Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Vintage Pictures that Help me Write my Novel - Paris, Barcelona, Ubec

When I write my stories, I need to "see" my characters in their setting, and so I sometimes find pictures to help my imagination.  I'm sharing some pictures that I'm using in my novel-in-progress.
I've included short excerpts. The published story, The Old Mansion Near the Plaza, is part of this novel that I'm struggling with.

It is a struggle, but it's a lot of fun. 

For those who don't know Ubec is the mythical world I've created that is something like Cebu.  Note that Ubec is Cebu backwards.

 "...and I said, "My aunt owns a dress shop on Avenue Bouquet; I'll be fine."

"Encouraged, my aunt continued, “I remember watching them build it platform by platform, from ’87 to ‘89. I prayed it would get better — or topple down — but the higher it went, the more hideous it became. The skyline of Paris has been ruined by that ghastly protrusion.”



" and they had taken the exhilarating steam engine ride from Ubec to Carcar, in a first class car, which was finished in teak. The locomotives, steel rails, and parts came from America and everything was as solid as the spanking new railway system installed in earthquake-shattered San Francisco. The second class cars, where they now sat, were finished in yellow pine."





"Ines wondered if the Americans would change Colon to Columbus, given they were tinkering with everything: the government, buildings, school system. They were paving roads, building bridges, putting up electric street lamps. Things were changing so fast, she had to do double takes at the innovations around her."




"Juan closed his eyes. “I met Esteban one autumn afternoon at the Plaza de Catalunya, on my way to my boarding house. For some reason, a flock of pigeons suddenly rose up to the sky, and I stopped dead in my tracks to watch them flutter up, turning the sky gray. When they were gone, there in front of me was Esteban, like an apparition.  He was staring back at me.”


More Vintage photos here:
Pictures of Old Manila
Old Photographs of Manila and the Philippines

Read Also:
The Old Mansion Near the Plaza (published novel excerpt)
An Interview by Luis Diores of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
Oscar Campomanes -Cecilia Manguerra Brainard Scenographer
Interview of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard about Creative Writing


Read also
Your Writing Workspace
The Importance of Keeping a Journal and My Pink Lock and Key Diary
The Importance of Sensual Writing 
Vintage pictures that help me write my novel - Paris, Barcelona, Ubec
How to Write a Novel #1
How to Write a Novel #2

All for now,
Cecilia 

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