Jo Spumoni
New member
Good evening, all:
I'm working on a story that takes place in WWII Germany. The thing is, I'm uncertain where to start. I was thinking of beginning in modern times, with the main character in America with his daughter. Then I was thinking of two possible ways to flash back:
1) the main character, who's an artist, would have a big showing of his work, and this would bring back the memories of his past
2) He's in America, doing something kind of mundane like installing windows (I don't know--I got that idea from Kurt Vonnegut, honestly), and then one day he gets a letter from someone in Germany who has found the paintings and letters he hid.
Do either of these sound good? Or should I drop the notion of a "frame story" on the grounds that it's artificial, cheesy, and has been done too many times?
Secondly, either way, this guy's going to have a daughter and a wife, and they need names. I have the wife being "Viktoria" right now, but I'm not sure if that makes sense given that the Germans hated pretty much everything English (including Queen Victoria). She should have a very German name, but I've been rather unsatisfied with the German names I've found on baby naming sites.
I have no opinion on the daughter's name at all; basically, I want it either to be German (but pretty--nothing horrible like "Cunegonde") or very, very American, on the grounds that Germans, being so unpopular after the war, might not want to remind everyone where they're from. That being said, I really don't want a boring name like "Mary".
Oh, and their last name's Beckert. The wife's last name before she gets married is von Essen, or at least, that's what I have now.
Thanks people!
I'm working on a story that takes place in WWII Germany. The thing is, I'm uncertain where to start. I was thinking of beginning in modern times, with the main character in America with his daughter. Then I was thinking of two possible ways to flash back:
1) the main character, who's an artist, would have a big showing of his work, and this would bring back the memories of his past
2) He's in America, doing something kind of mundane like installing windows (I don't know--I got that idea from Kurt Vonnegut, honestly), and then one day he gets a letter from someone in Germany who has found the paintings and letters he hid.
Do either of these sound good? Or should I drop the notion of a "frame story" on the grounds that it's artificial, cheesy, and has been done too many times?
Secondly, either way, this guy's going to have a daughter and a wife, and they need names. I have the wife being "Viktoria" right now, but I'm not sure if that makes sense given that the Germans hated pretty much everything English (including Queen Victoria). She should have a very German name, but I've been rather unsatisfied with the German names I've found on baby naming sites.
I have no opinion on the daughter's name at all; basically, I want it either to be German (but pretty--nothing horrible like "Cunegonde") or very, very American, on the grounds that Germans, being so unpopular after the war, might not want to remind everyone where they're from. That being said, I really don't want a boring name like "Mary".
Oh, and their last name's Beckert. The wife's last name before she gets married is von Essen, or at least, that's what I have now.
Thanks people!