Something inspired me about watching the movie Funny Girl recently. (For a recap of the movie, scroll down to last Monday’s post – but view that one and this one with caution if you haven’t seen the movie yet. Spoiler Alert!)
Before I tell you how the movie relates to my newest project, let me tell you a little about my work-in-progress. This is actually the third and final book in the series. Book Two, Whisper on the Wind, releases in 2010, and I’ll be talking about that soon, too. That book is in the final editing stages, with just a few final details left. The cover design is in process right now, too. All the fun stuff!
I’m just getting into Springtime of the Spirit. The setting is Germany 1918. They’ve lost the war—a stunning blow to the German people who have consistently been lied to about how things were going on the front. Remember, the fighting in World War One didn’t take place on German soil. It was trench warfare cut mainly through France, while most of Belgium was occupied by German forces. Germany for the most part was unscathed (certainly as compared to Belgium or Northern France) because air warfare wasn’t very advanced. There was, however, a blockade in place and the German people were starving—which played a part in why the war finally came to an end. The home front couldn’t support the war much longer.
That gives you a little background on the setting. Germany was in a position to redesign their country, their government, their future. It was conservative vs. liberal, while socialism was attracting a huge number of Europeans. Many of the issues they faced we see today, proving that time goes on but man basically remains the same. Same same soul-issues, same conflicts.
Right now I’m concentrating on my hero, Christophe Brecht who was introduced in Look to the East. He comes home in defeat, battling old demons, war guilt and searching for the better part of himself while his self-respect totters. He’s just survived four long years of the bloodiest and most far-reaching war in history to that time.
While he faces that, Germany is in a state of political upheaval—and my heroine Annaliese is right in the thick of things. Despite turmoil around her, she has it all together (or so it appears to my hero). She’s an activist and an enigmatic street speech maker, with a specific vision for Germany’s future.
And this is where the movie Funny Girl played into the impressions I’m forming of my hero and heroine. At some point Christophe will resent the heroine in this book much the same way the heroes of Streisand movies resented their heroines. (Funny Girl, A Star is Born, and even The Way We Were, where she’s constantly pushing that hero to live up to all the potential she sees in him.) My heroine will have it together and my hero’s self-respect will be in jeopardy. I think that much transcends eras, don’t you? Women might be dominant in many areas of our media today, but the fact remains that men still want to be respected: by others, and by themselves.
This is the kind of inner conflict that can work in many stories. My hero and heroine may be attracted to one another, but it would be a short story indeed if that was all there was to it. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl. That’s it? No indeed, we need some conflict. Underlying resentment and guilt can work wonders—and at the same time add some great depth to a character.
So that’s one of the themes I’ll be exploring with this project, and it was tickled by a movie. I’m always excited when I spot things that relate to my own creative projects. It’s a fun way to articulate your own themes and motivational forces behind your characters, by seeing how they compare and contrast to what others have done with the same underlying conflicts. The need for self-respect was so great in the movie Funny Girl that it was an undercurrent throughout the movie. The hero’s loss of it ultimately destroys their relationship. I’m such a sissy I only write happy endings, so you can rest assured my hero will find his self-respect. The road to his fulfillment isn’t entirely known even to me at the moment, but you can bet it’ll be a happier ending than the one poor Fanny suffered at the end of Funny Girl!
Join Me!