Rambling about unwritten story...

[luzula]

It's kind of unlike me to post spontaneously like this, but insomnia must be loosening my inhibitions.

I very rarely suffer from that, but now it's two a m and I can't sleep. There's a story unfolding in my head--the germ has been there for some time, but now it's kind of growing, like it wants out. It's cool when that happens, though it doesn't necessarily mean I'll write the story soon (I'm a slow writer, and I have WIPs to finish).

See, when Martha was seventeen the boy from the next farm over proposed to her, and she turned him down flat. Her father was furious with her, and threw her out. So the schoolteacher, Miss Edwards, fixed her a room with her aunt in the city. Now she's sitting in the window of her tiny attic room with a quilt around her shoulders, writing a letter to Miss Edwards about her first week in the city. The room is cold, but she's used to that...

Eh, and so on... This story scares the shit out of me, because what on Earth do I know about 1920's Canada? For example, I really don't know what kind of education would be available to Martha. *considers Googling "history of higher education in Canada"* I mean, stories about camping on the tundra? That's easy, because I've done that. But this? *runs and hides*

Oh, oh, and then she meets George: Martha's reading in the library, tugging absently at her braid, and he's peeking at her from between the shelves, wanting to know who she is, but not quite daring to approach...

Arrgh. Now that I've gotten this out of my system, please let me sleep. (Not that I'm particularly looking forward to tomorrow, because I have to write grant applications, and they make me want to throw up.)

Comments

[vsee.livejournal.com]

I hope you will rest well soon. Meanwhile, perhaps this isn't what you want to hear about the story, but my instinct is to tell you to write the story how you want to tell the story and not worry too much about historical accuracy. If you can even hit one or two things that feel authentic that's going to be very satisfying. And really, how many of us, excluding our delightful Canadian friends, will know the difference? Do you suppose most stories, from any country, are particularly accurate about the 1920s? It seems it is blurry in all memories by now, and somewhat romanticized at that. Tell the story how you want to tell it, perhaps mop and up and do a bit of research later.

It sounds interesting. I do hope you'll have a chance to tell it some more. :)

[luzula]

Huh, thanks for the advice, and it's probably good advice, I guess. Though there are a few things I'd need to check up which are key to the story, such as what kind of education she could've gotten. And I also want to figure out how to work a Chinese woman into it. *g*

I think I'm a bit intimidated by Sage's 1920's story in DSSS. God, the level of detail in that... *admires*