<font color="gold">Ok, here's the deal.
I got homework today, saying that I must write a story on atleast 2.5 pages.
I must imagine that I live in London in 1666, and tell my life-story.
But I just cant find a good start! Can anyone out there help me?</font>


see ya!

Write on every other line - use more space up

Hi, Exxon. Since you helped me, I'll take a swipe at it.
"As dawn broke in London, Sir Josiah Peabody had just finished adjusting his wig. He surveyed the result with complacency. The woman in the bed had not yet awakened,and her soft snores filled the room. Peabody slipped noiselessly out, and once in the street, commenced the brief walk to the Admiralty, where he was to wait on Lord Bartholomew Chicester, the Second Lord of the Admiralty, about his request for a command of a ship to fight in the Dutch Wars. His last ship, the 74-gun Traffic had been lost after a desperate combat against the Dutch cruisers Noordhwuin and Heemskirck, sending both of them to the bottom, but so weakening the poor Traffic that she had succumbed in a storm that followed. A Cort Martial had of necessity followed, but he had been honorably cleared. Now, Lord Batrholomew had sent him a letter, advising him of Milord's good opinion and the hint that, if he happened to be in town, his Lordship just might have something for him" How's that?

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Sir Exxon:
<font color="gold">Ok, here's the deal.
I got homework today, saying that I must write a story on atleast 2.5 pages.
I must imagine that I live in London in 1666, and tell my life-story.
But I just cant find a good start! Can anyone out there help me?</font>


see ya!<hr></blockquote>


Ha! Ha!, just tell them how bloody hot it is! :D

This subject is so broad - you just lived through the Great Plague & now you are in the Great Fire of London, you might find it hard to limit it to 2.5 pages!!!

Do a Google search on it....
The most obvious subject would be the Great Fire. Try and read up on that a bit and imagine the effect it had on people's lives.
Try and find some info on Pepys' Diaries, too, they're quite famous and should inspire you. His diaries were written in a secret code that was cracked years later. He started writing it in 1660.
Try to start with thinking about the kind of person you were: rich or poor, scholar or merchant... what religion did you have, what political views. Remeber that the period of Commonwealth had just been ended seven years ago by the ascension of Charles II. How does your persona feel about that?
An other interesting viewpoint may be to write your story from a foreigner's point of view. When war broke out between France and Spain in 1635, London saw a huge influx of protestant refugees. You could try to write from the stance of such a refugee who decided to build up a new life in London.

In short, try to find a persona and immerse yourself in his world. If you can REALLY imagine what his life and ideals were like, your story will be convincing. Good Luck!!!

[img]smile.gif[/img]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Donut:


This subject is so broad - you just lived through the Great Plague & now you are in the Great Fire of London, you might find it hard to limit it to 2.5 pages!!!<hr></blockquote>

Good point. Assume that your teacher knows enough about the subject: don't go explaining the political situation or giving an overview of the history of England: write from the viewpoint of one who assumes that his/her audience knows the same things as he/she him/herself knows.

Ack... one more thing:

Run a GOOD spellcheck and if you're still unsure, I'd be happy to help out with any spelling/grammatical problems you may encounter: it just really makes a difference.
Oh and Galadria...isn't the story supposed to be written from a first-person perspective? Not sure if that was in the assignment or not... [img]graemlins/confused2.gif[/img]

Easy enogh to change, Melusine. Just trying to help.

Try this approach:

"Bring out your dead
Bring out your dead.

I'm not dead yet.
Oh, shut up.

what happened in 1666?

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Avatar:
what happened in 1666?<hr></blockquote>

Mmmm! Avatar your profile says you are in Cambridge University. Do you work in the kitchens or something? ;) please don't tell me you are a student in one of the world's greatest universities after a question like that!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Donut:


Mmmm! Avatar your profile says you are in Cambridge University. Do you work in the kitchens or something? ;) please don't tell me you are a student in one of the world's greatest universities after a question like that!<hr></blockquote>

And it's even in my and your posts!!
Baaaaad Avatar! [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img] Tsk tsk

My advice would be to write it from the viewpoint of someone of your own age. make yourself poor you'll have more to write about - you would have been working from the age of 7/8. Perhaps you should be a baker's apprentice [img]smile.gif[/img]

Of course your parents died last year in the plague and you have been looking after your siblings since then. Older sister is a prostitute working in nearby Whitechapel. You do a bit of pickpocketing on the side of course but doesn't everyone!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Sir Exxon:
<font color="gold">Ok, here's the deal.
I got homework today, saying that I must write a story on atleast 2.5 pages.
I must imagine that I live in London in 1666, and tell my life-story.
But I just cant find a good start! Can anyone out there help me?</font> <hr></blockquote>

If you don't mind doing a little research, the perfect book for you is Liza Picard's <font color = "cyan"> Restoration London</font>, from St. Martin's Press. It's set in 1660, and to quote The Independent, "There is almost no aspect of life in Restoration London that is not meticulously described in these three-hundred-odd pages." I don't agree with all of her conclusions; simply because most people didn't write about sex, doesn't mean that it was of so little interest as Picard explains, for example. But her collection of material is fascinating, and she deals with everything from heating to noise to royal parks to waste disposal to slaves to meals to cosmetics to medical risks. Your imagination will definitely be sparked by reading the thing. [img]smile.gif[/img]