Tuesday 30 March 2021

Self-imposed isolation, day 16

So there’s this story I’m not supposed to be writing 😄 and I’ve been struggling with a question: when should it take place? Back when it was just a budding idea, it was clear to me that it had to be the 19th century, but when exactly? Last night, just as I was about to go to bed, I suddenly knew it. I want there to be a performance of a certain opera! (It echoes a central plot element and it might just give me a setting I need.) So today I’ve been reading about that opera – when it was written, when it was performed and where, just what happens in it (I have seen it but are my memories correct?). Could my characters have attended a performance? Can I make it work?


What complicates things is that there are other occurences that need to be happening within the same time frame, or at least should have taken place in the not so distant past. Now I’m trying to figure out if it all fits! This is just an example of how something that is, in the end, a small detail turns out to require a lot of reading (and I haven't really even started!) – and might end up discarded altogether if it doesn’t fit.

 


 

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