Helena must succeed Jenny Lind as the greatest singer in the world.
Second Assignment:
Antagonists:
There are three antagonists at work in Echo of the Nightingale, each inspired by Jenny Lind in different ways:
--Constance, Helena’s childhood friend, copies everything Helena does, including pursuing singing. Because her family has more money, she has access to training and opportunities Helena does not.
--Minette, a former child star, shocks Helena with her independence and disinterest in social convention. Her superior stage prowess forces Helena to confront her weaknesses as a performer.
--Norma, a Quaker who leaves her religion and community to pursue singing, upstages Helena from within Helena’s own opera company. Because Helena can’t compete with Norma’s vocal heft and power, she must decide what, if anything, she can fight for instead.
Third Assignment:
Title:
Echo of the Nightingale
The Nightingale’s Echo
Fourth Assignment:
Genre/Comps:
Upmarket historical fiction
Comps:
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock (2018), by Imogen Hermes Gower
The Essex Serpent (2016), by Sarah Perry
The Signature of All Things (2013), by Elizabeth Gilbert
Fifth Assignment:
Hook Line:
A young woman in 19th century America must decide what she is and is not willing to do to become the greatest opera singer in the world.
Sixth Assignment:
Inner Conflict:
One of Helena’s inner conflicts is whether she believes she has what it takes to become the greatest singer in the world. In isolation, she convinces herself that she does, but when confronted by other talented singers she grows jealous and anxious. At times in the book, she buries this doubt with narcissism, or gives in (temporarily) to despair. Ultimately, she decides the question is not worth answering.
Social conflict:
As a woman pursuing a professional, public career in the 19th century, Helena is frequently at odds with the mores of her time. Early in the book she is courted by a prosperous young man and must decide whether to marry and live a comfortable, conventional life, or pursue her dreams. Her mother encourages her to accept the proposal, but her father recognizes that she would never be happy and advises her to say no and pursue her career. Later, Helena must contend with impresarios who consider opera to be little more than a high-class escort service, and fights with her painter lover to recognize that her art is as important as his. Finally, when she becomes a mother, Helena must reconcile her desire to be present with her children and her need to sing.
Seventh Assignment:
Setting:
The setting for the book is mostly New York City and Paris in the mid-19th century. Helena’s New York City is middle class, filled with outings to genteel establishments such as an upscale ice cream parlor and Barnum’s American Museum. The Civil War transforms the city to one covered with propaganda, littered with uniformed and injured soldiers, and clogged with long lines at stores where previously abundant goods are scarce. In Paris, Helena begins in an austere ladies’ hostel before renting her own garret in Montmartre. She falls in love with an artist and wiles away the hours in his drafty studio. When she returns to New York she finds it taller, denser, and louder than when she left, with factories and an elevated train encroaching on the quiet residential street of her youth. In the last section of the book Helena tours the United States by train, bringing her company of forty people—plus sets and costumes—to cities as far as San Francisco. Throughout the book, theaters themselves offer up conflict in the way of set pieces literally blocking the way, cramped dressing rooms shared with unfriendly colleagues, auditoriums with swaths of empty seats or packed to the brim, acoustics from dull to gleaming.
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New York Pitch Assignments - March 2022
in New York Write to Pitch 2023 and 2024
Posted
First Assignment:
Story Statement:
Helena must succeed Jenny Lind as the greatest singer in the world.
Second Assignment:
Antagonists:
There are three antagonists at work in Echo of the Nightingale, each inspired by Jenny Lind in different ways:
--Constance, Helena’s childhood friend, copies everything Helena does, including pursuing singing. Because her family has more money, she has access to training and opportunities Helena does not.
--Minette, a former child star, shocks Helena with her independence and disinterest in social convention. Her superior stage prowess forces Helena to confront her weaknesses as a performer.
--Norma, a Quaker who leaves her religion and community to pursue singing, upstages Helena from within Helena’s own opera company. Because Helena can’t compete with Norma’s vocal heft and power, she must decide what, if anything, she can fight for instead.
Third Assignment:
Title:
Echo of the Nightingale
The Nightingale’s Echo
Fourth Assignment:
Genre/Comps:
Upmarket historical fiction
Comps:
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock (2018), by Imogen Hermes Gower
The Essex Serpent (2016), by Sarah Perry
The Signature of All Things (2013), by Elizabeth Gilbert
Fifth Assignment:
Hook Line:
A young woman in 19th century America must decide what she is and is not willing to do to become the greatest opera singer in the world.
Sixth Assignment:
Inner Conflict:
One of Helena’s inner conflicts is whether she believes she has what it takes to become the greatest singer in the world. In isolation, she convinces herself that she does, but when confronted by other talented singers she grows jealous and anxious. At times in the book, she buries this doubt with narcissism, or gives in (temporarily) to despair. Ultimately, she decides the question is not worth answering.
Social conflict:
As a woman pursuing a professional, public career in the 19th century, Helena is frequently at odds with the mores of her time. Early in the book she is courted by a prosperous young man and must decide whether to marry and live a comfortable, conventional life, or pursue her dreams. Her mother encourages her to accept the proposal, but her father recognizes that she would never be happy and advises her to say no and pursue her career. Later, Helena must contend with impresarios who consider opera to be little more than a high-class escort service, and fights with her painter lover to recognize that her art is as important as his. Finally, when she becomes a mother, Helena must reconcile her desire to be present with her children and her need to sing.
Seventh Assignment:
Setting:
The setting for the book is mostly New York City and Paris in the mid-19th century. Helena’s New York City is middle class, filled with outings to genteel establishments such as an upscale ice cream parlor and Barnum’s American Museum. The Civil War transforms the city to one covered with propaganda, littered with uniformed and injured soldiers, and clogged with long lines at stores where previously abundant goods are scarce. In Paris, Helena begins in an austere ladies’ hostel before renting her own garret in Montmartre. She falls in love with an artist and wiles away the hours in his drafty studio. When she returns to New York she finds it taller, denser, and louder than when she left, with factories and an elevated train encroaching on the quiet residential street of her youth. In the last section of the book Helena tours the United States by train, bringing her company of forty people—plus sets and costumes—to cities as far as San Francisco. Throughout the book, theaters themselves offer up conflict in the way of set pieces literally blocking the way, cramped dressing rooms shared with unfriendly colleagues, auditoriums with swaths of empty seats or packed to the brim, acoustics from dull to gleaming.