{"id":2031,"date":"2018-07-11T12:06:31","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T16:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/?p=2031"},"modified":"2018-07-11T12:06:31","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T16:06:31","slug":"the-pox-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-pox-party\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pox Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation: Vol. 1: The Pox Party<\/em><\/a>\u00a0tells the story of Octavian, a young slave boy who\u2019s a living experiment conducted by the Novanglian College of Lucidity. Octavian\u2019s life as an experiment began when the head of the College (Mr. Gitney) purchased Octavian\u2019s pregnant, teenaged mother Cassiopeia at auction. Gitney decides to prove that Africans can be just as intelligent as white men if they\u2019re given a proper education.<\/p>\n

The book has a lot of sharp observations about the nature of education and about the terrible hypocrisy that American patriots committed when they made grand statements about British oppression and freedom while they continued to keep black people\u00a0in slavery.<\/p>\n

The themes and sociopolitical observations aside, one of the things that really impressed me about the book was its use of language. The diction and prose thoroughly convinces us that we\u2019re reading something from the Revolutionary era, but it lacks the stuffiness of actual narratives from the late 18th<\/sup>\u00a0Century. It conveys time and place but remains accessible to younger readers.<\/p>\n

For instance, take this bit of speech from Octavian\u2019s captor:<\/p>\n

Mr. Sharpe stood above me, speaking in profile, declaring, oblivious to my convulsions, \u201cThe world, Octavian \u2014 the real world of objects \u2014 and not the phantasies in which you have been indulged in the outrageous luxuries of your upbringing here \u2014 is engaged entirely in commerce. Make no mistake of this. Look everywhere, Octavian, and you shall see nothing but exchange and consumption.\u201d (Anderson 338)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a start, the convoluted speech mimics the style of more antique fiction; a more modern styling of that might read something like \u201cSharpe stood above me, ignoring my vomiting.\u201d Using \u201cphantasies\u201d instead of the modern spelling \u201cfantasies\u201d also aids in the old-fashioned feel of the passage, as does using \u201ccommerce\u201d instead of \u201cbusiness\u201d and so on. Word choice and phrasing work well here to make\u00a0the reader believe that Sharpe is a speaker from a different century.<\/p>\n

Convincing the reader that point-of-view characters are from a different era is of great interest to me considering I\u2019ve been working on narratives set years before I was even born. Writing stories set in less-distant time periods is easier in some ways but more challenging in others. For instance, if you’re setting a story in the 1950s or 1960s, it’s pretty easy to accidentally slip in slang or references that are just a little too modern. Writers of more recent eras have to be just as careful as Anderson has been in making his narrative\u2019s details and his characters\u2019 speech seem authentic.<\/p>\n

This book will be useful the next time I do a writing workshop that focuses on description or on characterization and dialog. I think it would be fun to have students look at Anderson\u2019s passages, then try to rewrite them for another style and era: for instance, as a medieval fantasy, or as a modern-day noir, and so on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anderson, M. T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume\u00a0<\/em>I: The Pox Party<\/em>. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2006. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation: Vol. 1: The Pox Party\u00a0tells the story of Octavian, a young slave boy who\u2019s a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,4,19],"tags":[133],"class_list":["post-2031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-writing-advice","category-writing-workshop","tag-ya"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/octavian.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8qT6f-wL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1274,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/may-6th-plotting-workshop-at-the-pickerington-oh-library\/","url_meta":{"origin":2031,"position":0},"title":"May 6th Plotting Workshop at the Pickerington, OH Library","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"March 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"On May 6th from 11am-1pm, I'll be leading a free writing workshop for teens and adults at the Pickerington Library in Ohio. \"The Plot Thickens\" is a two hour discussion on the mechanics of various plots and narrative structures and how they can be applied to fiction, games, and nonfiction.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "writing"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/16473425_1246243565424730_4041144272544505581_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/16473425_1246243565424730_4041144272544505581_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/16473425_1246243565424730_4041144272544505581_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/16473425_1246243565424730_4041144272544505581_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2075,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/recitatif\/","url_meta":{"origin":2031,"position":1},"title":"Recitatif","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"July 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Recitatif is the French word for recitative, which is a type of spoken performance that's a combination of regular speech and singing, similar to the German term Sprechgesang. It's typically used in narrative interludes during operas, for instance. \u201cRecitatif\u201d is Toni Morrison\u2019s one and only published short story; you can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Toni_Morrison_2008.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Toni_Morrison_2008.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Toni_Morrison_2008.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Toni_Morrison_2008.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Toni_Morrison_2008.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Toni_Morrison_2008.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1878,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/new-writing-assistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":2031,"position":2},"title":"Need nonfiction? I can help!","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"April 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I added a couple of new reward levels to my Patreon: Ghostwriter $150 or more per month In addition to all my writing, prompts, and monthly chats,\u00a0I will write up to 750 words of nonfiction to order per month. Need technical documentation? Business letters? Memos? Reports? Blog posts?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "game"","block_context":{"text":"game","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/game\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1964910.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1964910.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1964910.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1964910.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1964910.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1964910.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1633,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/one-writers-beginnings\/","url_meta":{"origin":2031,"position":3},"title":"One Writer’s Beginnings","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"November 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"An excellent book for authors is\u00a0One Writer\u2019s Beginnings\u00a0by famed Mississippi author Eudora Welty. The book was originally published in 1984. It\u2019s a collection of her autobiographical essays, which were based on a series of lectures that she gave at Harvard University in 1983. Much of the book details Welty\u2019s formative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/welty.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/welty.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/welty.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/welty.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/columbus-book-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":2031,"position":4},"title":"Columbus Book Festival","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"July 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This coming weekend on Saturday July 12 and Sunday July 13, you can find me in the Ohio Horror Writers Association tent in Topiary Park for the Columbus Book Festival. The festival is free, and will feature musical and poetry performances, author readings and author discussions, food trucks, and more.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing Advice"","block_context":{"text":"Writing Advice","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/writing-advice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book festival logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cbusbookfestlogo-1-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cbusbookfestlogo-1-scaled.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cbusbookfestlogo-1-scaled.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cbusbookfestlogo-1-scaled.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cbusbookfestlogo-1-scaled.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cbusbookfestlogo-1-scaled.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":586,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/book-review-storyteller-by-kate-wilhelm\/","url_meta":{"origin":2031,"position":5},"title":"Book Review: Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"November 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm Small Beer Press ISBN: 1-931520-16-X 190 pages I attended Clarion the year after Kate Wilhelm stopped teaching there. She (along with Robin Scott Wilson and her husband Damon Knight) was one of the original\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=lookwhatifoun-20&l=ur2&o=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2031"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2053,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions\/2053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}