Stuck, Stuck, Stuck!

Grr! The Dorothy Devereux story I mentioned 2 posts ago has run into a standstill. The opening bit I think turned out okay, but from then on! I just despise it when I can write something, but it turns out so awful and dully plodding that I just can't stand it! This is the opening bit:

My name is Dorothy Devereaux, and this is my story.
It isn’t a particularly exciting tale, but it is a story nonetheless and I am determined to convey it to the best of my ability, so that it may be known to future generations and not be mangled by confusion, rumour and misunderstanding.

Now, that turned out good. It sounds Elizabethan. But then... I think it might go better if I wrote it in third person instead of first, but I want it to be in first person. Grr. My characters are on strike, as a friend once termed it.

Dorothy and Penelope Devereux around the time of my story.

When I look at this painting, I get a rush of inspiration of a general idea of how I want the story to be, but the actual wording is what is so greatly vexing me at the moment.

More Quotes

More quotes, this time about writing, and my thoughts on them.

"We write to taste life twice." ~Anaïs Nin

^ This is, once I think about it, one of the many reasons I write. And not only twice, but dozens and dozens of times, with each story, poem or book.

"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."  ~Toni Morrison

^ There are dozens of things that I'd love to read books about, but since these wished-for books do not exist, (or the existing ones are quite awful,) I either write about them or plan to write about them.

I don't know if there's such a thing as a book about how to write, but if there was I would consider it quite absurd, because:

 "You only learn to be a better writer by actually writing." ~Doris Lessing

 

"A writer is working when he's staring out of the window." ~Burton Rascoe

^ I daydream a lot. And often when I'm daydreaming, I'm thinking up a scene for one of my stories. And sometimes I'm staring out the window.

Discrimination in Research, Paintings

I have been starting to write a story about the children of Lettice Knollys, who was the daughter of Queen Elizabeth I's cousin. There is very little information about Penelope and Dorothy Devereux, the main characters of this as-of-yet untitled piece of work, and as I was researching yesterday I ran into inconsistency between the different sites, i.e. birth dates, who was engaged to who and broke it off, etc. I could just dither over two different dates, or dither over whether or not I should have Penelope or Dorothy engaged to this person named Sir Phillip Sidney, but instead I'm just deciding upon which one best fits the plot of my story. That's what one has to do, really, when one runs into problems with historical research for novels based on historical people. Just choose which dates etc. best fit one's plot, and fill in the holes, (in my case, big, gaping holes,) with one's imagination.

I have been looking up Victorian and Edwardian paintings lately for a calendar I am making, trying to pick which of the gorgeous pieces of art best fit which month. These are two of my favorites:

John Singer Sargent, The Black Brook, circa 1908

Edward Cucuel, Unknown title. I'm guessing sometime between 1910-1930s.

In cold, colorless winter I am simply adoring these vibrant, summery hues and gardens overflowing with flowers.

"...Nor less, the stillness of these frosty plains,

Their utter stillness and the silent grace

Of yon ethereal summits white with snow..."

An excerpt of a poem by William Wordsworth that I just stumbled upon.

“I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.” George Bernard Shaw

A New World Made of Snow ~ Quotes

This is what it looked like outside the window earlier today, before it got dark: (my dad had made a bonfire...)

And on the windowpane outside...a new world made of snow...

Enya - Amid the Falling Snow <link to song

I adore this song! To me, Roma Ryan's lyrics for Enya are always such wonderful, beautiful poetry: A million feathers falling down, a million stars that touch the ground... or: I close my window to the night, I leave the sky her tears of white, and all is lit by candle-light, amid the falling snow... and soooo many other bits I'd list but that would be a bit crazy!

Anyhow, I thought I'd also post a couple quotes from one of my favorite quoters, George Bernard Shaw.

“Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations.”

“Be like the sun and meadow, which are not in the least concerned about the coming winter.”
“Few people think more than two or three times a year. I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.”

“Words are only postage stamps delivering the object for you to unwrap.”

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”
“A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.”
 “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.”

And those are only some of the prolific ones! There are lots of really funny ones too that I'll post later as I am sick of cutting and pasting...

I suppose I'm in such a colorful mood because of the pretty but drab white and gray outdoors!