Blog hop "Meet My Main Character", by Anna Shevchenko

I was tagged by Farida Mestek to take part in this blog hop. Here are my answers. I'm new to blogging and that's the first blog hop that I've taken part in.

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

It’s an autobiographic story – so the main character is me. Telling about me and my relatives I tried to show not only their characters but also to imprint the time when all those events were going on. 

I don’t give any names in my story except my grandfather’s. I have never seen him – he was shot long before my birth. But the fact that he was killed by Stalin’s repressive machine had a great influence on my mother’s life and, as a result, on my own life too. This understanding suddenly came to me when I was finishing my narration and it had a beneficial psychotherapeutic effect on me as I hoped the writing of this story would have.

2. When and where is the story set?

I am not following the chronological sequence of events but, on the whole, I managed to cover a really long period of time since 1935 till 2004. The place of my mother’s childhood is a village with picturesque nature of its surroundings: a forest and two rivers which my mother was so fond of. She didn’t have such warm feelings for people who lived in that village – actually, she spoke with a lot of bitterness about them. 

Most of my recollections are connected with Odessa – the city where I was born and have lived all my life. But I described also our walking tour along the sea shore in the countryside and our holiday in the Crimea where the nature is so beautiful and the sea water is incredibly delightful to swim in.

3. What should we know about him/her?

It’s a person who has had a lot of problems since her childhood because of her shyness and lack of sociability and self-reliance. I believe that the foundation of our character is laid in our childhood – that is why I hoped that writing this story would help me understand better the origin of my own nature.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

The main conflict was between me and my mother who always believed that she knew better what was better for me and has never been able to reconcile herself to the fact that I grew up. My perfect age, in her opinion, was five and after that I was invariably getting worse. I haven’t had her blessing for adult life – that is why, I think, it was so difficult for me to face it.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

My personal goal was to overcome the isolation which was my parents’ style of life. My obsession with travelling, my desperate desire to see the wide world with my own eyes, was my rebellion against the secluded life that I had led in my childhood and teens.

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

It’s a story – not a novel and the title is “Five favourite things since my childhood”. You can read it on my blog.

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

I have no idea where I can publish my story. It’s definitely too short for a book.

I haven't tagged anyone, because I really don't know anyone yet. Thank you for stopping by! I'd love to know what you think.