Romans and ruminations

I can't begin to describe to you how much more interesting the Romans are than the ancient Greeks...  Somehow time has flown by and I'm already at the end of the third Block (first Roman one) in Exploring the Classical World, but have covered so much!  I think it's the fact that there is so much more physical evidence for the Romans - the things they invented (in true "what have the Romans ever done for us?" style) that we still use today, the Roman alphabet letters that we use every day and so on, while the Greek legacy is more conceptual.  Democracy, for example.  I find it hard to get really interested in it because it's abstract - I can't physically see it like an aqueduct or an unbelievably long straight Roman road.  To me personally, even though I've learnt about their military exploits, building programmes and achievements, the Greeks still feel like a sort of mythical race that never actually existed (I know, it sounds stupid!), while the Romans seem so much more alive.  Maybe it's the fact that I've been to Rome, but never to Greece?  It's hard to put into words - all I know is that this one block with all its information on the political hierarchy, temples and tombs and so on has been a joy to study in comparison to the parts of the Greek blocks which were something of a slog. 

But anyway!  I'm off to see King Lear at the theatre with my dad this evening, so am squeezing in a bit of writing this afternoon, now that I'm all up to date with where I should be with the lovely Romans.  I'm writing this post before I start (so that I don't forget later) so rather than tell you what I have done, this is what I will do.  

After the huge success of interviewing my Crunch heroine last week, I plan this afternoon to look back at her answers and consider what sort of scenes I could use to work these facts about her into the story.  Not by dropping a deliberate speech about x, y or z into somewhere it doesn't sit right, more along the lines of 'what could happen that would make her react in a way that shows she feels x about y?'.  I already have the basic skeleton of the plot sketched out, so I see this as starting to put meat on those bones (ew - not the nicest metaphor, but it does sum up what I'm thinking most accurately!).  

So I'd better go and get on with it hadn't I?!  

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