What theme/context in history would you weave a story out of?

[Ajathashatru]

Say you want to write a novel or better yet make a movie out of a historical theme. What would you chose? Explain in brief . Story can be fictitious, characters can be fictitious. The general historic period is what should be intact.

For eg: A tragic love tale of a Byzantine soldier during the fall of constantinople.

Please share your elaborate inputs

 

[Spike117]

I'd like to explore the fall of the WRE in some way. Looking at figures like Flavius Aetius, Stilicho, Honorius, Attila, etc.

 

[Ajathashatru]

I'd like to explore the fall of the WRE in some way. Looking at figures like Flavius Aetius, Stilicho, Honorius, Attila, etc.

Great! Do you have a story in mind? Care to elaborate?

 

[Spike117]

Great! Do you have a story in mind? Care to elaborate?

Well, not sure if you've ever seen HBO's "Rome", but that show managed to show a variety of perspectives and stories from the Republic's transition into the Empire. You had the big players like Caesar, Octavian, Antony, etc., but also had intertwined small characters (namely two soldiers, Titus and Lucius) and therefore got to see everything from the pivotal political power moves to more "regular" Roman life. In short, you got a lot of exposure to various aspects of the Roman world of that time.

I'd like to see something similar in the late 4th-late 5th century. You've got the big players again, people like Stilicho and Alaric, plenty to go off of there. But then you can also focus on the more average people, because I feel as though regular life in that period isn't considered as much.

I thought it would be interesting to have two friends, similar to the dynamic in "Rome", that are both soldiers. One would be a native Roman legionary; there you've got the whole dynamic of being part of a shrinking and dying army whose soldiering traditions go back to the great legions of the Empire but now are shadows of their former selves. The other would be a foederati, a warrior serving the Empire on his tribe's behalf, but not really a true Roman soldier.

The tension between them would be the whole idea of one being a native Roman and the other being a barbarian foederati. Then, if it takes place at least during Stilicho's execution and the mass murder of Gothic foederati, that could pit them against one another.

Just random ideas really, but interesting to think about!

 

[Ajathashatru]

Well, not sure if you've ever seen HBO's "Rome", but that show managed to show a variety of perspectives and stories from the Republic's transition into the Empire. You had the big players like Caesar, Octavian, Antony, etc., but also had intertwined small characters (namely two soldiers, Titus and Lucius) and therefore got to see everything from the pivotal political power moves to more "regular" Roman life. In short, you got a lot of exposure to various aspects of the Roman world of that time.

I'd like to see something similar in the late 4th-late 5th century. You've got the big players again, people like Stilicho and Alaric, plenty to go off of there. But then you can also focus on the more average people, because I feel as though regular life in that period isn't considered as much.

I thought it would be interesting to have two friends, similar to the dynamic in "Rome", that are both soldiers. One would be a native Roman legionary; there you've got the whole dynamic of being part of a shrinking and dying army whose soldiering traditions go back to the great legions of the Empire but now are shadows of their former selves. The other would be a foederati, a warrior serving the Empire on his tribe's behalf, but not really a true Roman soldier.

The tension between them would be the whole idea of one being a native Roman and the other being a barbarian foederati. Then, if it takes place at least during Stilicho's execution and the mass murder of Gothic foederati, that could pit them against one another.

Just random ideas really, but interesting to think about!

Yea, that is an excellent plot. Write it, who knows rest of us would get to see it on screen someday ! So you are focusing on individuals' characterizations, their emotions and drama rather than outright politics. Good!

 

[sparky]

in the late 17th century , a rather unskilled and unlucky rogue is send to the galleys for petty crimes when his gang fall on bad luck
when his ship is captured , he find himself drafted in the Ottoman navy ,
is the lone survivor of a shipwreck in the Black sea on the coast of Georgia
sold as slave to a Persian merchant who is robbed around Samarkand by Uzbek raiders
who recognize in him an individual of great individual luck who bring disaster to all around him
they give him a horse and send him on his way Eastward toward their Tadjik enemies
the Tadjiks are no fool and offer him as a gift of curiosity to the mongols who are then devastated by typhus

His reputation now extend to all the tea houses of the Orient and he is much sough after to bring disaster to some pesky neighbors
none dare hurting him , the consequences are reckoned apocalyptic
he become a hired hand of bad luck leaving a trail of smoking ruins wherever he goes
at each new border he is treated with the utmost deference and with fearful haste helped on his way
a Chinese official think a grand idea to direct him to the Manchus where he fell sick , was nursed with love by a local familly and became a bannerman

 

[Ajathashatru]

in the late 17th century , a rather unskilled and unlucky rogue is send to the galleys for petty crimes when his gang fall on bad luck
when his ship is captured , he find himself drafted in the Ottoman navy ,
is the lone survivor of a shipwreck in the Black sea on the coast of Georgia
sold as slave to a Persian merchant who is robbed around Samarkand by Uzbek raiders
who recognize in him an individual of great individual luck who bring disaster to all around him
they give him a horse and send him on his way Eastward toward their Tadjik enemies
the Tadjiks are no fool and offer him as a gift of curiosity to the mongols who are then devastated by typhus

His reputation now extend to all the tea houses of the Orient and he is much sough after to bring disaster to some pesky neighbors
none dare hurting him , the consequences are reckoned apocalyptic
he become a hired hand of bad luck leaving a trail of smoking ruins wherever he goes
at each new border he is treated with the utmost deference and with fearful haste helped on his way
a Chinese official think a grand idea to direct him to the Manchus where he fell sick , was nursed with love by a local familly and became a bannerman

Great thread!!
How do you want to conceive this thread, in a spooky way, or hilarious? Or do you want to emphasis on our protagonist's individual emotions/trauma of always being neglected/feared?

 

[sparky]

Like life , a mix of pathos and hilarity even in the direst circumstances
my favorite saying
"should you have your heart broken by loosing the love of your life and a tooth ache , guess which will matter the most to you "

 

[Spike117]

Yea, that is an excellent plot. Write it, who knows rest of us would get to see it on screen someday ! So you are focusing on individuals' characterizations, their emotions and drama rather than outright politics. Good!

Haha, if only. There simply isn't enough interest in the public, I don't think. 'Rome' was supposed to be 5 seasons, and despite excellent ratings and such, seasons 2-5 had to be condensed together for HBO to let it continue. And that story was set at the very height of Roman drama with many of its most famous people! I can't see a show about the little-understood fall of Rome taking off, unfortunately. One can dream though!

 

[Frank81]

Great thread!!
How do you want to conceive this thread, in a spooky way, or hilarious? Or do you want to emphasis on our protagonist's individual emotions/trauma of always being neglected/feared?

"A contemporary revisit to Simplicius Simplicissimus picaresque and Marco Polo adventures, the story will turn into a voyage deep into Medieval Asia (!), and deep into the soul of the reader."