Friday, March 12, 2004
Gather 'round, kids...
I'm going to go ahead and post last week's short story here. It is, perhaps, the best thing I have written. I like it.
A few author's notes:
Margaret is a little bit based on me. Edmund's not based on anyone in particular. He shares my fondness for Barocci, though. One of the things I've discovered about writing all original characters, especially in a really short space, is that I draw a fair amount on myself for their characteristics, perhaps a bit too much. Lots of the people who pop into my head, even fleetingly, are geeky sorts. And because I know about art, coffee, some history, literature, being in Italy, Catholicism... so do a majority of my characters, because I can make the most realistic scenarios around the things I know the most about. My next story will quite possibly be set in a museum (though maybe I need to take a risk and set it somewhere out of my realm of knowledge).
Speaking of museums, you can see one of those awful photo reproductions of Madonna del Popolo here. (I sketched the figure on the bottom right whilst in the Uffizi; it's easily one of my favorites of all my Italy sketches.)
The Siena frescoes she refers to are the Allegories of the Good and Bad Governments.
I never saw a tourist actually asking for a frappuccino, but I did see plenty of inappropriately-dressed and/or rude Americans. And some of my own classmates mourned the absence of frappuccino.
Cafe Ignoranti is sort of made up (there was a restaurant by that name in Castiglion), but there really is a little place called Pane e Vino in Firenze. It's not actually near the Uffizi, but it is a few blocks down from the synagogue, on Via Pepi if I recall correctly. They make the best tortellini rosa I have ever had in my entire life.
And now, on to the story.
Salt
| 4:25 PM |
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