But y'all, I am the most excited. I found my NaNo project yesterday. I know it's going to morph and change and be WAY different from what I outlined, so I'm not going to say much about it now. Except.
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| Lucrezia di Cosimo de'Medici, probably the real-life duchess in question. (Source) |
Do you know Robert Browning's spectacular, subtle, DEEPLY creepy masterpiece "My Last Duchess"? It is my favorite poem of all time, ever. You can read it here. It's pretty dense but rewards a careful read. I've taught it a couple times around Halloween, and while it takes a while to get to the meat of the story, the reactions when we do have always been pretty great.
Anyway...during the month of November, I'm going to be working on a contemporary version of the story told and hinted at in the poem. What I love most about the poem is the tone, and the way the creepiness sneaks up on you, so I want to try to get to that point (although I'll be happy if I can just bang out the nuts and bolts of the story next month, and then target the tone in my revisions.) But this was definitely the kind of thing where, BAM, I just suddenly knew, yeah--this is MY project. This is what I want to be writing.
I'm sharing because I'm excited, but also because I want your help in compiling a reading list: what's your favorite dark contemporary? I've read a few (Breaking Beautiful comes to mind) but it's actually not usually the top of my list. I want to build my genre awareness a little as I work on this.
And if you know what you're working on for NaNo (if you're NaNo-ing), let me know in the comments! I was pumped before but this is like a whole new level, so I want partners in excitedness!
This sounds like it'll be a very unique story! I have some Browning in my contemporary romance, but just a snippet because I'm not a huge poetry buff (mostly I go in for the romantic stuff lol), so I admire your ambition and enthusiasm in choosing this for a NaNo project! Good luck as you "bang out the nuts and bolts" in November :)
ReplyDeleteThanks :) Browning's such a weirdo...I can't help but love him!
DeleteThe MY project feeling is the best! This sounds pretty incredible, actually. I don't know that I can name a lot of dark contemporary off the top of my head--I'll try to see if I can brainstorm any comp titles.
ReplyDeleteIt was really striking--I went to jot down one basic idea and suddenly a paragraph of plot poured out! I have no idea how much of that plot will survive, but it just felt so right and clicky. Very cool!
DeleteI remember studying "My Last Duchess" in university, but I'll need to refresh myself (going to read it right after commenting here). This story idea sounds fantastic, Jess! I love the idea of mixing poetry and an old story and telling it in a contemporary setting. Can't wait to read it! As for dark contemporary. Not sure if I can think of any off the top of my head. I'll let you know if anything comes to mind. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm back again. Have you read NEW GIRL by Paige Harbison? I haven't, but I do know that it's supposed to be a contemporary retelling of Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA. This might have the same kind of tone that you're going for in your NaNo WIP. :)
ReplyDeleteOooh, good call! I put that on my list but forgot about it--I may have to pick it up soon! Thanks :)
DeleteYour story idea sounds really intriguing! Good luck. I'm doing NaNo this year too. :)
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