Urgh! So out of practice at keeping a journal/diary/blog/whatever...
So, not really got much to say at the minute, since i've only just started really. i thought it might be wise to try to manage my time better this year, rather than getting over-enthusiastic about specific elements and pretty much forgetting about the rest...
As i said, i don't have a whole lot to report right now, just forming an idea of what i want to do, and doing the research. i've been researching Victorian culture mostly, since i want to base my portfolio in a neo-Victorian setting - i do at the minute any way... let's see how enthusiastic i am in a few weeks when i'm still hitting brick walls left, right and centre - focusing on one specific House this time, whereas last year, as a Field Year Journal, my character, Jennis was supposed to be looking at the Houses as a group. This year i would like to examine his House in more detail from the point of view of another character, since Jennis is no longer a resident of the House of Tulnrek! (Not really a long long story, but still...)
Still got a lot of research to do for this project, but i'm trying to spread my work more evenly this year, rather than focusing on one bit, then the next etc, so i am also working on the written part.
Interestingly, i have found that my intentions have already changed a lot since i first started working on this project. i had originally intended to do a more in-depth look at the House of Sollenverl, but found that i just wasn't... comfortable with the characters. i decided to leave her for another day, and see where this idea fell more naturally. After dismissing House of Almara as too anti-social by nature and 'not quite right' it occurred to me that maybe i should try the original House, where the whole project had started! Duh! Sometimes i'm so stupid it's aggressive... *sigh*
i have also been looking at the animal side of my characters, since they are Shifters (mostly) to see how that will affect the 'human' aspects of their society. Getting a little frustrated by the repetitive nature of the internet, but suppose that's in part because i would much rather just go watch a wolf pack in their natural habitat... which isn't going to happen anytime soon...
Anywho, onwards and upwards...
x-lm-x
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Quite simply, my (increasingly insane) progress as i write my portfolio for uni...
Victorian Study
Blog Archive
About Me
What i'm Reading
- His Dark Materials, P. Pullman
- The Handmaid's Tale, M. Atwood
- The Age of the Five, T. Canavan
- The Black Magician Trilogy, T. Canavan
- Lady Audley's Secret, M.E. Braddon
- The Victorian Home, J. Calder
2 comments:
Hallo, Zoe.
I'm still not sure quite what you're planning and Victorian life and culture is a huge field. But there are some good ways in. For instance, you can see which libraries have copies of Victorian newspapers and magazines and see what was being discussed. You could visit museums looking for artefacts, costumes and so on of the period. The little details may be most telling - what did people have for breakfast, how much did they pay servants, etc. Go to the library and archives and see what they have in their local studies collection. And try reading popular fiction of the period, to get an idea of people's imaginative lives. I would recommend you include: the new edition of Sweeney Todd (possibly by Prest) which has just been published by OUP with a picture of Johnny Depp on the cover; G.W.R Reynolds - The Mysteries of London (in the recentish abridgement with illustrations); Mrs Braddon - Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins - The Woman in White AND The Moonstone.
That's enough for now, I think. Eventually you'll want to look at other novels using a Victorian setting (by Sarah Waters, Michel Faber, Peter Ackroyd and Ahdaf Soueif among others) but for now you probably want to establish your own factual and imaginative basis.
kathleen (don't worry about the demon tag - it's a long story)
Good luck!
I should have added that you can record what you find in your research here, with details of where you made particular discoveries. Also note trails that don't lead anywhere - checking them out is part of the writer's job, and you may find something that helps later, in a different context.
k
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