please help me write .

[Owlparrot3]

Ladies and gentlemen .While browsing through my favourite part of history i read about the Voult-Chanonine exidition and now like a kid holding a tantrum i desire to write a story on it from several different perspectives.Please guide me.

You may post anything.
1)Potential plot lines
2)general tips
3)special tips
4)flavour adding tips

I still dont have any good plotline,basically i only have knowledge and the information of the events but absolutely no idea on how and from where to approach this subject,but i am feeling like i am destined to write a grand tale on that one.At least i will try.
Also at what point in that expidition may i start the tale?
i aim to write from 3 perspectives,one a french soldier in that expiditon,another a native looking for revenge and the third,a British fillibuster employed by Britian to disrutp the French to preserve British interests in Sokoto.

Please help wholeheartedly.
thanks
mad orc.

[NorseThing]

I had to search to even find what you were referring to. For the sake of others, I suggest looking at this wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voulet...anoine_Mission

Of course if you like the French or want to do your own translation from the French --
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Voulet-Chanoine

In any case I do find this little snippet interesting to pursue:

However, this success followed numerous misadventures, including the refusal of the expedition commander and his second-in-command to follow orders from France, and their subsequent murder at the hands of their soldiers. In the end, only one of the nine Europeans leading the mission, Paul Joalland, was to reach Chad.

Any story that either begins or ends with not following orders and murder of officers at the hands of the lowest soldiers can be of interest even if your story does not end in the same way as history has told the story. It will build some tension and every deviation from the story will let your readers to wonder where the story will be headed.

You could even change the time and place. Libya in early 20th century -- maybe even with the rise of Khadafy or the Italians instead of the French.

It is always nice to take a story you know very well and tweak it a bit to become a new story.

[Owlparrot3]

Could you elaborate more.How to deviate from history.Please give an example.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

I'm sorry, mad orc, but I'm not sure I can be much help with your plot. You've made most of the decisions already. You've decided you want to write about the Voulet-Chanoine Mission. That's great - but it means you don't need suggestions about what historical period to write in, or which historical events might be interesting, because you've already done that part. At this stage, it seems to me that you need to keep reading about the expedition till you find some element of it that grabs you and makes you want to tell that story. Is there a part of the expedition that interests you most? (The rebellion and murder suggested by NorseThing, perhaps?) Is there a character you most want to write about? What story (or stories) do you want to tell?

The best advice I can give you is to pick something that you want to write about, because if you aren't interested, you'll just get bored with it. And that's no fun for you. It doesn't matter if it takes a while for you to work out what the story should be - the story will be all the better because you took the time to do that.

(If I have understood NorseThing correctly, he has already given you two examples: a story that does not end in the same way history did; and setting the story in a different time and/or place. Obviously, NorseThing, please correct me if I'm wrong!)


You posted this on the Chat Thread:

I currently have many plotlines.But after all i can only write one story.The question is at what point in that expidition should the story starts.How to avoid it from getting boring and repetitive,after all most of it will just be some mad French soldiers who are masscaring natives through the endless plains and deserts of unexplored Africa.

I don't see why you can only write one story. You could write several separate stories, and post them in the same thread because they're all connected by this expedition. Or you could write several different but intertwining stories as part of one larger story.

As I said above, I think you should write the story (or stories) that you want to write - when you know what that is, you'll have a much better idea when it should start.

How not to be repetitive is easy - don't keep repeating the same thing! We can't give you better advice than that until you've written something, though. I mean, until you've written it, we don't even know whether it is repetitive. If - while you're writing it - you think it's repetitive, then write something else. Make your characters do something different. Or just don't write about all the massacres - tell us about something else. But that's just another way of saying 'don't keep repeating yourself'. Because that really is the answer...

[Owlparrot3]

Thanks for the help Calliagh

My main problem at this stage is finding a starting point.What about in particular to write and where to start it from.
After all the expidition is a huge event taking place over a period of multiple years.

Also i seriously need a helper or you could say co-writer.......so anyone up???
Your help will be appreciated.