- Joined
- Sep 20, 2011
- Messages
- 976
- Reaction score
- 766
- Location
- Bucharest, Romania
- Website
- caribbeandawn1720.jcink.net
Yes, I am asking it... just because a couple of persons are trying to discourage me. They say that people don't care anymore about things which happened in the past (more than 100 years ago), and in totally different countries. Is it true?
I believe in two concepts which I have previously seen around this forum too (but not only here): 1) write the story you want to read and 2) nobody else can write the story you have inside you, only a more-or-less similar one. I might add another one, that I am less sure about - if you like a book, then certainly there are somewhere more people to like it... (The problem is how to reach them, but this is another story).
I have no interest in writing contemporary stories happening in my country (with few YA exceptions, which I wrote - contemporary as happening some time during my lifetime, ie not necessarily right now in 2010s, because I heard different versions of interpreting the word contemporary, one of them setting as historical even things which happened during my lifetime, which I hadn't been taught so in school.) For these themes, I think there are enough writers who do their job wonderfully. I am attracted by other times and places, and I read a lot, I document well my stories, besides the adventure component.
I received some questions which can be taken as compliments, from readers who didn't know much about my life ("Have you ever lived in USA or in Italy? Have you ever been to Mexico? How do you know that the river you find on maps as Polcevera, is called by Genovese Punseivia? You describe all those Italian places as if you have been there!") Also, some literary critics say that I write cinematographically, that I have the talent to transpose the people into that setting.
I think any opportunity can be availed so as our highschool readers (or older people who need an entertaining lecture for a rainy week-end) are transported into another time and place, and enhance their general culture with various bits and pieces. Why would we want to learn about USA, about Mexico, about the Italian states before the reunification, about Vikings and their realms? Why not? I have always wanted to know about any country and time possible. I have read avidly all my life. As people are still reading "The three Mousquetaires", "Les Miserables", or Walter Scott's novels, for 200 years, it means there is an interest on history. And there are plenty of historical movies which mix adventure and history and are interesting. More are made every year/ decade. So... why some people say it isn't interesting to the readers, if I don't write contemporary stories within my country? Are they right?
I believe in two concepts which I have previously seen around this forum too (but not only here): 1) write the story you want to read and 2) nobody else can write the story you have inside you, only a more-or-less similar one. I might add another one, that I am less sure about - if you like a book, then certainly there are somewhere more people to like it... (The problem is how to reach them, but this is another story).
I have no interest in writing contemporary stories happening in my country (with few YA exceptions, which I wrote - contemporary as happening some time during my lifetime, ie not necessarily right now in 2010s, because I heard different versions of interpreting the word contemporary, one of them setting as historical even things which happened during my lifetime, which I hadn't been taught so in school.) For these themes, I think there are enough writers who do their job wonderfully. I am attracted by other times and places, and I read a lot, I document well my stories, besides the adventure component.
I received some questions which can be taken as compliments, from readers who didn't know much about my life ("Have you ever lived in USA or in Italy? Have you ever been to Mexico? How do you know that the river you find on maps as Polcevera, is called by Genovese Punseivia? You describe all those Italian places as if you have been there!") Also, some literary critics say that I write cinematographically, that I have the talent to transpose the people into that setting.
I think any opportunity can be availed so as our highschool readers (or older people who need an entertaining lecture for a rainy week-end) are transported into another time and place, and enhance their general culture with various bits and pieces. Why would we want to learn about USA, about Mexico, about the Italian states before the reunification, about Vikings and their realms? Why not? I have always wanted to know about any country and time possible. I have read avidly all my life. As people are still reading "The three Mousquetaires", "Les Miserables", or Walter Scott's novels, for 200 years, it means there is an interest on history. And there are plenty of historical movies which mix adventure and history and are interesting. More are made every year/ decade. So... why some people say it isn't interesting to the readers, if I don't write contemporary stories within my country? Are they right?