Image from Wikipedia
The other day, I watched a short interview with author Barbara Taylor Bradford in which she spent some time talking about the inspiration for the protagonist in her then latest novel.
It turns out she had studied the life of Queen Elizabeth I of England, taken all the key events in her life, then replaced these with modern day equivalents that she could apply to her heroine. Some of the examples she gave were both clever and amusing. They were clearly also very effective.
I don’t usually work in this sort of way because I prefer to let my mind make things up off the cuff, but it was a fascinating example of another way of working. Perhaps, I have wondered, I might have a go at doing this sort of thing myself.
But what figure from history could I take as my template? And what modern day equivalent events could I substitute for the original ones?
It’s not really an approach that fills me with a lot of enthusiasm but it’s something I might give a go one day when I have a little time spare.
If you were to give this a go then which character from history would you pick and why?