|
I've started a Pinterest "inspiration" board for the new Meggie story (working title, hopefully the final title: Wings of Song). Right now it's just filling up with actors, but I do have a few other links in there as well. I've never done this for any other story (at least not this specifically, because most of my other writing boards are geared more toward research), and it is FUN. Definitely doing its job to inspire me!
In other news, it is HARD finding information about life along the St Lawrence River any time after Jacques Cartier. Especially during the Depression. For the US side, most info is centered more toward either NYC or the Midwest, and for Canada, it seems more focused out west.
Thankfully, I have my grandfather's memoir of growing up in the Thousand Islands region in that era - he was born in 1925, the same year I have Meggie and Matty being born. It's not thick with details, but it does give a vivid image of what everyday life was like for farmers then and there. And I'll keep looking for other resources as well.
Cathy, have you thought any more about adapting some of your fanfic? It would be so fun to think someone else was going along this journey with me! And anyone else getting their creative juices flowing from this enterprise? We could make it a whole Tangled Web project!
(Oh, also - I have Helen Mirren picked as the inspiration for Grandmother Linwood, the Anne alter-ego. But I'm stuck for Gilbert's doppelganger. Any suggestions?)
In other news, it is HARD finding information about life along the St Lawrence River any time after Jacques Cartier. Especially during the Depression. For the US side, most info is centered more toward either NYC or the Midwest, and for Canada, it seems more focused out west.
Thankfully, I have my grandfather's memoir of growing up in the Thousand Islands region in that era - he was born in 1925, the same year I have Meggie and Matty being born. It's not thick with details, but it does give a vivid image of what everyday life was like for farmers then and there. And I'll keep looking for other resources as well.
Cathy, have you thought any more about adapting some of your fanfic? It would be so fun to think someone else was going along this journey with me! And anyone else getting their creative juices flowing from this enterprise? We could make it a whole Tangled Web project!
(Oh, also - I have Helen Mirren picked as the inspiration for Grandmother Linwood, the Anne alter-ego. But I'm stuck for Gilbert's doppelganger. Any suggestions?)
I love the the Pinterest board for inspiration! It's an up-to-date version of what we used to do here!
I wish I had someone in mind for Gilbert.
I have tentatively picked Michael Kitchen. He's not exactly what I had in mind, but his quiet voice and kind twinkly eyes are perfect.
I LOVE so many of your pics! Especially the one for Gilbert. I am so interested to see the changes to your story as you re-work the location, I hope you can let us have a look at it.
I would like to rewrite one of my stories but 1) I don't know when I'll have the time and 2) it feels so strange to think of Cecilia not being Cecilia Blythe but someone else, you know? For me the stories are so closely tied to the characters that I don't know if I'd have the passion for them if I changed them. Still mulling it over, though...
Cathy, if you ever did rewrite Cecilia, she would still have to be named Cecilia, even if she has a different last name. I have loved that name for years, and if we have another daughter, that will probably be her name.
Yeah, I tried once, a while back, changing Meggie and Matty to, if I recall correctly, Tessa and Teddy. It didn't work. I hated them. Scrapped the story after two pages. Keeping them as Meggie and Matty and changing their last name from Blythe to Linwood? No problem. Isn't it funny what ties us to our characters? It helped, too, when I realized that I could keep Peter, Bran, and Polly's names as well. So much of my stories got away from the Blythe clan that it's not changing the heart of the story too badly to alter those details.
My comment comes a year too late, having just stumbled back on this blog after a long time away from the ff.net world. You should be able to find information on life along the St. Lawrence in Canada by looking for/contacting local historical societies (Gananoque and Kingston, ON come to mind) that put out small publications, or googling local libraries. I live in Ontario (though not in the St. Lawrence region), and I know my city town hall and local library has a ton of historical resources and a lot of their archives are available online through the library website, and they're always happy to help with historical research.