It worked for David Weber...

[gridlore]

I have been keeping up with my vow to start writing again. I've mostly being doing exercises like character studies, writing the same seen in different styles, and working on being more expressive in my descriptions.

But I've come up with what I think would be a good plot for a SF series: Napoleon III and the rise and fall of the Second French Empire. Short form: Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, nephew and heir of the more famous Napoleon, spends most of his early life in exile, returns to France after the declaration of the Second Republic, get elected President as a political outsider (gee does that sound familiar?) and few years later launches a coup and declares himself Emperor.. and the mob supports him. At first.

The mid 19th century was a wonderfully chaotic period in Europe. You still have Hapsburgs running around loose, Italians are agitating (and fighting) for national unification, and the Prussian Kaiser with the help of some dudes named Otto, Helmuth, and Albrecht, setting up an empire of his own. All marked by wars, intrigues, espionage, blackmail, and the ever-popular Paris mob.

Make Terra and her possessions France. Prussia and the Germanic States can beSigma Draconis and the nearby systems. Do the same thing for the various other states. Tweak the back story a bit to get rid of a lot of the royalist baggage. Make the Great Houses commercial enterprises. Many on Earth supported the first Napoleon (a Star Fleet Admiral) when he seized power and pledged to unite humanity under Terra's banner. Many Terrans still feel that as humanity's birthplace and still home to the largest population of humans, they are better than the other colony worlds. The colonies, many of whom have been settled for centuries, disagree.

In structure it would be more Stackpole than Weber. No Grand Admiral Duchess Steadholder Dr. Honor Harrington! Instead, follow several lead characters from different factions and see all sides of the intrigues. Along with the major players (and I'm really intrigued at the thought of a space-based von Moltke) I think my main viewpoint character would be an officer in Terran Naval Intelligence. One with enough "Bonapartist" ties to get him on the inside of things, and be handed the interesting portfolios.

Comments

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Are you going to include the bit where, during the Franco-Prussian war, a French general taking a commercial train ended up behind enemy lines with all of the battle plans & much of the troops payroll?

That is, I think, one of the more farcical bits of history I've ever read.

Oh, & Nappy 3 was a bit of a jerk when dealing with inferiors & foreigners.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to look that up. It sounds priceless. I can see how I'd work it in.. "But General, we have no courier ships available, and all combat units are being held by the order of Admiral Killian!" "Fine! I'll book commercial! (Turns to aide) "You! Fastest transit to Rison's Down for the staff plus two dt's of cargo!"

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

inferiors & foreigners

But you repeat yourself.

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

Ah, but then who is Cavaignac? I always that he was an interesting divergence point -- the conservative Republican who could have stabilized France's democracy a century and more before de Gaulle.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I'm planning on opening the book with the old Grand Marshal writing his resignation letter while discussing with his aide how the people demand action, then are shocked when someone takes it. That is Cavaignac.

This way I can get in the June Uprising and the fragile state of affairs without having to write another big battle and explain all the back story to that particular event.

Historically he was quiet after the coup and lived out his life in quiet exile. I may tweak things and have him be the nucleus of the resistance instead of having to introduce more characters to forward that plot. Though I am looking forward to writing Victor Hugo into the book(s).