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Post by Celestial on Oct 23, 2013 9:57:39 GMT -5
Might change the title later. Fun fact, it was going to be my diary title to document my Russian travels until I remembered I'm far too lazy to keep up a diary. Righty-o, after skipping a year to do a competition, I'm back on the NaNoing scene...except I'm in St. Petersburg this time. So I thought I might as well write about this city, doing an urban fantasy again as I did in 2011. I'm not going to lie, this is going to be a rather lazy novel in terms of setting and characters, since I'll have what pretty much amounts to an author avatar (but a guy, weirdly enough) plus the landmarks of this city personified. But I do like the characters I'm creating, especially Alla (the female MC) and Hermia (the antagonist. She's hardly a villain.) So...plot: Peter, a young man travelling from (America/Britain. Dunno which one yet, I'll elaborate later) arrives in the city of St. Petersburg to celebrate his graduation, not aiming to stay for more than a few days to see the sights before moving on around Europe. However, when his bag containing his money and documents gets stolen, he finds himself homeless wandering the streets, completely lost and overwhelmed by the size and alien nature of the city. An elderly woman named Alla, who claims to have been heavily wounded during the seige of the city during the second world war, comes to his aid, providing him with a hot meal and a guide around the city, despite her stern and sometimes a little patronising nature. On his travels around the city, Peter learns more about its history, its culture and the people he seems to meet which are not all that they seem, including Alla herself and her conflicts with the denizens of the former imperial capital that even now bears the scars of its past. Basic but I'll work through it. I got a lot to draw on. When all fails, history. So, extra things. This novel will be bilingual. My point of view is the character who speaks English so the narrative will be in English but when the denizens and residents speak to each other, it will be in Russian. This is so I can both have Russian in the story and not fall behind because I type very slowly in Russian.
The current landmarks that will make an appearance are: The cruiser Aurora (Alla), The Hermitage museum (Hermia de Winter), the Russian Musem (Ruslana), Peter-Paul fortress St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Bronze Horseman, as well as various affliates of the Hermitage and the Russian museum. If you think any others should make the cut, tell me and I'll try to squeeze them in, although chances are they will be included anyway.
Now, should my MC be British or American? I've never written an American character before and it does seem like a more American thing to be so daring and go to a city you don't know the language of just for tourist purposes. Plus an American makes it less blatantly author-avatary and gives me some chance to play about with Cold war themes. But at the same time, I'm worried that I'll make them a bit of a caricature, although I try to write characters with no thought to nationality and he's got a fairly solid personality in my head already outside it. I'm leaning towards American at the moment. Plus hey, I'm already making him male. xD That's more outside 'write what you know' that 'American'.
I'm also not sure whether to make it obvious that the people Peter meets are landmarks or not or make it a major reveal. I'm guessing it will be obvious anyway from the narrative but if I hide it, I risk treating the reader like a moron. I'll see what happens when I write it. We shall see if I can keep up with this. |
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Post by Zylaa on Oct 28, 2013 20:25:10 GMT -5
That sounds so fun!! I'd go with American if you're leaning towards that, NaNo is a great time to try things out. And you of course have many Americans you know who would be very happy to give input. :3
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Post by Celestial on Oct 31, 2013 11:38:02 GMT -5
That sounds so fun!! I'd go with American if you're leaning towards that, NaNo is a great time to try things out. And you of course have many Americans you know who would be very happy to give input. :3 Thank you. Yeah, I'm pretty much going for 'American' at this point, it would be interesting and considering I'm developing a Tsarist Russia vs. Soviet Russia vs. New Russia theme with Alla and Hermia, an American character could serve to throw a little Cold War theme into the mix. And I'm always cool with extra interlinking themes. And I'm going to hijack this post to talk about things that have changed since I last wrote here, just so I don't forget them. Hermia is going to be the main antagonist. She has her allies as cats and her various affiliates. The river Neva, Kunstkamera museum and the Rostral columns will make an appearance, adding to the list of landmarks. I'm also playing around with including the ghosts of famous people like Pushkin but that will have to yet be seen. I'm not good at writing real people. Alla has become a much more tragic character, for spoiler-related reasons. If you're all really curious, you can look up the history of the Cruiser Aurora and try to figure it out. Also, her patronymic is 'Mihailovna'. Her 'sons' are the sailors who served on her, her 'daughters' are the ships that were built with her design in mind. And ships are male in Russian but I'm going to keep her female because I like her character as an old lady and I'm so used to the British tradition of ships being female. She and Hermia have a sordid history (again, see RL history) and the manifestation of Hermia is trying to find Alla in order to make her pay for past grudges. Now, the plot hole here is why now? They've had almost a hundred years to work it out. I think it's because of clueless Peter being clueless and Alla taking pity on him, causing her to step on Hermia's territory. Each island of the city has its 'ruler' denizen, you see, who knows the goings on of that island. Alla doesn't have her own territory since she's anchored on water and therefore not safe anywhere. Other 'ruler' denizens: Peter-Paul Fortress (Zaichiy island), Hermi(t)a(ge) (Dunno what the island is called) and...that's it for now. I'll think of things. The denizens are not invisiible to normals, which is more difficult for some than for others due to their appearances. I'm wondering whether they also can dematerialise but it is more interesting if they cannot. Important Oath time: I will make this understandable to people who do not have a detailed history of Saint Petersburg at their fingertips, I promise...at least, I'll try. ^^; |
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Post by Celestial on Nov 18, 2013 8:47:31 GMT -5
So...I know I haven't updated here for a while. This is going fine, I haven't given up, I'm at almost 29,000 words (aka: right on schedule) and have been writing my quota every day. No more, no less. Novel is competent but nothing really special. I'd love to post bits but I'm having trouble finding some without Russian in them. So much of it is dialogue too. My POV character is boring as dirt but my FMC is really fun, although she's undergone some major character shifts, for better or for worse, as the novel has gone on. I suppose I can justify it by everything being brought to the surface and her being forced to confront everything. Managed to fit in a flashback about her war past, which was so much fun to write, if confusing and light on facts. I would post it but it's so different from the tone and context of my novel that it doesn't really represent it that well. Oh and the Florence and the Machine song ' Lover to Lover' represents her really well, for some reason. It captures her emotional tone, as long as you don't listen to the lyrics too much. Some characters who are not my own snuck into my NaNo, replaced the spirits of the Rostral columns and now played their parents. I still do not know how to tell the original creator of these characters that I accidentally wrote her characters into my novel. xD The Peter-Paul fortress has ended up being a major character, a lot more than I intended. Also, I'm tempted to ship Peter-Paul fortress/Winter Palace. Building-love FTW? Plot is coming together, sort of. I've got 20,000 words left and the final confrontation is kind of coming up. xD; Going to have to think of stuff for later. Meh, I'm writing this day by day anyway, we'll see how it goes. But yeah, I'm alright. Going at this, might give up soon, we'll see. Enthusiasm is kind of waning and laziness is growing. But I'll try. EDIT: Another thing I'm happy about: My POV character actually does stuff. I was afraid he'd just be a hanger on for the whole novel but he's alright. |
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Post by Celestial on Nov 19, 2013 9:45:23 GMT -5
I found a nice extract for you guys. ^^ It was written ages ago, when I was still in Moscow but it is the first appearance of Alla, who is an interesting character, and shows the beginning of the relationship between her and Peter, the MMC. It contains bits of Russian but they're not really important. I've provided translations just in case though, in {{these brackets}}. So, enjoy...maybe. It is a NaNo after all and this was written while I was still getting into the story and had other things to do, like enjoy Moscow. He felt a chill descend on him. Without his money, he had no place to stay. Without his passport, he had no way to leave. Without his visa, if he was asked what he was doing here, he could not provide any kind of answer. In short, he was stuck, alone and helpless in a foreign city with nobody to turn to and no way of knowing how to get his things back. He had not seen the man’s face or even where he was going. In a city this big, he could not hope to ever see him again. Even if his suitcase somehow turned up, it did not contain too many valuables after all, his money would most likely be gone. And he could not rely on stumbling on it again.
Stumbling...
He suddenly felt dazed and hot. Peter got up from the bench he was sitting on and stumbled in no particular direction, his mind devoid of any thoughts or emotions as the shock of his situation hit him as hard as a tidal wave upon a sand dune. There was nothing he could do, no ability to rectify what had happened to him.
The river loomed ahead of him but he could not remember what it was called. He turned left at the embankment, still having enough thought process to not fall into it but only just. Past the trees and the buildings Peter walked, having no destination and just doing it automatically, slowly, painfully. He barely noticed anything as he walked, including other people and even bumped into a few at times. They shouted annoyed things at him but even if he had heard them, he could not have understood it anyway. So he kept walking along the embankment until it turned. Peter looked up blearily as a ship loomed in the distance. It looked relatively modern but a modern ship would not just be docked like that in the middle of the city, plus its weaponry did not look like it had been used for some time. However, it was a change of scenery and a shock to the system for Peter. He did not expect a ship to be moored just like that. Staring at it, he almost walked into the wall of the embankment corner and fell into the river.
He scrambled on the rock barrier that separated him from a soaking, yelling out as he got a grip and stopped his momentum. After a few stomach churning moments, he managed to keep himself on the embankment and stumbled away from the river.
It was there that he could not run any longer. Peter snapped out of his daze and collapsed against the corner that he was just run into. Tears began to well up in his eyes and pour down his cheeks. He did not care who was watching anymore, all he wanted to do was cry at how hopeless his situation was. He was stuck in a foreign country with no money, passport or anybody to ask for help. All the while, it was getting colder and darker.
“Чего плачешь, синок? {{Why are you crying, son?}}” asked an old voice from above him. Peter looked up to see an elderly woman looking down at him. He could not identify her exact age but she must have been older than seventy, if not eighty. Nevertheless, even in her thick grey winter coat, she still looked like she had plenty of mass and her bright green eyes glowed with health. Beneath the coat Peter could see thick leather boots and her hair was held back with a blue and white kerchief. She looked like a typical Russian grandmother but her stance was anything but. She stood tall, straight and proud while her eyes looked down sternly at Peter.
Peter shook his head, not understanding a word she said. The woman looked him up and down again before giving a deep sigh.
“Speak English?” she asked him, her voice gaining a heavy accent but it was still recognisable as English.
“Yes!” Peter exclaimed in joy, his face breaking into a grin. The old woman was not as happy as him but nevertheless, she still extended her hand out to him.
“English? American? Tourist?” she kept asking him. Peter recoiled from her hand as he remembered the incident with the robber. The last time he trusted an English speaker who asked him of his nationality, he ended up here. Even though she old, how did he know the old woman had good intentions?
“You not want help?” she raised her eyebrows. “I will not hurt you. You hungry?”
As if on cue, Peter’s stomach grumbled. He had not had anything substantial to eat since that morning in Kiev and he regretted being so picky about the airplane meal.
“You decide. I will not force you, сыночек {{sonny}},” the woman told him and turned around. Seeing that his only chance of help was slipping away, Peter turned and grabbed the woman’s coat. It felt cold in his hands, even though the texture was that of wool. Of course it felt cold, it was a cold evening already. Which reminded him that he needed a warm place to stay too. Whether the old woman was telling the truth or not, he did not have much choice other than to take the risk.
“Please, take me with you. I really need the help. I need food and a warm place to stay,” he begged her. “You only just met me but-“
“Спокойно, без истерики {{Stay calm, don't get hysterical.}}!” the old woman ordered so harshly that Peter was forced into silence by her tone of voice alone. “Calm. Food first. Then see what we do.”
She pulled Peter up to his feet with a deceptive strength for her age. Peter knew that Russians were tough but never suspected just how much, if even their old women could heft up young men like him. Then again, he was pretty scrawny for his age.
“My name is Peter,” he said slowly to the woman. “You?”
“Alla. Alla Nikolaevna,” the old lady said before smiling. “Peter? No, Petya. American Petya”
“It is Peter,” Peter shook his head. “My name is Peter.”
“No, Petya,” Alla replied, although her amusement was a bit less this time. “Peter is stronger name. Not for you.” |
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Post by Celestial on Nov 30, 2013 8:53:09 GMT -5
I did it. I finished it.
I never want to see this thing again. Gods was that a chore.
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