Friday 4 March 2016

Invent a story : Historical character


                                                   Please read the details inside !

                                 George DUBYA Bush by SharpWriter
    artwork by SharpWriter

5 comments:

  1. Wow... do you remember the "invent a story" subjects, back in the days ? Well this is one.

    Aaaanyways, here, the challenge is to write a short story about a historical figure from an English-speaking country.
    You are allowed to describe a real event, but you might also find it interesting (and fun)to place them in fictionnal universes or situations, as ridiculous or grotesque as you want.
    The catch is that the story has to show the character standing as what he represent (even if his personality is slightly different from reality, as long as the symbolic value stays the same).

    note 3 : you can use either 1st or 3rd person, and either past or present tense, althought the latter is very rarely used.
    note 2 : this is not a test or anything, so no word count, you can do from 2 to over 9000 words
    note 3 : please check the artist's gallery, it is hilarious (there is a link under the picture).

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  2. There are many historical figure from English-speaking country, but one of them makes a huge progress in the mentality of his country, and keeps a big power over the world nowadays. I chose to write about a real event, the ascention of a young black American to the highest office of his country, Barack Obama. Through this story you will be able to learn how Barack Obama became one of the powerfull personality of the world.

    First of all, Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Hawaii. His childhood wasn't very ordinary. He didn't have any relationship with his father and because of several problems B. Obama had to live with his grandparents, who were white. He enjoyed this period of his life, he succeeded in his work at school or in sports. However, because of his past and his situation, he remained rational about the world around him. Then he studied political science and laws. He was a serious and diligent student and had the desire to succeed. At this period, Barack Obama had the misery to mourn his parents, his mother died of a cancer ( it's a reason why the Obamacare project we studied in class touch him personally ).
    Thanks to his determination and his charismatic personality, Barack Obama began his political rise. Even if he was black in an area where minorities aren't represented, he kept the strength to believe in his ideas and projects, and it worked. He became a senator, wrote 2 best-sellers and started to be famous. Barack Obama didn't have much experience in politics but he was able to understand and expose what the Americans wanted for their futur. Moreover he had a real quality of speaker who is a good weapon in politic. It's why when he announced his candidacy for the presidential election he knows a great success. Now he is the president of the United States and he proved his talent many times.

    The career of this man is spectacular. I choose to talk about it because he is an historical personality, the first black president in the United States, and it can be link with different notions. The story of a ordinary black man who succeeded like he did can be seen as a myth. Barack Obama represent a hero for his community and all those who support him. Futhermore, his presidency is a big progress in the mentality of this country. Moreover during his life he moved from Hawai to Washinton, a place where the power is realy present, as in his function. Finally, his mandate is characterized by the way Barack Obama communicate et exchange with the population. He influenced the history of the United States.
    (453 words)

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    Replies
    1. thanks, that's great and all but... the point was to tell a story, in a novelized way, not just to describe facts...
      Well I guess having some infos doesn't hurt, anyway...

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    2. First, it's not really easy because we can't say all that we want about historical figure. We must have some respect and I think that we can't deform their personality.. Some artists are doing it very well but they are informed about every details of their subject. That's why I "didn't respect" very well your instruction. But if you want to show us an exemple I will be happy to read it, and you will see on one hand that it's not something simple to do without making mistakes and on the other hand that it's a hard work if we want to do it well.
      Moreover, I wrote the story of his life, it wasn't mentioned that we have to write it like a novel.. We were allowed to write about a real event OR to put some fictional events, so I made a choice.
      Sorry if it wasn't what you expected .. I understand that you wanted to point out that it wasn't your desires but it's your turn to do it and not just criticize.

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    3. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED !!
      (well, like, two weeks later, but, heh I had stuff to do)

      here you go :

      "As a child, François-Marie Arouet had heard stories.
      The so-called “righters”, according to his father, were worthless anarchists. People with dangerous ideas, who did nothing but questionning the system. Pest that should be eliminated.
      François-Marie, however, had another point of view. Maybe it was because they were the only people not to go by the rules in the strange world they lived in, which provided the best distraction he could access. Or maybe it was because of the many tiny loopholes that he had the impression to feel in the discousres of his parents and of the official information sources.
      Whatever the reason, he felt as though these people were some sort of heroes.
      As a consequence, one day, as he was once again wandering in the wide corridors of the familial domain, a couple months after his twelth birthday, he stopped, sat under under one of the gigantic windows, between the long, red curtains, and reflected upon himself. Until he reached a decision.
      From this point on, François-Marie began training. The Righters were people with very good physical conditions, so of course he engaged in physical trainig, but these people were mostly renowned for their knowledge in many domains, so he set about researching as many informations as he could. He didn’t trust the official public datas, but fortunately, his family possessed old databanks, that he could read on a computer.
      And so did he engage on the path that would lead him to so many adventures."

      So, yeah, backstory of Voltaire being a vigilante in a dystopia. Of course, I intended to write more, but tbh I don't really have the time. I'll still try to do it, since it barely makes sense at this point. And I'm full of ideas (including a couple bad puns and a mighty laser cannon).

      On a sidenote, I'll admit that finding the subject was indeed more difficult than I expected, so I present you my apologies, I'll try to be more careful for the next times.

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