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12-19-2007, 09:05 AM
Hi,
So I'm sketching out a novel that has been bouncing around my head for a while now, but I'm having real trouble pinning it to a time period, and I feel its pretty crucial to whether the story works or not.
Broadly, its the later half of the 20th century, but could feasably be any time from 1950s - present. I'm feeling late 60s/70s/early 80s, but I'm really not sure.
Central to the plot is a meeting of clases and cultures.... I want there to be a feeling of change in the air; harsh, cold, gritty modernity meeting stuffy tradition that have changed little over the centuries, bringing both energy and hope, and conflict and alienation.
The story is set around a group of students at a redbrick/Russell group university, Oxford/Bristol/Durham etc;
1.A Brideshead Revisted type sheltered, stilting boy from a minor aristocratic family
2. A Hooray Henry, 'Rah', wealthy boy with City banker aspirations, skiing and flash Austin Martins
3. A middle class marriage stock, plain, inexperienced, 'nerdy' girl
4. An outgoing, flirtatious pashmina wearing upper class girl, 2nd cousin to 1, but bored of the company she encounters
5. A lower middle class girl come good. Domestic abuse at home, she worked hard at school, was a nerdy outcast at first and is now blossoming at uni.
6. 5's boyfriend, a clever rebel from a poor lower/middle background, attending polytechnic OR in low paid job OR on the dole. Highly cynical. Kicks out against trends and mainstream culture. Given the right period; punk inclinations, drug taking, into photography, outsider art.
Factually, I want a period where university access is starting to open up, and a student from a state school with a troubled home life would be encouraged and supported in her application, but where lack of money and a criminal/bad behaviour record is still a major issue.
A time where you can simultaneously have sheltered, war time era-esque kids, jetsetting opulent types, and rebels.
5 and 1 get together, and the story is told retrospectively through their eyes as a quietly married suburban couple, 15/20/25 years on. They are still the removed, reticent, sheltered characters they were when younger.
I want there to be a feeling that the old world is fading, and a sea change is coming, but hasnt come yet, and at the end of the day, doesnt touch everyone.
Any help at all would be appreciated!
So I'm sketching out a novel that has been bouncing around my head for a while now, but I'm having real trouble pinning it to a time period, and I feel its pretty crucial to whether the story works or not.
Broadly, its the later half of the 20th century, but could feasably be any time from 1950s - present. I'm feeling late 60s/70s/early 80s, but I'm really not sure.
Central to the plot is a meeting of clases and cultures.... I want there to be a feeling of change in the air; harsh, cold, gritty modernity meeting stuffy tradition that have changed little over the centuries, bringing both energy and hope, and conflict and alienation.
The story is set around a group of students at a redbrick/Russell group university, Oxford/Bristol/Durham etc;
1.A Brideshead Revisted type sheltered, stilting boy from a minor aristocratic family
2. A Hooray Henry, 'Rah', wealthy boy with City banker aspirations, skiing and flash Austin Martins
3. A middle class marriage stock, plain, inexperienced, 'nerdy' girl
4. An outgoing, flirtatious pashmina wearing upper class girl, 2nd cousin to 1, but bored of the company she encounters
5. A lower middle class girl come good. Domestic abuse at home, she worked hard at school, was a nerdy outcast at first and is now blossoming at uni.
6. 5's boyfriend, a clever rebel from a poor lower/middle background, attending polytechnic OR in low paid job OR on the dole. Highly cynical. Kicks out against trends and mainstream culture. Given the right period; punk inclinations, drug taking, into photography, outsider art.
Factually, I want a period where university access is starting to open up, and a student from a state school with a troubled home life would be encouraged and supported in her application, but where lack of money and a criminal/bad behaviour record is still a major issue.
A time where you can simultaneously have sheltered, war time era-esque kids, jetsetting opulent types, and rebels.
5 and 1 get together, and the story is told retrospectively through their eyes as a quietly married suburban couple, 15/20/25 years on. They are still the removed, reticent, sheltered characters they were when younger.
I want there to be a feeling that the old world is fading, and a sea change is coming, but hasnt come yet, and at the end of the day, doesnt touch everyone.
Any help at all would be appreciated!