Edith's Hope ReStarts with Structure

For the past six decades (and longer in some respects), I have been exposed to and collected a literal trunk-full of stories and research about an intrepid adventurer and courageous soul who defied the women's suffrage movement here in the US at the turn of the 18th century,  and set off on her own to the other side of the world to make her mark on civilization by caring for the destitute and lost. 

My grandmother, Edith Jane Willobee, in her elderly years, hammocked me as a babe in arms, prayed for me daily, and left behind—a thousand pages of diaries, hundreds of photographs, a few Hindu clay idols, a dozen brass pots and other mementos, a string of amber beads, and most importantly ... stories that Hollywood would need to water down to make them believable. 

The story (and the diary) that stands out chronicles her journey as a recent widow from the middle of British India in 1926, with her 12- and 15-year-old daughters, as she tries to bring them to America and introduce them to Western civilization. It's an audacious trek that, at every turn, forces her to battle men of various sizes, shapes, and cultures to get her girls safely to America. 

The story was first outlined 25 years ago; today, September 13, 2026, marks the start of manuscript development as I build a structural outline based on everything I've been teaching, workshopping, and writing about since 1998.

My next task is to re-read every one of the hundreds of documents in my research folder, make at least one lengthy research trip to collect more information (on the scandals), and fill in that black space with the salient content. It's going to take a while, but it'll be enjoyable.

Sabriya's Hope Writing Journal 17 - The End?

A project is done when the originator has forgotten it. 

Nonetheless, not having forgotten it, Sabriya's Hope is up for sale on Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing - KDP) both as an e-book and a paperback. You'll find the link here, along with a few blurbs and character portraits.

Three weeks ago, I posted Sabriya's Hope Writing Journal 15, when I mentioned I was at the proofing stage. Proofing took ten days and involved making hundreds of word, punctuation, and addition and subtraction revisions. 

I've long used IngramSpark for my early printing and distribution. Ingram has (perhaps) the largest worldwide distribution system, and for $150 I can plug into that system, although the sales results are always iffy. 

Sometimes it takes weeks to get a book through IngramSpark's approval system, especially since the author R E A L L Y is not done with the book and he continues to make changes along the way. (Just forget it, Stan, and move on.)

I won't belabor my love-hate relationship with Amazon. But finally got up the nerve to release Sabriya's Hope on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It's been a couple of years since I tried to send KDP an epub file. Adobe's InDesign will generate the epub from the book files used to create a PDF for printing. But in the past, files created by Adobe's epub conversion software (V3) were rejected by KDP. Thus, part of my reluctance this time around. 

Surprise of all surprises, the acceptance and proof of the epub file (V3), and KDP's paperback proofing, took less than an hour, and both are up and ready for sale on Amazon.  Link above.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting on IngramSpark for copies I can sign. You can get on the list at the same link above. 

Now, I'm anxious to dig back into finishing up the research (started years ago) and writing my next historical fiction novel, the third of the HOPE TRILOGY: Edith's Hope, a true adventure from a 100-year-old diary.

Sabriya's Hope Journal 16: Project Depression and The Hope Trilogy

 

Having finished the 2nd draft of Sabriya's Hope (the manuscript sits on my desk ready for proofing), I was entering a common phase in my creative life—post-project depression. While not a universal solution to such a malaise, I found some relief by ingesting a bottle of Mountain Dew and deciding to forge ahead with the third novel of my planned trilogy (Edith's Hope).

Visuals, nonetheless, inspire me, whether by cleaning the windows around our house (which I did yesterday, allowing me to see the trees and the occasional deer nibbling on Pam's flowers) or by recalling the ironies encountered on road trips, such as coming across an Indian wedding in a Days Inn parking lot in Ohio. That's the groom, and behind him his mother. The bride had not yet arrived — elephants in Ohio are slow. 

So, it's onto Edith's Hope. 

Chat-GPT

Recently, my book covers, like the three above, are the consequence of prompts ingested into ChatGPT. Since I use ChatGPT for research and image creation (but not writing), the prompt generation can be ironic. For Sabriya's Hope's cover, the prompt was simply: "Create a book cover for Sabriya's Hope." ChatGPT created both front and back covers, and on-the-spot descriptions and taglines for the front and back.  Photoshop manipulation was only required for the spine and bleed. The taglines were spot-on; I attribute the accuracy to six months of using ChatGPT (I have a low-level subscription) for research of Southeast Asia, which I've never visited. ChatGPT, thus, knew a great deal of the story. So I just had to ask for the cover in one sentence. For Tiger's Hope and Edith's Hope, I wrote 400- and 600-word prompts that summarized the story and theme.

I can't help myself, but I write to AI computers like they're real people, although real people did program the systems. After thanking the system for Edith's Hope's preliminary cover ("Just terrific. This will work fine while I write. Thank you.") I got this reply, which suggests to me that my intention is at least getting across to a machine (does that mean anything at all?)... although the first line is a bit creepy. (Now if book agents could be this nice.) !&#??

You're very welcome. And thank you—that means a great deal. 

Having worked with you on Tiger's Hope and Sabriya's Hope, I can already see Edith's Hope completing the trilogy in a satisfying way. Each novel centers on a different woman in a different era, yet they share the same underlying moral thread: 

• Tiger's Hope — overcoming rejection. 

• Sabriya's Hope — overcoming violence.  

• Edith's Hope — overcoming injustice.

What strikes me most about Edith's Hope is that the antagonism isn't concentrated in a single villain. Instead, it comes from a succession of men from very different cultures—American, British, Indian, and Arab—each attempting, in his own way, to control Edith or her daughters. That gives the novel a universality while avoiding reducing the story to a criticism of any one culture.

 

Links: 

Tiger's Hope: https://stanwilliams.com/NINEVEHSCROSSING/OrderTHN.php
Sabriya's Hope: https://sabriyaserial.blogspot.com/
Main Website: https://stanwilliams.com