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To anyone who is interested in my project. (I know there are five of you and wonder if there are more.)
My Chapman book has recently begun to be one big drag.
My initial wild enthusiasm began to die down after seven weeks of frenzied researching and writing (I have written over 40,000 words now and compiled 32 pages of illustrations).
The thing that has started to get me down is the amount of misinformation that others have written about him, which is then spread by repetition. Every time I read something that contradicts something else, I'm having to wade through it all and check and cross-check to see if there is any truth in it.
I am now in a position to declare that without exception, every article, book and webpage that contains a biography or part-biography of Chapman has errors. Yes, even the biog in the suspects' section of this website. I have not yet read even one single article in which every detail is correct.
In 2000, the local paper in Southwark ran a double-page spread written by Debra Gosling, who works for Southwark Police, all about Chapman and his crimes. She claims that when the police came to arrest him at The Crown, he hid behind barrels in the cellar with two revolvers and threatened the police, discharging both guns. I feel sure this is a blatant fiction since neither Adam, nor any of the trial transcripts mention it. They all say he was arrested in the billiard room and went quietly (and that sounds much more like the sort of man he was -- acting bewildered). She claims that he was arrested on 25th October, "the day of the coronation" when a quick glance at Wikipedia would have told her" Edward VII and Alexandra were crowned on 9 August 1902". She also pontificates on why a "qualified doctor" was working as a lowly "barber surgeon". She repeats Gordon's lies that the Ripper killings ceased the moment he left for America, were resumed over there, then stopped over there the moment he came back here. She gets the street number of the pub wrong, calls Mary Spinks intead of Spink and says he was hung instead of hanged, pretty inexcusable considering she works for the police as a clerk and fancies herself as an historian.
As soon as I arrived at the library at 211 Boro High St the librarian told me that locally SHE is considered to be THE expert historian who "knows all about Chapman".
So, I have taken on what has turned out to be a lot harder task than I originally thought. I am one of those people who has a compulsion to get everthing correct, from the big story to the tiny details.
Also, I am starting to wonder if anyone will ever actually read this book. I mean, apart from the tiny handful of people like yourself on the Casebook and JtR forums, who are chiefly (and only mildly) interested in him because he is a Ripper suspect, will anyone else in the world want to read this material that I am taking such huge pains to present with perfection both in fact, style and design?
The other problem that I did not forsee is that my book, because it presents facts and not fiction, is going to seem very dull compared with that of the sensationalist and excited style of Mr Gordon and such things as the thrill of the story of the revolver-wielding maniac told by Debra Gosling.
Worse (for me), I don't believe Chapman WAS the Ripper, whereas they do, and when you write from the assumption that he WAS the Ripper, it brings an air of excitement and suspense to the entire Chapman story because we are all dying to know who the Ripper was, about his life before ripping and after ripping, and it is only if you believe Chapman was the Ripper that the dull but intricate details of his quiet little life suddenly become fascinating glimpses into the life of Jack the Ripper. Without that connection he is just a dull, sordid little adulterer man who wasn't outrageous in any way.
Yes he was a poisoner-murderer, but in such a cool, dull, quiet manner that I am not sure that is of any interest to todays' readers, who are so accustomed to being constantly thrilled by sensationalism, and non-stop action, that they would find his story as dull as ditchwater. This is probably why nobody has written a book about him before, other than Mr Gordon, who had to resort to inserting hundreds of superfluous exclaimation marks, and twisting the facts to make the story more interesting than it is.
I'm not saying my writing is dull, but that my raw material - Chapman's life - is dull and as I refuse to 'spice it up' with lies, the end result isn't going to be a thrilling roller-coaster ride of a story.
I think that had it been published in 1903 the public would have found his life story terribly shocking and thrilling because this was a man who seduced a series of women and persuaded them to live with him out of wedlock (gasp, horror!) and even got one pregnant (!!) He committed adultery (shocking!) and performed an abortion (gasp!) This kind of lifestyle would have scandalised and fascinated the Victorians and Edwardians the book would have sold in its thousands.
People today are completely blase about everything. Cohabitation and adultery are now the norm, and we're so accustomed to axe-wielding murderers, multiple random shootings, blood, gore and horror that a poisoner fails completely to thrill.
So, what to do now? I've invested about eight weeks of my life in this. I know it does not sound much, but I have been neglecting every other part of my life in order to devote 12 to 18 hours a day to it, seven days a week. So, maybe 850 hours, plus a whole-day trip to London, plus some financial expense.
I suppose I could just reduce my 40,000 words to an article to replace the one already on here (if the webmaster approves it), merely as an exercise in correcting all the mistakes that are constantly repeated about him. Seems a lot of work to do just to upload one article.
Or I could just go ahead with printing 250 copies and see if there is maybe a market for it locally in Southwark and among Ripperologists who, because of Abberline, have a mild fleeting interest in Chapman. Hopefully the book sales will cover the printing and other costs so I can just break even.
If anyone is still reading, I would be really grateful for some feedback, or advice, or any kind of human communication on this subject.
Helena Wojtczak
My Chapman book has recently begun to be one big drag.
My initial wild enthusiasm began to die down after seven weeks of frenzied researching and writing (I have written over 40,000 words now and compiled 32 pages of illustrations).
The thing that has started to get me down is the amount of misinformation that others have written about him, which is then spread by repetition. Every time I read something that contradicts something else, I'm having to wade through it all and check and cross-check to see if there is any truth in it.
I am now in a position to declare that without exception, every article, book and webpage that contains a biography or part-biography of Chapman has errors. Yes, even the biog in the suspects' section of this website. I have not yet read even one single article in which every detail is correct.
In 2000, the local paper in Southwark ran a double-page spread written by Debra Gosling, who works for Southwark Police, all about Chapman and his crimes. She claims that when the police came to arrest him at The Crown, he hid behind barrels in the cellar with two revolvers and threatened the police, discharging both guns. I feel sure this is a blatant fiction since neither Adam, nor any of the trial transcripts mention it. They all say he was arrested in the billiard room and went quietly (and that sounds much more like the sort of man he was -- acting bewildered). She claims that he was arrested on 25th October, "the day of the coronation" when a quick glance at Wikipedia would have told her" Edward VII and Alexandra were crowned on 9 August 1902". She also pontificates on why a "qualified doctor" was working as a lowly "barber surgeon". She repeats Gordon's lies that the Ripper killings ceased the moment he left for America, were resumed over there, then stopped over there the moment he came back here. She gets the street number of the pub wrong, calls Mary Spinks intead of Spink and says he was hung instead of hanged, pretty inexcusable considering she works for the police as a clerk and fancies herself as an historian.
As soon as I arrived at the library at 211 Boro High St the librarian told me that locally SHE is considered to be THE expert historian who "knows all about Chapman".
So, I have taken on what has turned out to be a lot harder task than I originally thought. I am one of those people who has a compulsion to get everthing correct, from the big story to the tiny details.
Also, I am starting to wonder if anyone will ever actually read this book. I mean, apart from the tiny handful of people like yourself on the Casebook and JtR forums, who are chiefly (and only mildly) interested in him because he is a Ripper suspect, will anyone else in the world want to read this material that I am taking such huge pains to present with perfection both in fact, style and design?
The other problem that I did not forsee is that my book, because it presents facts and not fiction, is going to seem very dull compared with that of the sensationalist and excited style of Mr Gordon and such things as the thrill of the story of the revolver-wielding maniac told by Debra Gosling.
Worse (for me), I don't believe Chapman WAS the Ripper, whereas they do, and when you write from the assumption that he WAS the Ripper, it brings an air of excitement and suspense to the entire Chapman story because we are all dying to know who the Ripper was, about his life before ripping and after ripping, and it is only if you believe Chapman was the Ripper that the dull but intricate details of his quiet little life suddenly become fascinating glimpses into the life of Jack the Ripper. Without that connection he is just a dull, sordid little adulterer man who wasn't outrageous in any way.
Yes he was a poisoner-murderer, but in such a cool, dull, quiet manner that I am not sure that is of any interest to todays' readers, who are so accustomed to being constantly thrilled by sensationalism, and non-stop action, that they would find his story as dull as ditchwater. This is probably why nobody has written a book about him before, other than Mr Gordon, who had to resort to inserting hundreds of superfluous exclaimation marks, and twisting the facts to make the story more interesting than it is.
I'm not saying my writing is dull, but that my raw material - Chapman's life - is dull and as I refuse to 'spice it up' with lies, the end result isn't going to be a thrilling roller-coaster ride of a story.
I think that had it been published in 1903 the public would have found his life story terribly shocking and thrilling because this was a man who seduced a series of women and persuaded them to live with him out of wedlock (gasp, horror!) and even got one pregnant (!!) He committed adultery (shocking!) and performed an abortion (gasp!) This kind of lifestyle would have scandalised and fascinated the Victorians and Edwardians the book would have sold in its thousands.
People today are completely blase about everything. Cohabitation and adultery are now the norm, and we're so accustomed to axe-wielding murderers, multiple random shootings, blood, gore and horror that a poisoner fails completely to thrill.
So, what to do now? I've invested about eight weeks of my life in this. I know it does not sound much, but I have been neglecting every other part of my life in order to devote 12 to 18 hours a day to it, seven days a week. So, maybe 850 hours, plus a whole-day trip to London, plus some financial expense.
I suppose I could just reduce my 40,000 words to an article to replace the one already on here (if the webmaster approves it), merely as an exercise in correcting all the mistakes that are constantly repeated about him. Seems a lot of work to do just to upload one article.
Or I could just go ahead with printing 250 copies and see if there is maybe a market for it locally in Southwark and among Ripperologists who, because of Abberline, have a mild fleeting interest in Chapman. Hopefully the book sales will cover the printing and other costs so I can just break even.
If anyone is still reading, I would be really grateful for some feedback, or advice, or any kind of human communication on this subject.
Helena Wojtczak
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