctor suggested the girls were suffering the effects of witchcraft and the children corroborated this claim. Mysteriously, this affliction spread to other children in the village, resulting in the madness and fear we know today as the Salem Witch Trials. In the end, 19 innocent people were executed on the basis of these flimsy claims.

Interestingly enough, how this madness over witchcraft became such a craze remains an utter mystery. One would think 21^st century science and minds would be able to come to a more conclusive hypothesis about an affliction of this magnitude. Alas, we’re left in the dark, confounded as ever. There have been several suggestions about the cause, some more fascinating than others; some certainly more compelling than others.

Salem 1630: Pioneer Village in Winter 2008

According to records, witch hunts occur more frequently worldwide during cold weather periods. In her senior thesis at Harvard, economist Emily Oster pushed this theory and pointed out that the most prevalent period of witch trials in Europe coincided with a 400 year “little ice age.” Oster points out that during this time, scholars and popes believed witches were capable of controlling the weather, and since cold spells (no pun intended) led to low crop yields and general economic depression, witches made the perfect scapegoats. As a person who turns into an utter malcontent anytime the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, I can see Oster’s point.

In a less intuitive direction, we look to Native American Wars which reached an apogee during the 17^th century. The front lines of battle were a mere 70 miles from Salem; many of the citizens of the village were refugees from the war and had witnessed certain horror. It’s not hard to imagine that this would lead to a certain amount of post-traumatic stress that would keep anxieties running high. Historian Mary Beth Norton has a slightly different take. With superstitions being what they were at the time, she suggests that the accusation and subsequent execution of ex-minister George Burroughs (who led several failed campaigns against the Native Americans) of witchcraft was symptomatic of the town officials’ attempts to shift blame from their own inadequate defense of the village to something more sinister.

Witchcraft at Salem Village. Engraving. The central figure in this 1876 illustration of the courtroom is usually identified as Mary Walcott.

More commonly we see the hysteria attributed to demographics. Many suggest that since this is a situation in which the accusers are prepubescents and the accused are adults, this might simply be a case of childhood rebellion (insert eye roll here). Personally, I find it hard to believe that a 9 year old would come up with this. In my opinion, it seems far more likely that the girls were egged on by their parents who may have held personal grudges against the defendants (something to the tune of Capulets vs Montagues or Hatfields vs. McCoys). Feminist historians have always viewed the trials as patriarchal oppression, given that most of the accused were women and more particularly, women who didn’t follow societal norms of the Puritan age. This is almost certainly a contributing factor, but cannot tell the whole tale since men were also executed on charges of sorcery.

Ergot on Wheat

The most individual (and fascinating) theory was put forward by behavioral scientist, Linnda Caporael. She suggests that some of the events in Salem may have been caused by ergot poisoning. Ergot is a fungus that can grow on grains and causes hallucinations and spasms, which fit the symptoms of the afflicted. More studies have found that children and females are the most susceptible to ergot poisoning. Some historians have suggested that ergot poisoning was the chief cause of the French revolution (rather insane conjecture given the massive poverty and unyielding oppression the French citizens were dealing with, but I digress).

However, the most accepted cause is the psychological disorder known as “mass hysteria syndrome.” This is defined as “rapid spread of conversion disorder, a condition involving the appearance of bodily complaints for which there is no basis…psychological distress is converted into physical symptoms.” Perhaps living in such an insular and repressed community led to the manifestation of these symptoms.

In the end, there’s probably not enough evidence to support one theory over the next, but it’s entertaining to speculate. In all likelihood, a combination of contributing factors is likely the culprit. With few reliable resources of the time (outside of physical court documents), this is liable to remain an unsolved mystery. While education, law, and enlightenment have made this situation rather unimaginable in North America or Europe, we still see prosecution of witches in Africa. Interestingly enough, a 2003 study by Berkeley economist Edward Miguel showed that extreme rainfall (whether too much or too little) coincided with increased witch killings in Tanzania (typically the oldest woman in the household and she was killed by her own family.) Does this lend itself to the weather theory? The debate may never end.

 

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Sources:

• https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/salem-witch-trials
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-interview/1502/
• https://www.livescience.com/19820-salem-witch-trials.html
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/
• https://historylists.org/events/list-of-5-possible-causes-of-the-salem-witch-trials.html