Brainstorming continues . . .
Sep. 8th, 2002 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrI still have not figured out my next book. But I think I have figured out the book AFTER my next book.
My sister-in-law Tricia, a professor of French literature at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, was burbling to me recently about the fascinating life of Madam Tussaud (of the wax museum fame). She was sort of the Forrest Gump of the French Revolution: she made the death masks of Louis the XVI, Marie Antoinette, Marat, Robespierre. She was an artist at the Court of Versailles, and then she was in thick with the revolutionaries. Finally, she went to England, where as a single mother, she built a hugely successful business. . .
I thought about Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard, which made a fantasy novel out of the stranger-than-fiction lives of Keats, Byron, and Shelley. Why not do something like that, making a fantasy novel out of the life of M. Tussaud? So I called Tricia to pump her for more details. I asked her if she would mind if I took the material and did something with it. She said, no, not really, "although I'd love to do something with you." I have a collaboration going with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kijjohnson already, on hold at the moment. I think I want my next novel to be something I write entirely by myself--I have to remember how to DO that. But Tricia's right: this is good material. Judging from Tricia's description, Madame T. was an extremely determined and strong woman, just the kind of juicy character I'd like to play with, and I also think it would be a great experience to collaborate with Tricia. I like Tricia a lot; it would be fun for us to work together, and having someone who knows a helluva lot more than I do about French history (not to mention the French language, although I can speak it a little) would certainly make everything easier.
That made the decision easy: we will certainly consider doing it together, as a collaboration--after I write my next novel by myself.
So . . . uh . . . that still leaves the question of what my next novel should be. Hmm.
I looked at more Grimm Fairy Tales tonight, and browsed through Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment. Nothing quite leaps out at me. I think I need to check out some different fairy tale collections, maybe looking at some more obscure ones. There's also the possibility of expanding upon a ballad;kijjohnson suggested checking out The Oxford Collection of Narrative Poetry.
Mmm . . .
I do quite admire Powers' work. He likes to take the strange events of history and ask, "Okay, what was really going on here?" and come up with a fantastical explanation, but one which still fits the historical events.
But if I do try to do something like that--well, I did discover one big difference for the writer in writing a book like my first and one like my second: My first novel was in my own made up world. But my second was based on real historical events. If you're dealing with our world's history, even alternate history, it can take a huge amount of effort to get those historical details right. That can be fun, but it can also be anxiety-producing, and a real time sink. With The Wild Swans I also could compare the experience of writing the 17th century section with writing the 20th century section. The 20th century section was much more nerve-wracking, because I knew there were people who were alive who had LIVED through it, and if I didn't try really really hard to get it right, they would throw the book across the room, saying, "No, no, it didn't happen that way at all!"
So: older history is less stressful, and a made up world is less stressful still.
(Or maybe I was just less fussy with my first book???)
Peg, still thinking
My sister-in-law Tricia, a professor of French literature at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, was burbling to me recently about the fascinating life of Madam Tussaud (of the wax museum fame). She was sort of the Forrest Gump of the French Revolution: she made the death masks of Louis the XVI, Marie Antoinette, Marat, Robespierre. She was an artist at the Court of Versailles, and then she was in thick with the revolutionaries. Finally, she went to England, where as a single mother, she built a hugely successful business. . .
I thought about Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard, which made a fantasy novel out of the stranger-than-fiction lives of Keats, Byron, and Shelley. Why not do something like that, making a fantasy novel out of the life of M. Tussaud? So I called Tricia to pump her for more details. I asked her if she would mind if I took the material and did something with it. She said, no, not really, "although I'd love to do something with you." I have a collaboration going with
kijjohnson already, on hold at the moment. I think I want my next novel to be something I write entirely by myself--I have to remember how to DO that. But Tricia's right: this is good material. Judging from Tricia's description, Madame T. was an extremely determined and strong woman, just the kind of juicy character I'd like to play with, and I also think it would be a great experience to collaborate with Tricia. I like Tricia a lot; it would be fun for us to work together, and having someone who knows a helluva lot more than I do about French history (not to mention the French language, although I can speak it a little) would certainly make everything easier. That made the decision easy: we will certainly consider doing it together, as a collaboration--after I write my next novel by myself.
So . . . uh . . . that still leaves the question of what my next novel should be. Hmm.
I looked at more Grimm Fairy Tales tonight, and browsed through Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment. Nothing quite leaps out at me. I think I need to check out some different fairy tale collections, maybe looking at some more obscure ones. There's also the possibility of expanding upon a ballad;
kijjohnson suggested checking out The Oxford Collection of Narrative Poetry.Mmm . . .
I do quite admire Powers' work. He likes to take the strange events of history and ask, "Okay, what was really going on here?" and come up with a fantastical explanation, but one which still fits the historical events.
But if I do try to do something like that--well, I did discover one big difference for the writer in writing a book like my first and one like my second: My first novel was in my own made up world. But my second was based on real historical events. If you're dealing with our world's history, even alternate history, it can take a huge amount of effort to get those historical details right. That can be fun, but it can also be anxiety-producing, and a real time sink. With The Wild Swans I also could compare the experience of writing the 17th century section with writing the 20th century section. The 20th century section was much more nerve-wracking, because I knew there were people who were alive who had LIVED through it, and if I didn't try really really hard to get it right, they would throw the book across the room, saying, "No, no, it didn't happen that way at all!"
So: older history is less stressful, and a made up world is less stressful still.
(Or maybe I was just less fussy with my first book???)
Peg, still thinking
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(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-08 08:05 pm (UTC)At least when the world's imaginative, you can say "that's the way it was because that's the way I made it."
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-09 06:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-09 12:47 pm (UTC)The instructor during the early part of the week was Tim Powers and David talks a fair amount about the styles that Tim Powers uses for writing in his trip report. Some of the ideas in there - to me anyway - are brainstorming ideas. Maybe they will give you some ideas to take off as well.
That's my brainstorm idea for the day - I'll duck back and listen again.