Request for Ideas

[Rocky]

The first installment may be ready by the end of the week...but no promises!

One question for you, though...since the main character is someone whose knowledge during her life is pretty much restricted to her immediate surroundings...i.e., she doesn't really know what is hapening in the world...do you think that her memoirs should be more of a "I didn't know it at the time, but x was happening in the world, and had y impact on my life; all I knew was what the end result on me was" or should it be more along the lines of, "due to the results of the Great Depression, Daddy needed money, so he sold me."

In other words, should the memoirs be written based on what this now-literate woman now knows was happening in the world as she grew up, or should she only use inferences that the men were discussing financial problems, that there was talk of "Japs" and "Krauts" and a war going on "over there?"

I appreciate your input.

[spike]

should the memoirs be written based on what this now-literate woman now knows was happening in the world as she grew up, or should she only use inferences that the men were discussing financial problems, that there was talk of "Japs" and "Krauts" and a war going on "over there?"

If you are writing a fictional memoir you should consider why the character is writing her memoirs. She will have a particular readership in mind and will write for that readership.

If she is writing to the world at large she will be talking about how the major movements of history affected her personally, perhaps explaining the wrinkles that others might not know, such as the personality of her father's bank manager but assuming they know that times were hard.

If, on the other hand, she is writing for, say, her granddaughters, then she has to tell about the way things were in simplified terms that they can understand but assuming no prior knowledge.

There is another level to consider. How good a writer is she? Does she have an editor? But that may be getting a bit baroque.

Good luck with the writing. Have fun with it, so that you make fun with it.

Spike

[Mobius]

Ritired Slave girl. Now there is a thought. I would propose that there is no such thing as a retired slave girl. I would think that a Retired slave girl would over time would become jaded after having every kink imaginable done to her. I would think that over time she would become board and thouse become dominant over the younger slaves and eventualy become a mistriss.

[mythicat]

The first installment may be ready by the end of the week...but no promises!

Cool!

One question for you, though...since the main character is someone whose knowledge during her life is pretty much restricted to her immediate surroundings...i.e., she doesn't really know what is hapening in the world...do you think that her memoirs should be more of a "I didn't know it at the time, but x was happening in the world, and had y impact on my life; all I knew was what the end result on me was" or should it be more along the lines of, "due to the results of the Great Depression, Daddy needed money, so he sold me."

Short answer? The latter. Because the other way says the same thing, only with a lot more words.
Since you're writing erotica with a historical angle rather than historical fiction with an erotic angle, you want to keep the historical parts streamlined.

In other words, should the memoirs be written based on what this now-literate woman now knows was happening in the world as she grew up, or should she only use inferences that the men were discussing financial problems, that there was talk of "Japs" and "Krauts" and a war going on "over there?"

I appreciate your input.

Spike brought up a good point about this. What exactly would this woman's literacy level be? You say she's now literate, but just how good of a writer would she be considering her life experiences. Perhaps she should be telling this story orally to someone.

Or perhaps we should just hush up and thank the nice writer for his smutty story.

[Dododecapod]

There's also the question of possible escape, whether she wishes to, is encouraged to, and what happens when/if she attempts it.

Is her society pro-slavery or is it an underground subculture? Do attitudes change over the period involved? You mention an anti-slavery girlfriend for a major character; is she the aberration or the rule?

Is she trained to A) Accept, B) Enjoy or C) Despise her status? Does she have mandated rights (as the Romans did for slaves) or is she considered an animal (as most of the slave states of the Old South operated things)?

Remember, you're not just creating the characters, but the entire world.

[Mobius]

escape to were. She does not exist, she is with out papers. No birth cirtificate no SSI card no history. She is a null a non person. Even if she did escape it would be very difacoult to establish her self. So she clings to the only world she knows. one that gives her structure and support.
Just passed from one master to another until she is used up and made into spam. I always wonderd what was in spam. "soylent green is people"

[mythicat]

She wasn't actually sold into slavery until age 16 according to the original post. So she would probably have a birth certificate at the very least.

"Remember, Tuesday is soylent green day."

[Rocky]

Actually, she was born to it...it was her father (who may not have actually been the one who sired her...if you can figure that one out...I'm not sure how to describe it here) who, what I've written so far, owns a farm in Kansas, but really makes his income in the slave trade, circa 1920. She is a slave from birth, but lives with her "birth family" until the age of 16, when she is first sold to a young married couple.

As to my question regarding whether she should be speaking as if she doesn't know what is going on in the world at the time, or based on what she knows now, it will probably be a little of both.

I've tried to put myself in this person's life, as it were. It's a first-person account, and I believe I need to really BE her while I'm writing (no easy task, since I'm a dominant male), sort of like an actor preparing for a role. The first segment is somewhat disjointed, but intentionally so. She is writing her memoirs, and thinking back to her earliest memories. She skips around a lot, as things start coming back to her. Later segments will be more chronological oriented. So far, I have the beginning and end, and some of the middle written. I may be uploading the first segment as early as today.

Please, take a look and let me know what you think. Not set on a title yet, but probably something along the lines of Memoirs of a Slave Girl.

[mythicat]

Keep us posted.