Writing fiction is harder than you think. I scrapped so many drafts before I found a style of writing that I liked and suited Catherine. And that was merely the first draft. So! In my historical fiction, I'm going to portray Catherine as a witty, and clever woman, who twists everything to her advantage. She is secretive, because she has so many different 'faces' she must have for different people. The 'face' that she shows in her memoirs is mainly that of a reflective and intelligent leader, always fighting to overcome adversities. I want to show these different 'faces' that she has.
When I was writing, I found a lot of useful resources like the Royal Diaries series. I selected Anastasia the Grand Duchess and Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles because Anastasia was Russian, so I might find some cultural information and Marie Antoinette, political and social etiquette. Anastasia was a while after Catherine the Great, but the book was useful in providing Russian terms like 'moujik' which means peasant. It also taught me about Russian names - that the last names came from the person's father's name with the ending depending on their gender; 'evna' for women, 'vitch' for men. Marie Antoinette was a Princess in France, who lived just before and during the French Revolution. She was very extravagant in court and in the book, she had a rivalry with Madame du Barry and found ways to scorn her and belittle her in subtle methods. These subtle methods were what I was looking for - I didn't really know about manipulation, so I learnt from this French princess. Both the books however were of the perspective of 14-year-olds, which was disappointing, because I was writing the perspective of a 50 or 60-year-old. The level of maturity was vast, so the books were only as good as minor references.
Other than that, I'm nearly done with the writing, but I think I need to have a 500-word explanation of how the fiction relates to my question. Bleugh. I wish I didn't have to spell it out, but I guess it's necessary.
When I was writing, I found a lot of useful resources like the Royal Diaries series. I selected Anastasia the Grand Duchess and Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles because Anastasia was Russian, so I might find some cultural information and Marie Antoinette, political and social etiquette. Anastasia was a while after Catherine the Great, but the book was useful in providing Russian terms like 'moujik' which means peasant. It also taught me about Russian names - that the last names came from the person's father's name with the ending depending on their gender; 'evna' for women, 'vitch' for men. Marie Antoinette was a Princess in France, who lived just before and during the French Revolution. She was very extravagant in court and in the book, she had a rivalry with Madame du Barry and found ways to scorn her and belittle her in subtle methods. These subtle methods were what I was looking for - I didn't really know about manipulation, so I learnt from this French princess. Both the books however were of the perspective of 14-year-olds, which was disappointing, because I was writing the perspective of a 50 or 60-year-old. The level of maturity was vast, so the books were only as good as minor references.
Other than that, I'm nearly done with the writing, but I think I need to have a 500-word explanation of how the fiction relates to my question. Bleugh. I wish I didn't have to spell it out, but I guess it's necessary.
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