Lately, I've been reading George Orwell's fabulous (if dated) book on the Spanish Civil War called Homage to Catalonia. For those not familiar with this work or the story behind it, Orwell wrote it shortly after he finished his stint fighting with in the war against the Fascist forces led by Francisco Franco. During his time in Spain, Orwell was eventually badly wounded by a gunshot to the throat. He writes movingly of the effect the war had on the general civilian population, and writes of the horrors as well as the boredom of life on the frontlines. It's a powerful work of journalism that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys history, good writing, or simply Orwell himself.
But how does this tie into my writing project?
As I've read Homage, I've realized that the book serves as a sort of template that I could potentially use in my own project. Orwell manages to weave the day-to-day narrative of his own experience artfully in with the broader picture, the bird's eye view, if you will in a way that is at once powerful and lucid. So I've thought: perhaps I could use this as a guide for writing my own story!
I think that the day to day narrative of my story will almost definitely be more boring than Orwell's day to day narrative, so why not spice it up with a bird's eye view every other chapter or so? There's a huge story to tell, and as with any writing project, the stated intention to write a story of this magnitude and scope is bound to strike some as narcississtic and arrogant, but that's the risk, again, that any writer takes.
What do you think?
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