(no subject)
I think I've mentioned that I'd like to write fiction some day. Lately, I've been interested in alternative histories. I read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell a few months ago and loved it and I've been a big fan of James Blaylock, Philip K Dick, and Tim Powers for a long time.
The protagonists in my novel would be Peter and Iona Opie. Who the hell are Peter and Iona Opie? They were (and Iona still is while Peter has gone to that great archive in the sky) renowned folklorists, anthologists and the greatest collectors and analysts of nursery rhymes and other children's literature. The reason they are good protagonists is they were the quintessential ivory tower scholars. They spent most of their lives hunched over their respective desks, in their little house in Hampshire, working on their scholarly material. While their work was interesting, their lives certainly were not.
In my novel, nursery rhymes are sort of real and, for reasons I don't know yet, Dangerous. Maybe the nursery rhymes are really coded stories of horrible, Lovecraftian beings and their ongoing evil scheme to kill off humanity and take over the universe. I don't know. BUT the ostensibly mild mannered Opies are, in reality, time traveling hero adventurers who go from place to place and time to time learning nursery rhymes in order to foil Evil's horrible scheme.
Sound good?
Sounds okay to me.
The only problem with writing alternative histories is, well, history. To be fair, the problem is not history, per se but,
more accurately, my work ethic with regard to history. I know a little about history and I like to read about it BUT as I understand it, the only way to write credible alternative history is to immerse oneself in the real history. This is called Research. I'm not a terrible researcher. It's a big part of how I earn a living. But forensic research is one thing. Historical research is another thing altogether. I'm interested in history if it's about something interesting but reading a book is one thing. Exhaustive research is, you guessed it, another thing altogether.
So, does anyone want to write a novel with me? I'll handle the plot and characterization. All you have to do is learn everything there is to know about Peter and Iona. I'll even spring for our trip(s?) to Oxford.
The protagonists in my novel would be Peter and Iona Opie. Who the hell are Peter and Iona Opie? They were (and Iona still is while Peter has gone to that great archive in the sky) renowned folklorists, anthologists and the greatest collectors and analysts of nursery rhymes and other children's literature. The reason they are good protagonists is they were the quintessential ivory tower scholars. They spent most of their lives hunched over their respective desks, in their little house in Hampshire, working on their scholarly material. While their work was interesting, their lives certainly were not.
In my novel, nursery rhymes are sort of real and, for reasons I don't know yet, Dangerous. Maybe the nursery rhymes are really coded stories of horrible, Lovecraftian beings and their ongoing evil scheme to kill off humanity and take over the universe. I don't know. BUT the ostensibly mild mannered Opies are, in reality, time traveling hero adventurers who go from place to place and time to time learning nursery rhymes in order to foil Evil's horrible scheme.
Sound good?
Sounds okay to me.
The only problem with writing alternative histories is, well, history. To be fair, the problem is not history, per se but,
more accurately, my work ethic with regard to history. I know a little about history and I like to read about it BUT as I understand it, the only way to write credible alternative history is to immerse oneself in the real history. This is called Research. I'm not a terrible researcher. It's a big part of how I earn a living. But forensic research is one thing. Historical research is another thing altogether. I'm interested in history if it's about something interesting but reading a book is one thing. Exhaustive research is, you guessed it, another thing altogether.
So, does anyone want to write a novel with me? I'll handle the plot and characterization. All you have to do is learn everything there is to know about Peter and Iona. I'll even spring for our trip(s?) to Oxford.