I could not resist using that title, since, as Mildred noted in her comment, that song really works for Sophie/Catherine as well as Fritz. (And since there's more than enough tv and movie footage of Catherine the Great, someone really ought to do a vid.)
Nabielka and I were matched on three characters - Catherine, Fritz and MT - and when I read her letter, I was relieved that she was okay with only using two of them given that her main wish was for the (First) Polish Partition to be a theme and the difficulty of all of them being in different countries. This alas meant no MT, because the time I really wanted to focus on was Heinrich's visit and the build up to the Polish Partition, so MT was the one of the three who would not be used. Fritz only gets two "on page" scenes but as he's very much in Catherine's and Heinrich's thoughts all the time, I thought he still qualifies as an important character.
Now, in order for the story to convey the complexity of the relationship, I knew flashbacks had to be a thing - show over tell, because I wanted readers to get invested into the childhood friendship and hope they can maintain it despite being in current day also professional cutthroats, err, power players who have to be aware the other party has their own agenda. Also, the flashbacks could show how much Catherine did and didn't change from Sophie to Catherine, and by remaining in her pov, I hopefully added a bit of mystery for newbies as to what Heinrich was up to - i.e. getting to wonder along with Catherine and Fritz.
Nabielka had asked for Poniatowski to be included, if possible, and I was happy to do that, not just because of the obvious relevance the Catherine/Poniatowski backstory has if you write about the Polish Partition but because it (hopefully) makes what Catherine and Heinrich come to plan/do more personal. The fate of millions, as the saying goes, is a statistic, alas. Destroying your ex lover's life and world - not motivated by personal malice towards him at all - is a tragedy. It also works as a counterpoint for Catherine's relationship with Heinrich and for his decision not to stay in Russia at the end, and her realisation about why this is ultimately a good thing. As Poniatowski really was the only person who got to call Catherine "Sophie" in her Russian life, it also very workeable for her emotional development in past and present throughout.
Incidentally, in terms of research, in addition to their respective memoirs, I had read some books about the first Polish Partition, some Catherine biographies, and the Poniatowski biography "The Last King of Poland". Which was very useful when it came to inner Polish matters, but I raised an eyebrow or both when it came to the wholesale buying into, say, Poniatowski's admiring image of Charles Hanbury Williams (you would not think this was the same envoy who managed to piss off Fritz and MT, the sole ambassador to achieve this feat, in his respective postings), and I found Horowski’s take (in Das Europa der Könige) rendition of how what Hanbury-Williams thought was his crowning achievement - the 1755 treaty between England and Russia - turned into a complete fuck-up because of the 1756 treaty between England and Prussia. (Hence Elisaveta, who hadn't ratified the earlier treaty yet, telling the Brits in 1756 sarcastically she would absolutely hold to that treaty and help them in the event of Hannover getting attacked by Prussia, sure thing!) Not to mention that The Last King of Poland has Fritz as the Evil Mastermind who planned the Polish Partition from the get go, in detail. Heinrich who? (He gets two mentions in the entire biography, once as an alternate candidate for the Polish crown - in one sentence that says Fritz didn't go for it and doesn't mention he explicitly forbade any mention of this to Heinrich - and then again by saying Fritz sent him to Catherine as part of the Evil Masterplan.) But, like I said: when it came to inner Polish matters, and of course Poniatowski himself who was after all the subject of the biography, it certainly delivered.
Since I was trying to keep the ensemble limited in order not to make things too confusing, I had to decide who in addition should show up. Kaphengst got mentioned in dialogue mostly to make it clear that Heinrich really had no romantic interest in Catherine, but there was no reason to give him an actual scene, and so there isn't one. By contrast, Grigory Orlov got to show up in person because he really was still an important factor during Heinrich's first trip to Russia (if about to be deposed), to demonstrate how Catherine handled her lovers at this point, and for exposition reasons. Otoh Potemkin, who was already around and about to become Catherine's No.1, didn't make the cut because that would have been too distracting from the main story.
Lastly: I was going back and thro about the matter with Sophie's uncle. But it happened, according to her memoirs he (the uncle) was jealous of Heinrich, it gave me a good opportunity to show the youthful bffs in action and it conveyed some of Sophie's emotional background long before coming to Russia, so I couldn't do without it.
You should see me an a crown
Nabielka and I were matched on three characters - Catherine, Fritz and MT - and when I read her letter, I was relieved that she was okay with only using two of them given that her main wish was for the (First) Polish Partition to be a theme and the difficulty of all of them being in different countries. This alas meant no MT, because the time I really wanted to focus on was Heinrich's visit and the build up to the Polish Partition, so MT was the one of the three who would not be used. Fritz only gets two "on page" scenes but as he's very much in Catherine's and Heinrich's thoughts all the time, I thought he still qualifies as an important character.
Now, in order for the story to convey the complexity of the relationship, I knew flashbacks had to be a thing - show over tell, because I wanted readers to get invested into the childhood friendship and hope they can maintain it despite being in current day also professional cutthroats, err, power players who have to be aware the other party has their own agenda. Also, the flashbacks could show how much Catherine did and didn't change from Sophie to Catherine, and by remaining in her pov, I hopefully added a bit of mystery for newbies as to what Heinrich was up to - i.e. getting to wonder along with Catherine and Fritz.
Nabielka had asked for Poniatowski to be included, if possible, and I was happy to do that, not just because of the obvious relevance the Catherine/Poniatowski backstory has if you write about the Polish Partition but because it (hopefully) makes what Catherine and Heinrich come to plan/do more personal. The fate of millions, as the saying goes, is a statistic, alas. Destroying your ex lover's life and world - not motivated by personal malice towards him at all - is a tragedy. It also works as a counterpoint for Catherine's relationship with Heinrich and for his decision not to stay in Russia at the end, and her realisation about why this is ultimately a good thing. As Poniatowski really was the only person who got to call Catherine "Sophie" in her Russian life, it also very workeable for her emotional development in past and present throughout.
Incidentally, in terms of research, in addition to their respective memoirs, I had read some books about the first Polish Partition, some Catherine biographies, and the Poniatowski biography "The Last King of Poland". Which was very useful when it came to inner Polish matters, but I raised an eyebrow or both when it came to the wholesale buying into, say, Poniatowski's admiring image of Charles Hanbury Williams (you would not think this was the same envoy who managed to piss off Fritz and MT, the sole ambassador to achieve this feat, in his respective postings), and I found Horowski’s take (in Das Europa der Könige) rendition of how what Hanbury-Williams thought was his crowning achievement - the 1755 treaty between England and Russia - turned into a complete fuck-up because of the 1756 treaty between England and Prussia. (Hence Elisaveta, who hadn't ratified the earlier treaty yet, telling the Brits in 1756 sarcastically she would absolutely hold to that treaty and help them in the event of Hannover getting attacked by Prussia, sure thing!) Not to mention that The Last King of Poland has Fritz as the Evil Mastermind who planned the Polish Partition from the get go, in detail. Heinrich who? (He gets two mentions in the entire biography, once as an alternate candidate for the Polish crown - in one sentence that says Fritz didn't go for it and doesn't mention he explicitly forbade any mention of this to Heinrich - and then again by saying Fritz sent him to Catherine as part of the Evil Masterplan.) But, like I said: when it came to inner Polish matters, and of course Poniatowski himself who was after all the subject of the biography, it certainly delivered.
Since I was trying to keep the ensemble limited in order not to make things too confusing, I had to decide who in addition should show up. Kaphengst got mentioned in dialogue mostly to make it clear that Heinrich really had no romantic interest in Catherine, but there was no reason to give him an actual scene, and so there isn't one. By contrast, Grigory Orlov got to show up in person because he really was still an important factor during Heinrich's first trip to Russia (if about to be deposed), to demonstrate how Catherine handled her lovers at this point, and for exposition reasons. Otoh Potemkin, who was already around and about to become Catherine's No.1, didn't make the cut because that would have been too distracting from the main story.
Lastly: I was going back and thro about the matter with Sophie's uncle. But it happened, according to her memoirs he (the uncle) was jealous of Heinrich, it gave me a good opportunity to show the youthful bffs in action and it conveyed some of Sophie's emotional background long before coming to Russia, so I couldn't do without it.