tarotgal

Okay, so the Titanic challenge isn't exactly something I'd normally enter (especially since that week of April means a lot more to me than that part of history) but I thought, what the heck, a tiny little story about the character my snugglishous Craig Kelly (QAF UK, Helen of Troy, etc.) plays would be fun to write.

Okay, so then I started researching, right? I read the script (been a while since I've seen the movie. I find it much too painful to watch, honestly- there are very few movies that do that for me) and I was thinkin "Damn, I hope he doesn't die. Wouldn't that be depressing? Writing a sneezefic about a person who died so horribly?" So I started more research about the wireless company and about him in general. He didn't die. He wrote books. And he was the one who said "Nearer My God to Thee" wasn't the song the orchestra played (which is fine by me, it's never been a favorite of mine, LOL) But he wrote a book. And survived. Or, at least was alive. He didn't die on the Titanic, I mean. He died in 1956 at the age of 66. He was Titanic's "Surviving Wireless Man"(which is part of the name of his book on the subject). Which makes it worse for me, actually. I have a really bad problem with Real Person stories. I get a little scared that somehow people related or the person themselves will read them. And I get really, really, extremely nervous about portraying them incorrectly. When I write about characters, I try to adhere to canon as much as possible. But there's nothing I can do to research and get a person I'd never met compltely right. Especially when writing a story like this. Gah...

Maybe I'll just write a brilliant, extensive disclaimer. Gah. I hate trying to write real person stories... especially when they involve live people. But Bride is SUCH an interesting guy... seems a pity not to write something... gah...

Fuck. I'm crying now. See. This was not a good idea. I get way too emotional when it comes to this incident in history. Spent the whole bloody second half of the movie in tears and I can't watch a documentary without feeling sick to my stomach. But, damn. This guy. Fucking incredible he is:
Bride was holding on to a oar lock of Collapsible B when a giant wave came and washed him off the sinking Titanic. He found himself underneath the now capsized boat--bumping his head on the seats and gasping for air when he could. After being trapped under there "for what seemed like forever," he dived down and swam clear, clammoring aboard, and being the last man they "invited" aboard.
"The assistant wireless operator, Harold Bride, was lying across, in front of me with his legs in the water, and his feet jammed against the cork fender, which was about 2 feet underwater. . .He helped greatly to keep our hopes up. He told us repeatedly which ships had answered his CQD, and just how soon we might expect to sight them. He said time and time again, in answer to despairing doubters, 'The Carpathia is coming up as fast as she can. I gave her our position. There is no mistake. We should see her lights at about four or a little after.'. . . .We had to lift Harold Bride. He was in a bad way and, I think, would have slipped off the bottom of our over-turned boat, if several of us had not held onto him for the last half hour."

Sobbing now. Damnit. Knew I shouldn't have gone and gotten attached. To go through all that at 22... gah... and I know all these cute stories about his childhood and all now. Damnit.

Well, we'll see. I'll probably end up writing it... with massive headers that are bigger than the story themselves. *makes beeline for tissue box*