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@Daeus… ooh, different character types. I love this discussion. I’m in my element. You mentioned a jester, and set my mind on *splutter, choke, gasp* excuse me, I mean got my thinker chugging.
What if the jester was a gloomy pessimist?
And the minstrel— what if he were a cheery, happy-go-lucky, glass-is-always-half-full type? And he and the jester, having somewhat similar occupations, could always be at each others’ throats. And then you could have one of the other characters (the blacksmith maybe, or a messenger, or something) always be trying to make peace between the minstrel and the jester and always ending up making the situation worse.Oh, and as to the Lollards question, I suppose that depends on how it fits your story. The message being simply ‘change the world’ and not necessarily ‘faith changes the world’, it’s a moot point.
@kate-flournoy I like the idea of a pessimistic jester. I was also thinking that I could have a little resentment between the two lords in the resistance. There should be at least one guy among them who, while not being super brilliant, is very solid and peaceable – probably the blacksmith.
As for the Lollards, I get your point about how they might be more of an add on message, which is something I dislike. Messages should spring organically from the basic plot. I certainly don’t want to create a humanistic story though. I also got this idea in my head now so that I can’t completely give up the Lollards, because I really want to have John Wycliffe protest to the dictator when he takes over and make the dictator so mad that he shocks him dead with a huge bolt of electricity. I just can’t give that scene up. Now then, I’m thinking I will have a handful of the resistance people be Lollards, but make that more of just a side fact that has some interesting connections with history, rather than for me to go off and say, “now about these Lollards…” But if anyone is reading it who knows about the Lollards, they might feel an extra connection to those characters through that.
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Yikes @Daeus! A dystopian time travel historical revisionist fictional novel! Are you sure you didn’t bite off more than you can chew? 😉
*puts on ‘wet-blanket’ (more commonly known as ‘Eeyore’) expression* If I was writing this book (which you’ll notice I’m not) but if I was writing this book, I would stick with either the time-travel genre or the revisionist genre. Time travel is well and good— but revisionist doesn’t mix with it. If you aren’t prepared to make a big point of ‘how would the world have been different if John Wycliffe was killed by an electrical shock’ I would say scratch the idea. But as you’ll notice, no one asked my opinion. *sniffs, turns with swish of Eeyore tail and begins eating thistles*
@kate-flournoy Well the good news is that thistles are edible, but the bad news is they have spikes. I guess we’re both biting off more than we can chew.
Very good point about historical revisionism needing a point. I’m not sure it needs a historical point though. I think it would be fine if the point was more concerned with character and plot development. Do you agree or disagree? I can assure you I wouldn’t have John Wycliffe be electrocuted just for the fun of messing up history or just because I’m trying to cram John Wycliffe in there (it’s fine with me if he’s left out of it), but I think I could use this scene for developing exactly what type of character the mad scientist is and probably for the development of further events or themes.
If it helps any, I also have plans (none of this revision stuff is quite decided) to have my mad scientist make either Edward III or Richard II (which ever would be king at the time, and I’m still not certain about the time period) a slave to him. Then I have plans for writing an interesting turn of events using that same king.
…that probably doesn’t help.
But actually, if you think about it, I have to do at least some historical revision if I’m going to have a mad scientist take over the crown.
If you’ve ever read a Connecticut yankee and king author’s court, the author does the same thing does the same thing. He combines time travel and historical revision (except it’s not quite historical, but there are plenty of books on the subject that give the official story). For him, it worked splendidly. I’m not saying I’m right, but, I guess I’m saying that what he did was done well and this is similar, so I think I might be right.
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@daeus I think the Lollards might be a nice, historical tie-in. But you could have them be believers even if not. Depends on how much research you’re wanting to do. 😛
There’s pretty much two ways to take on the whole traveling-back-in-time-thing. Either you humorously explain the way history is in the books, or you alter it. I’d say you’re probably going for the second option unless you get really technical and have the kids go use time travel make sure the scientist never does anything in the first place. 😛
Well @Daeus, if you feel confident you can pull it off well, go for it. Too often I’ve heard an idea and absolutely freaked out because I didn’t think I could do it well, then realized that whoever it was that was doing it pulled it off perfectly.
I guess I’m no fit standard for other peoples’ skills. Hm… that’s a good thing actually. 😛
And too often I’ve had an idea I was one hundred percent positive I could do well and pull it off to be really powerful, and I told it to someone else, and they looked at me like I was absolutely bonkers.
Which one has to be, to eat thistles. I’m just saying…
@writefury, I’m going for the rewrite thing. I’ll have to do some research for this, but I want to do ALAP (as little as possible).
@kate-flournoy, I’m not perfectly confident in myself, but I’m sure I’ll succeed. I tend to be optimistic about what I’ll do and optimistic about what I’ve done. But then I think to myself that I might not really be that good and I shrug my shoulders and say, “Na, I’ll just do fine anyways.”🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
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