literature and writing 1

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1. i am interested in compiling a data base of literary characters who have exact date, time and location birth data

i believe such data is available on harry potter and tristan shandy, but do not have copies of either to hand. it strikes me that literature must abound with such data, but i find myself with insufficient time on my hands to shift through the whole canon.

2. i wonder if anyone is aware of authors who as a matter of course used astrology to generate characters: that is to say, writers used the birth charts of their characters to provide the plot impetus. this was recently attempted by russel hoban in 'my tango with barbara strozzi' but it is a terrible book and all one would learn from it is not to try the same yourself


many thanks

Re: literature and writing 1

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fish wrote: 2. i wonder if anyone is aware of authors who as a matter of course used astrology to generate characters: that is to say, writers used the birth charts of their characters to provide the plot impetus. this was recently attempted by russel hoban in 'my tango with barbara strozzi' but it is a terrible book and all one would learn from it is not to try the same yourself


many thanks
Watch this space...for some time. Need to start writing first!

I think it's a fantastic idea to incorporate astrology into writing, not only for generating characters. Using an art to create art can only have beneficial results, if done in a way which helps, not hinders.
Rather than having a maze of ideas, you have something solid which can generate a somewhat "real" person on the screen.

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Sara Paretsky's character in her mystery series -- VI Warshawski has birth data EXCEPT Ms. Paretsky gave VI a natalectomy and revised her birth year from July 26, 1951 to July 26, 1956 recently. I called her out on it at a reading a bunch of months ago -- the original birth data fits the character better

Initially, I figured out the b-data because VI was celebrating her 40th birthday in 1991 (year of the Chicago flood) and mention made in one of the novels where she had mars and venus both rising -- these planets were in square so a 6 hour window, the 1951 date features mars in scorpio, while the 1956 date Mars in Pisces -- not nearly so good for an insurance investigator cum detective