Comment on Past Tense

  1. Ginnybag (Guest) on Chapter 7 Tue 11 Mar 2014 04:20PM UTC

    Thanks for the comment :-)

    The world-build for this story was one of the most fun parts, if I'm being completely honest. It's a brave new world (literally, for Mars) and a shiny future, all very glossy and optimistic. Trying to imagine the changes that would have taken place, the technological upgrades, the political shifts, the cultural changes was as big a challenge as working out how to shift the characters to account for their lives.

    I did a fair bit of reading on the 50's and 60's here in Britain, in honesty, trying to capture that 'Golden Era' vibe of a country really at peace and looking at world where advances in technology and medicine seemed to promise health, wealth and happiness for all. The political landscape is influenced by the 60's and 70's in America, with massive shifts in public exposure for those in power and the civil rights movements. To come into that, from the bleakness of the wars and the Elizabethan politics of Romefeller, is defintely a body-blow from Treize.

    But then, I wrote this in part to yank him from his comfort zone.

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    1. tb_ll57 on Chapter 7 Wed 12 Mar 2014 08:34PM UTC

      I'm fascinated that you used Britain as a model. One of my personal heroes is Aneurin Bevan (we Welsh stick together) who of course made many a passionate plea for exactly the kind of country you describe- open-armed to the roll of progress and very determined it be available to everyone. This shifts my perspective on Sanq a bit, particularly your depiction of its king. And in contrast, as you say, to Romafeller, of which Treize was both a product and a revolutionary rejecting the excesses of what came before him. Wonderful.

      Enjoying very much and looking forward to more!

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      1. Ginnybag (Guest) on Chapter 7 Thu 13 Mar 2014 11:22AM UTC

        What can I say, I find Britain under-represented, if not almost completely absent, from the GW universe. It's an odd thing, because the canon is so heavily European (when they aren't making a total hash of that!! Grr) that we should be more present than we are, but no. (You may have to forgive me for being English, not Welsh... albeit, from Lancashire so there's shared Tudor history, if nothing else.)

        Sanc, here, is not Britain - although we will see the British (and a Royal family with a surname of 'Pendragon' - you may approve :-)) - but there are similarities. Its a constitutional monarchy with a progressive Princess in Relena, that's coming off the back of being blown to pieces and then subjected to occupation. I'm very much imagining that there would be a large amount of the 'Blitz' spirit to the older half of the population, and a very strong drive to see their children do better and go farther than they ever could. Yes, I firmly believe that Sanc state-funds education right through, and that it would have a variant on the NHS, although that may have come from the likes of Duo being involved with the family, both of which are things which will be shown, and which will boggle Treize at a later date. He and Relena have some fantastic conversations!

        (I'll need to stop now, before I go into a political rant about charging for healthcare in a modern world!)

        Thanks,

        Ginny

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