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....welcome to my blog on writing, reading and living in London ......

Sunday 4 May 2014

My Main Character Blog Hop

I have been tagged by Kate Blackadder (thank you Kate!) to write about my main character. Here is Kate's take on this challenge, and Rachel Thomas's. What is the name of your main character is she real or fictitious? My main character is a real character whose story I am fictionalising and giving a different twist to. I don't want to give away too much (mainly because I've only written one chapter) and it's taking time to develop but this will be a mystery involving Elizabeth Pepys, wife of the famous diarist. When and where is the story set? It's set in London in the mid 1600's which has been great fun researching (and has involved eating a lot of pies!) What should we know about her? Elizabeth was a fantastic character because we actually know a lot about her and her marital relations with her husband Samuelfrom the diary he kept for ten years. We know that she was educated and kept her own in a male dominated household and was not cowed by her very successful husband who thank goodness, loved her very much even though on occasions they fought like cat and dog. What is the main conflict, what messes up her life? Elizabeth and Samuel desperately wanted children, but, possibly due to their health problems they never had any. This may be one of the reasons Samuel had a roving eye and one of Elizabeth's main tasks was to maintain her position as the woman he really loved. Samuel had a roving eye which was constantly aware of beautiful women at the court of Charles II where he was very highly regarded and was able often to glimpse the King's mistress's such as the beautiful Barbara Villiers. What is Elizabeth's goal? I think Elizabeth wanted to be a good wife, a good sister to her feckless brother Balty and a good mistress to the servants in the household who she tried hard to educate and treat well, although she could be ruthless in demanding their removal particularly if Samuel became too keen on them, as he did with some of the girl servants who he would dally with when he got them to brush his hair at bed time. What is the book's title? Oh, I wish I knew, I often struggle with titles. But one will come to me, when I least expect it...... Now, I'm passing the challenge on to the wonderful Rosie Dean, here's a link to her blog. Rosie writes lovely and very funny romances and has just published 'Vicki's Work of Heart', which tells the tale of Vicki stranded at the altar and left with a pile of debts by her fiance. Her first book, 'Millie's Game Plan', is the story of Millie and her long journey to find Mr Right, here's the blurb. 'Does your life lack fun and love? Does work consume your time? Does your mother try to fix you up with her priest's middle-aged nephew? Millie's does – so she takes a grip on her own future and draws up a plan to find Mr Right.'

7 comments:

Rosemary Gemmell said...

That sounds an intriguing story, Cara!

Cara Cooper said...

Thanks Rosemary. I'm itching to get started on this one, but I'm 30,000 words into another one which has to be finished before I start something new. I spent the whole day going around the City of London the other day doing research which was super fun. I'm going mudlarking on the Thames soon and hope to maybe find something from the 1600s, who knows, it could be something dropped by Elizabeth?

margaret blake said...

Very interesting, Cara. I always liked Elizabeth when I listened to the diary readings. Wasn't she French?

Rena George said...

Hi Cara. I love historical fiction, especially if it has a touch of mystery. Enjoy this new project, it sounds fascinating. Rx

Cara Cooper said...

Hi Margaret, thanks for commenting. She was French, well educated and could hold her own in a discussion. He often mentions the two of them awake late into the night talking. I think she definitely had the intellectual edge over any floosies he might have been interested in! Rena, I love historicals too. I read Jean Plaidy avidly as a teenager. I recently read Rose Tremain's 'Restoration' well worth a look.

margaret blake said...

My favourite Restoration book ever is "Forever Amber" the first book that made me really interested in history. Loved Jean Plaidy too. Marvellous.

Cara Cooper said...

We had 'Forever Amber' in the bookcase when I was a child but I never got to read it. Will search it out again Margaret, thanks for the reminder!