As much as I love stories in literature or movies, TV or what have you, I know that I have always been more intrigued with those stories that are based on true stories.
We all know the most common ones told throughout the ages: Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, and many war stories based on truth. And of course a plethora of other kinds of stories based on real life people who lived some kind of fantastic experience. People like Henry XIII, and so many others that would fill a hundred postings.
And that's why I chose to write about John Dunn. He didn't change the world, but he did influence a region of it. And it's a story that hasn't really been done. Yes there are some books about him. But I would bet no one that has read this blog had even heard of him before learning about him from this blog.
Regardless, I am not making everything in this story 100% accurate, or even exact in its chronological order. I will stress that this is a story which is BASED on a true story. All the characters are real, and to the best of my research, I am trying to make their personalaties at least close to how they have been described.
But I have one real void. Aside from Catherine Pierce, Dunn's first wife, the Zulu wives of Dunn have not been described or talked about in any of the research I can find. But I'm tring to give them some dimension in the story. I want them to be real, not just backdrop. I can't do it for all of them. There's too many.
I have made Catherine, herself, a major player in the storyline. Every research I've seen says she was very upset with all the other wives. No duh, I know, but I am playing up on that angle. Also, I have read that she had to deal with prejudice and racism that others displayed towards her.
So here's a good angle. A woman who is victimized by racism, because she is half black, is herself victimizing others for being all black. Sounds to me like there's a lesson in there somewhere.
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