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Russian princess stories
Jan. 8th, 2011 08:56 pmI've been reading and watching Russian princess stories recently. I have learnt:
Paris is for elderly relatives. Petrograd (the city so nice they will name it thrice) is for romance.
There was a time an place that finishing schools in the Swiss mountains produced relatively independent, free-thinking young ladies. Seriously.
The best way for me to identify with members of the landed gentry is for them to describe the physical act of scything a meadow in exhaustive detail (It is apparently, mind-numbing, demanding and satisfying work, even if you are freakishly wealthy).
Princesses of the blood grin with simple childish delight at the sight of lit sticks of dynamite.
Atheism is something you do to annoy your parents. Even if you are a non-believer, Greek orthodoxy is still better for everyone else.
Never let anyone know that your husband has hobbies. No one can respect an administrator who build a paper church.
Yes, you can tell the reader what your characters do and say. You can also say what they think. You can tell us what sort of person they are, what sort of person they think they are, and what sort of person they think other people think they are. After that it gets a bit excessive.
The first chapter/ song is irrelevant OR If someone throws themself under a train in the first chapter, it is really Chekhov's gun.
Champagne is a meal.
Princess stories are insane.
Paris is for elderly relatives. Petrograd (the city so nice they will name it thrice) is for romance.
There was a time an place that finishing schools in the Swiss mountains produced relatively independent, free-thinking young ladies. Seriously.
The best way for me to identify with members of the landed gentry is for them to describe the physical act of scything a meadow in exhaustive detail (It is apparently, mind-numbing, demanding and satisfying work, even if you are freakishly wealthy).
Princesses of the blood grin with simple childish delight at the sight of lit sticks of dynamite.
Atheism is something you do to annoy your parents. Even if you are a non-believer, Greek orthodoxy is still better for everyone else.
Never let anyone know that your husband has hobbies. No one can respect an administrator who build a paper church.
Yes, you can tell the reader what your characters do and say. You can also say what they think. You can tell us what sort of person they are, what sort of person they think they are, and what sort of person they think other people think they are. After that it gets a bit excessive.
The first chapter/ song is irrelevant OR If someone throws themself under a train in the first chapter, it is really Chekhov's gun.
Champagne is a meal.
Princess stories are insane.
