It’s an honour to write a
guest blog, especially considering I am somewhat of a novice myself, having
only recently joined the blogging clan. And it is always an honour to
write about writing, if only because if other writers read this, they can nod
knowingly and ‘get’ what I’m saying!
The inspiration for my story
‘Meeting my Renaissance Man’ came from the thought that there aren’t too many
true legends in our history. Certainly sporty people will christen anyone
with a half-decent right foot, or spin bowling action, a legend; and there are
those who insist that teenage pop stars are legends too. But for me a real
legend is someone who has left humanity a legacy that is impossible to ignore,
someone who has changed the way we live or think, someone who has used their
brainpower to improve the our world. One person who sprang instantly to
mind was Leonardo da Vinci, truly a man born before his time.
I wondered what it would
have been like for this genius to live in the 21st century. He would probably have been
given a label – mad, eccentric, drug addict, autistic. He would probably
have acquired a manager, a website and a reality television show. But how
would he have coped with the limitations of the school system and the
constrictions of our society that is so fickle? Tall poppies never fare
well.
So, I picked Leonardo out of
15th century
Italy and plonked him in modern day Melbourne, and I let the writing
flow. Who would his modern day Mona Lisa be? How would he survive
in the cultural capital of Australia? How would he utilise social media
to his advantage? Could he have sustained a relationship with an Aussie
girl?
I wanted the story to have
humour and to make Leonardo more human than superhuman, as he is so often
portrayed. I hope my tongue-in-cheek take on why he painted the Mona Lisa
the way he did won’t offend any art lovers out there. It was a fun story
to write and I hope it reads that way too.
The mythic resonance of
Leonardo’s life will remain through the passage of time, of that I’m certain.
It’s difficult to imagine a man so overwhelmingly and diversely gifted being
universally accepted in any society – we are a suspicious lot. But thank
goodness the stories of his life and life’s works have been preserved for us to
ponder, marvel over and be grateful for.
You can visit my other
musings on writing at http://vickywithawhy.wordpress.com/ or follow
me on twitter @vickydaddo. You might like to prod me occasionally and
tell me to get off the social media sites and start writing that second novel!
VICKY’S BIO
My stories have appeared in Woman’s
Day, That’s Life Fast Fiction, Award Winning Australian Writing 2009, 100
Stories for Queensland and other anthologies. I have recently won the
Global Short Story Competition and the Kerry Greenwood Malice Domestic award at
the Scarlet Stilettos and have been shortlisted in many other local and
national competitions. I write all sorts of short fiction, mainly for
adults, and have an abandoned novel languishing in the bottom drawer. Let’s
hope the muse gives me some better direction for the next one.
1 comment:
Thanks for giving me a deeper understanding of where you were coming from with that very entertaining story, Vicky!
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