Brontë Novel
There are many aspects of the Charlotte / Arthur story that seem tailor made for the novelist . One of the greatest is their secret meetings on the moor. If it didn't happen, I would have to invent it But it did!
It must of given Charlotte a thrill. Heretofore such a meeting was an event found only in her wild youthful writings or mature novels. Arthur Bell Nicholls was not the dashing and dangerous Duke of Zamorna , the dark hero of Charlotte's juvenile writings ( a great understatement! ) but Arthur Bell Nicholls was REAL, perhaps disconcertingly so, and he adored her ...that has a charm all its own particularly at this lonely time in Charlotte's life.
I have so many moor conversations between them, that I must carefully weave them all together in terms of drawing the two people slowly together. Charlotte and Arthur both witnessed the same things at the Parsonage over the 8 years Arthur was there before declaring himself. But these events were seen from their very different view points Their perspectives need to be expressed and exchanged. They have a lot to talk about and in doing so they inform the reader.
In fact I have a number of different versions of the same conversations. It's interesting to see the same idea in different words Now I have decide which of these conversations best convey the given idea and WHERE to put what in the 18 months of courtship . It also means splicing/ blending different conversations together.
My on going research is often chagrining things too , which require rewriting scenes . I believe one of the reasons Charlotte told her father about her proceedings when she did was so she and Arthur get out of the cold! lol
It's Ellen
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| Ellen Nussey |
When I saw the first photo, said to be CB , it was so dark, I could not see the ringlet in the ear area. It looked like the hair in the Richmond portrait. Much later I saw a lighter print and there was a complex ringlet. That didn't seem some thing Charlotte would have . I recently saw a good many photos of Ellen Nussey over the years and that ringlet is in them all. She only turns to a bun in old age. The hair tells me the photo purported to be Charlotte is sadly , of Ellen. We are still without a photo of Charlotte Brontë
Looking at writing from the inside out
Reading is a very different experience since I have been writing for three years now. It's like looking at writing from the inside out . Like the words are superimposed on glass and I see them from behind is the best way to explain it . One sees the under pinning
E. M. Delafield
The Brontes, their lives recorded by their contemporaries
E. M. Delafield was an author best known for her book, Diary of a Provincial Lady. I found she compiled a book about the Brontes in 1935 that grouped referances by subject. It's interesting to see the material grouped together in this manner
She also wrote a enjoyable book called " Ladies and Gentlemen in Victorian Fiction"
An over view of Victorian fiction . Her introduction begins
The lover of the Victorian novel is not made, but born and not always in the Victoria era"
How true! I find this book a great help in writing my own " Victorian" novel I gain a great deal by looking at Brontë books of the past . There is a feast of them
And now for something silly;
Baseball cards for Team Brontë
I found a web site that will allow one to make baseball cards from photos . Wouldn't it be fun to make Brontë baseball cards? So I did, with nicknames too!
They will be bigger if you open a new window for them
Trade 'em , collect 'em! lol
It's been so chilly in my studio, I haven't been painting , but hope to soon!
okay, back to work!
