Dedicated to Felicity Pulman - thanks for the workshop :) Yesterday, we had a workshop with Felicity Pulman, author of various bestsellers, who had the kindness to grace us with her guidance in writing historical fiction. I found it helpful in terms of the research needed to write historical fiction. What also intrigued me was how she thought about writing her novels - she saw it as an entire journey spread over six books; she knew what she wanted as the beginning and the end, and she had an idea of what sort of change that occurred in the character in the middle. This was very different from what I think of, when I write. We also did some character creating, but I didn't really do much there (sorry, Ms. Pulman) - well, except for creating a Russian 17yo boy called Alexei, who has brown hair and brown eyes, plus a freckle under his left eye, and is a manservant whose parents are a cook and a seamstress working in Catherine the Great's Winter Palace. Historical fiction sounds okay; I just am stuck on how I can work my question into a short story, etc.
Speaking of which, I have finally narrowed my topic down a little! Yay :D My question will basically be about how real Catherine the Great is through her memoirs and letters. A possible development of this question is 'How is she different from her letters to her memoirs?' or something like that. Why I am choosing this subtopic from 'Memoirs and Letters'? Because I assume that a large amount of information about Catherine is obtained from her memoirs and letters (mainly because from the films that we watched, there was a significant number of references to Catherine's letters and memoirs), and I am skeptical that her writings can be used as reliable sources. I'll be probably addressing issues like identity and genuineness...which may be difficult without a well-rounded knowledge of Catherine's life, relationships, policies, etc. I have already been searching for letters and particularly, memoirs, that are in readable English. I think I'll do a little more research since the deadline's still a considerable while away. I will also try to come up with a way that I can incorporate 'How real Catherine is in her memoirs and letters' into historical fiction...
Speaking of which, I have finally narrowed my topic down a little! Yay :D My question will basically be about how real Catherine the Great is through her memoirs and letters. A possible development of this question is 'How is she different from her letters to her memoirs?' or something like that. Why I am choosing this subtopic from 'Memoirs and Letters'? Because I assume that a large amount of information about Catherine is obtained from her memoirs and letters (mainly because from the films that we watched, there was a significant number of references to Catherine's letters and memoirs), and I am skeptical that her writings can be used as reliable sources. I'll be probably addressing issues like identity and genuineness...which may be difficult without a well-rounded knowledge of Catherine's life, relationships, policies, etc. I have already been searching for letters and particularly, memoirs, that are in readable English. I think I'll do a little more research since the deadline's still a considerable while away. I will also try to come up with a way that I can incorporate 'How real Catherine is in her memoirs and letters' into historical fiction...
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