John Keats - Who Wants to Know?

When writing any piece of work, a writer must consider the wider audience their story would appeal to. For my piece, if I were to extend it beyond its two-thousand word limit into a completed book, the potential audience would be quite large. John Keats is a figurehead poet of the Romantic Era, with his poetry being taught and read all over the world. His impact on the literary world was monumental, with its effects still being felt today. As such, his name and life are of great interest to many, making my piece widely marketable.

However, my story does not focus upon his poetry – as there are many books which do this already – or portray his life in a biographical way. It’s a creative narrative about John Keats, attempting to look through his eyes at the world, both in terms of his own life and the literary world around him at that time. I find this to be an unusual angle, not yet explored.

                           

Books such as Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley and The Life of Lord Byron, indicate that there is an active readership interested in the lives of the Romantic Poets. If I were to market my piece, I would aim for this audience in particular, as they would be more appreciative of the different approach that I am taking.

This unique angle will also appeal to publishers. Just like how The Suspicions of Mr Whitcher appealed to both nonfiction readers and crime readers alike, my piece would appeal to the nonfiction audience and historical fiction reader. This is due to the fact that my piece will open up the Romantic era through the empathetic view of John Keats, creating a narrative that is truthful, dramatic and an exploration of that historical era. This will thereby give the publisher more reason to publish my work, as it can appeal to a wider range of audiences. 

The Dangers of Dramatizing the Truth

When writing creative pieces, writers are destined to run into problems, both with their research and their writing. However, in creative nonfiction, if these issues are not overcome, it can be devastating to a writer’s credibility. Nonfiction is about real events and can, when presented inaccurately, offend or irritate readers and publishers alike, such as James Frey’s scandal about his false memoir, A Million Little Pieces. Therefore, I must highlight the issues I am having, in order to devise ways to overcome them. 

Lack Of Dialogue

Garfield might work without dialogue
John Keats? Not so much.

The main issue I am having with my piece is the lack of dialogue. Dialogue is a key component to the fictionalisation of any narrative. Yet Keats’ letters only depict what he did in Winchester; he did not write down any conversations verbatim. As well as this, the snippets that I have discovered so far in my research are not enough to carry an entire scene.
Theodore A. Rees Cheney states, in his book Writing Creative Nonfiction, “You must not let the desire to write interestingly…make you select those conversations that serve drama over truth.” Doing this may lead to your narrative losing credibility with your audience, so I must find a way to work around this issue, such as utilising quotes from his letters in a manner which supplements direct speech, or expanding my research to see what I can discover.

Too Much Information

Another problem I have is the overabundance of information about Keats that is available to me as a writer. Googling John Keats generates over two million hits, and there are numerous books from which I am drawing information from. However, the credibility and accuracy of these documents – especially the online sources– is not entirely secure. “Information is the goal of the nonfiction writer” Gutkind points out, and as such I need to make sure that my sources are reliable. Presenting wrong information, especially when it is dramatized, could mislead my readers factually, as well as emotionally. To avoid this, I must investigate my sources to ensure that my information is correct, and will not offend or dissuade my readers from my piece. 

Creative Strategies - Building a Non-Fiction Narrative

Following from the previous blog, I have thought about how I will construct my creative piece. Characterisation, setting and framing are some of the narrative building blocks which I have devised strategies for.

Characterisation

Although I am using Keats’ letters as the main insight into his characterisation, I must avoid regurgitating what he has already written. Instead, I will paint the scenes which arise from his letters to demonstrate Keats’ personality. For example, depicting John Keats at his desk, hesitantly writing to his lover, portrays his character much more engagingly than if I told the reader ‘he wrote to her.’ I believe doing this will make Keats a more compelling protagonist, as well as showcase the humanistic side to, what some would consider, a figurehead of the Romantic Era.

Setting

"Setting is not merely scenery..." states writer Janet Burroway, "....it is part and parcel of the significant." I've kept this in mind while thinking about the presentation of the setting in my piece.
Keats’ walk will invoke a calming atmosphere. However, I cannot fabricate the weather and environment to accommodate this mood, as this would be manipulating the truth; it was, in reality, very cold the day he walked. However, I can draw upon my similar experiences, as well as the research I have made, to highlight aspects of the truth that would still create the atmosphere I want. For example, I could contrast the grey clouds with the sound of birdsong, showing hope in spite of the gloom. This will create a consistent mood which will draw the reader into the world of the story.

Framing

As Keats progresses along his walk, the narrative will flash back to significant events in his life, such as his brother’s death or arguments with his publisher. This will make the narrative non-chronological. I believe that framing the story in this way makes the plot more engaging for the reader. This is because it speeds up the pace, moving the story from scene to scene, while having a single narrative thread that the reader can rely upon. As well as this, by placing Keats' life alongside the peaceful walk, the reader will have a greater understanding of Keats as a whole, providing a empathetic context to the piece. 

A Walk Through the Water Meadows: First-hand Research

           Lee Gutkind wrote that “a writer could…gain international renown (and some have) without wandering so much as a mile from his or her home.” As I continued my research after the last blog post, delving into Keats friends and the significant events of Keats' life, I initially disagreed with Gutkind. Keats visited Winchester two-hundred years ago – how could I possibly obtain the same level of in-depth research available to nonfiction writers writing about the present?

Then, after researching online, I discovered that Keats’ walk – discussed in the previous blog – is a regular tourist attraction in Winchester, with a path mapped out for people to follow. The route spans from Winchester Cathedral to St Cross Hospital, passing by the Water Meadows alongside the river Itchen. Although the city of Winchester has been modernised since 1819, the tour emphasised that the path through the Water Meadows remained unchanged. 

Winchester Cathedral

St Cross Hospital

       I decided to take the walk for myself. I wanted to put myself in Keats’ shoes, aiming to understand what he might have felt.

        I was not disappointed.

A bridge over the river Itchen

The River Itchen

The path through the Water Meadows

By taking the walk, I was able to immerse myself into my piece, taking notes on the environment around me, as well as the influence this had on Keats in his letters. It also provided the opportunity for photographs. I can use these as visual references for my piece, gathering the smaller details needed to create compelling scenes in my narrative.

By throwing myself, as a writer, into the footsteps of my subject, I have also been able to think about how my narrative will be structured when I start writing it. When comparing the walk to other events in Keats’ life - debt, troubles with his lover and publishers, his writers block – there is a striking emotional contrast, which I now want to include in my piece. I could use the walk as a central narrative thread throughout, placing it beside the hectic parts of his life. This is a choice that I can consider as I continue to work on my piece. 

Decision Time - My Choice and its Initial Research

I have decided to write my piece about John Keats. This is because his short stay in Winchester (12^th August 1819 – 3^rd October 1819) is a significant period of his life, which is detailed by historians and Keats’ own letters. Will Adams, although having an interesting story, is not as well documented. This makes engaging the reader more challenging since, as highlighted by Theodore A. Rees Cheney in Writing Creative Nonfiction, “the mentioning of concrete, realistic details about life raises emotions in the reader.” Without these, the story of Will Adams cannot be made to suit the creative nonfiction form.

Selected Poems & Letters of Keats, by Robert Gittings
One of the many reference books now collected on my desk.

With the decision made, I began my initial research by studying Keats himself, primarily through reading the letters he wrote during his stay in Winchester. Through his own perspective, I could gain a stronger sense of who he was as a person, how his stay in Winchester affected him, and what he did while he was there. These will be essential when developing the characterisation and plot for my piece.

During this research, I discovered that Keats took a regular walk in Winchester, from the front of Winchester Cathedral to St Cross Hospital. This walk, on one autumn day in September, inspired him to write the famous ode, To Autumn.

To Autumn - Read by Ben Whishaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwn6Xaz_uLM

This has the potential to be an interesting basis for a narrative, as it has the concrete details necessary for a scene, with wider significance for the reader. This builds upon an idea in creative nonfiction known as the Ladder of Abstraction, where small actions showcase wider, abstract concepts for the reader to consider. I aim to replicate this in my piece, as achieving this makes for effective nonfiction.

As I read his letters, however, I became aware of other characters, such as Fanny Brawne - his lover and obsession at the time - and Charles Brown, who accompanied Keats to Winchester. Finding more information about them, as well as more information about the walk, is crucial to discover more scenes for the piece, and aids in portraying the dramatized events accurately. This follows Lee Gutkind’s view of the nonfiction writer’s role: “Nonfiction writers cannot alter the facts, but they can capture…them much more dramatically.”

Two Men. Two Tales. Two True Stories to Tell.

John Keats and Will Adams: Two men with two compelling stories to tell. However, I must choose the one which will best suit the form of creative nonfiction, in order to develop an effective creative piece.

The First Idea - Will Adams

Will Adams was born in my hometown, Gillingham. He was the first Englishman to travel to Japan and rose to become adviser to the Shogun, a high position in the Japanese military. His website indicates that he's "one of the most influential foreigners during Japan's first period of opening to the West."

Yet, this is his memorial: A neglected clock-tower at the edge of a motorway.

Despite his achievements, Will Adams remains a disregarded figure in history. This provides a true story not yet explored by other writers. Furthermore, the contrast between the events of his life, and the dusty memorial commemorating them, proposes an interesting question: why should we strive to achieve, if no one will remember us?

The Second Idea - John Keats

John Keats: a renowned poet of the Romantic Era, writer of To Autumn and Lamia, as well as many other famous works. Despite dying at 25, many hold him as a staple name in English Literature, myself included.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that he had visited Winchester, where I currently live.

His stay was a calming respite from his hectic life at the time. This can create an empathetic narrative not yet shown by other writers: the man, not the poet, trying to find a sense of peace within his life, all the while transitioning into his eventual demise.

Three Important Questions

“Enlightening a reader is the unalterable mission of all nonfiction," says Lee Gutkind in The Art of Creative Nonfiction. While this is important, there are also two other aspects that I must consider as a nonfiction writer: narrative and historical accuracy. Therefore, I have broken down my decision making process into three questions:
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·         Can I make the narrative engaging?

·         Can I portray the story with the historical accuracy it deserves?

·         Can a wider message be gained from the narrative?

With any luck, these will help me make my decision.