This is re-posted from my livejournal...just wanted to share!
According to Wikipedia:
"An epistolary novel is a novel
written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, althoughdiary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents", such as blogs and e-mails have also come into use. The word epistolary comes from the Latin word epistola, meaning a letter.
The epistolary form can add greater realism and verisimilitude to a story, chiefly because it mimics the workings of real life. It is thus able to demonstrate differing points of view without recourse to the device of an omniscient narrator."
Well I pondered on this...and pondered....drove back and forth to and from Atlanta while still pondering and finally came up with the idea that tTHoHRatAP could work as a novel-AND a blog, in the form of an epistolary novel. I already have the seeds of that with the play through Henry's journal, and Heather said Spencer should have her ships log, Aicilla should have bizarre book lists and letters to siblings, and other characters could talk through letters. I've gotten very excited, and if I didn't already have the novel I was going to write for NanoWrimo I'd write this one!
Here's how it would break down....
Henry: writes about happenings on the ship from his point of view
Spencer: writes about happenings on the ship from HER point of view [aka Henry is exaggerating] as well as accounts of what really happened between her and Fioni
Aicilla: writes about things in a neutral voice as well as giving hints of backstory, she also has humorous lists, grocery lists, book lists, and letters to siblings
Jax/Mishi/Smith/Gizmo: random lists/letters
Illira: memos, and journal entries after she meets Henry [he gets her interested in that. She begins journaling/letter writing while Fioni has captured her...] She also writes about her and Vin's conversations
Fioni/Morgenstern: letters back and forth
Vin: perhaps a few letters at Illira's encouragement
The bulk of the story will be told by Spencer and Henry's journals with the other stuff supplementing. I think it also might be fun to throw in faux newspaper articles and whatnot to make it more interesting...We'll have to see if I survive NanoWrimo with my sanity intact first...or at least partially intact...it could be fun to write while semi-sane....enough of that!
That's all for now...I'll post NanoWrimo results as they come and or I get brain block/procrastination...my hands are very very cold.....
