Help with my story, please!?

Question

My story is set in the early Victorian era.
There is a 19 year old girl named Anne. Since she was a child, she was teased often because of her mother, who was rather too spirited, too honest...just a woman far from being a conventional lady. ANyways, Anne's father hated Anne's mother, and Anne, though she loved her mother, was embarrassed of her.
Anne was born a spirited and romantic girl, but because of having witnessed people treating her mother inferiorly, Anne has suppressed her true character and hid behind a social mask. So, my question is, how would she act in public? Would she be shy, perhaps? Or cold and always composed? And how can I show in my story of how inconvenient it is to act like the lady you are not? And what can the problems me that she comes across due to her having suppressed her true character?

Be creative ;)

Answer 1

I think she would be extremely proper - far more so than most people conventionally would have been. I think that in her behaviour she'd basically be acting the part of a well-behaved Victorian young lady, and thinking how dull it was, and in effect everyone else would also think she was rather dull and never any fun because she'd never relax in her behaviour, never let up even a bit, for fear of what they might think.

I also think it would be interesting if Anne is constantly thinking of mad things to do, and having to suppress these ideas - there'd almost be a whole other person underneath the public facade, and you can give an insight into what she's thinking about doing, as well as what she's actually doing, at any given point in the story.

Have you thought about what point-of-view characteristics you're going to use? I mean, will it be 'I', from Anne's point of view, or will it be 'she', writing about her? This will make a difference to the finished effect. If you use the first person (I) you can only include what Anne knows; although she can speculate as to what other people think of her, she won't really know. If you use the third person (she), then you can also include aspects of what other people are thinking and feeling, without Anne herself being aware of their true thoughts (although you do have to be careful that shifting between different viewpoint characters doesn't get confusing).

Hope this helps - enjoy your writing!

Answer 2

She might act loud and shallow. Would be considered superficial and useless by some people, cool chatterbox by others, and plain by the one she loves (who will be, of course, a very deep and thoughtful fellow, some tormented-by-existential-questions artist or philosopher). And so, she'll have to struggle with her inner inhibitions in order to conquer him.

If in the mood for a sad end, she'll discover that her inhibition has, over the years, completely suppressed her ability to think deep, that she has become indeed a shallow person.
Or, once she has managed to reveal herself to him and to herself, he'll realize that he doesn't want to be with a girl that challenges his ideas, and leaves her for a really shallow chick.
Or he realizes that she is deeper than him, and goes away to meditate on the top of some mountain, never to be heard of ever after.

Answer 3

I think she should act cold and composed in public, I agree with marzipan. but you can have her do wild stuff secritly like writing for a paper or doing not so proper paints or books. something like that.

Good luck with your story.