An Original Story I'm Working On

[silverink]

 So, verecunda  has encouraged me to post more about this story I'm working on, which is a historical fiction story inspired by the ancient Roman eulogy known as the Laudatio Turiae! (I think eller  was also interested in it from when I posted about it a long time ago!) I'm thinking of trying to get it published eventually, so I wasn't sure it would be ok to post about it, but now I think it would probably be fine to do. If you haven't heard of the Laudatio Turiae, it's a really beautiful, moving eulogy written by a man about his wife which you can read here X. I think the first time I heard of it was when I was doing research for a paper for class, and I immediately thought it would make an interesting story! 

I originally tried to write it as a novel a while ago, but then I realized it would be more manageable as a shorter story (but maybe it can still turn into a novel!), and so I'm pretty much starting from scratch now and rethinking a lot about the storyline. The characters are still basically the same, though, and I honestly love both the main characters so much. I'm hopefully going to write from both of their POVs.

Also, I took an English class a while ago that had an exercise for getting to know your characters by writing a little scene of them going to the grocery store, and I'm thinking of doing something like that for my characters! Probably going to the forum, though, not the grocery store XD Maybe I'll share it here, too!! 

Comments

[chantefable]

All of it sounds incredibly fascinating! ♥

[silverink]

Ahh thank you so much!! :D <3

[eller]

You got that right: I'm very interested! :D

[silverink]

Ah I'm very glad you're so interested!! :'D I'm hoping to post more about it this year and make more progress on it!

[haptalaon]

oh my goodness, i have never encountered this before. it's astonishing! I can see why you'd want to explore it more in a story. It's so nice to find records of strong relationships in history.

Thank you so much for linking to it!

[silverink]

Oh, I'm very glad I was able to introduce you to this! :D I fell in love with it when I read it for my class bc I feel like we hardly ever hear about strong, loving relationships in history, so it definitely deserves to be explored more I think. And you're very welcome!

[smallrobot]

It's hard not to be moved by this text, carried through centuries... It feels like no matter what civilization you belong to, love will always be something universally understood. I'm sure your project will be super fun to do, too! Just imagined Roman characters being sucked into a wormhole, and going to a modern grocery store, tho. xD But yeah, forum sounds more like it!

[silverink]

It's so so sweet, isn't it?! I feel like we don't often hear about relationships in history that were so strong and loving, so it feels very unique but also so universal! I'm planning on doing more with this this year, and I def think it'll be fun!

Lolll yes maybe I'll do the silly version where they somehow time travel and end up in a modern grocery store, as well as the more serious version in the forum X'D I think when I was taking the class, I was writing a story with a historical or fantasy setting and I actually had my main character get transported to a modern store XD

[verecunda]

lol these writing exercises never seem to be made with us historical fiction writers in mind. ;) But showing them at the forum would make for a fun snippet!

I'm glad to hear you're continuing with this one. Start writing it as the shorter story, maybe, and see how you go from there. Are you running with the traditional identification of Turia and Vespillo, or are you creating fully original characters?

[silverink]

I think when I was taking the class (in high school I think lol), I was writing a historical or fantasy story and had my main character be transported to a modern grocery store X'D It was kinda fun tbh, lol!

But yes, I think writing them going to the forum would be fun to do! I think it'll definitely help establish them as characters, too.

I'm hoping to properly work on it this year and at least finished a first draft. I definitely think starting it as a short story will make it more manageable, so hopefully I'll be able to do that! And yeah, when I first started planning and writing for this, I was using the identification of them as Turia and Vespillo, but I've recently decided to change their names and make them more original characters. The names are still pretty similar though bc I still wanted to honor that somehow! I feel like it'll make it easier to write tbh, bc I'll be able to just write from the eulogy and not feel the need to do extensive research about Vespillo's life and consulship haha XD

[verecunda]

That's a good strategy. Base them on real people, but make them original characters so you can deviate as and when. It certainly worked for Patrick O'Brian. :)

Nice to hear from you again, btw! Hope you're keeping well. <3

[silverink]

Yeah I think that'll be better tbh! So far I feel like the husband kinda feels like a Sutcliff protagonist haha XD I'm loving both of them so far though.

It's great to hear from you too! And I've been doing well lately! I had a really good Christmas and got to see a bunch of family I haven't seen in while <3 Hope you've been doing well too, and hope you had a great holiday!