Trying to write a short story, an old legend involving a war between two brothers of a royal family, and then a character for another time and place came marching in.
"A lot of these stories have likely been romanticised. People may have talked differently back then, but I doubt these stories include all of the facts, the details of who they really were. They make it sound as though the characters were always well-spoken, or portray them as always knowing what to do and what to say. In reality, there's a good chance that perfect conversation actually included debate and disagreement, and not everything was as eloquently phrased.
And those stories about everyone being beautiful or fair? Rubbish. The real queen is fat and stout, and always offends people with her short temper. The real king is argumentative and stubborn as a mule, and the real prince doesn't even follow people's expectations of him.
So if you want a realistic recounting of history, tell the story as it really happened, not just putting words in everyone's mouths. Perhaps it makes our forerunners look better, but I, for one, don't want to be remembered as some mollycoddling woman who just sat back and let everything happen as it may, and didn't stand up to take action when it was needed. It's the people who do things that change the world, not the tittering girls who are eager to please and have no opinion of their own.
And if my behaviour makes people view me as unladylike, then that's none of my concern. Maybe not everyone likes what I have to say or agrees with my choices, but that's nothing new. No one's been universally liked. And sometimes, people need to hear what they don't want to. It's the uncomfortable truths that need to be addressed; they're certainly not going to go away on their own by being ignored."
Er, thank you, Joseline, for your input. And yes, I do know that not everything is filled with eloquent speech or the perfect things to say. (Between you and the Alsterian royals, I'm very much aware of this.)
