“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
― John Steinbeck
So, let's say I have around half a dozen of those right now. Ideas, not rabbits. This is the one that's grabbing me by the soul. My muse is dancing with delight that I'm sitting up, paying attention, and getting words on the page.
I'll jump right in, so you have an idea of what this is going to be about.
My idea, as it stands right now and without giving too much of it away, is about a young woman who is the daughter of a demigoddess of agriculture. Her name is Euryale. I'll be frank, I've no idea how to actually pronounce her name. I've been pronouncing it similarly to the name Uriel. It's a Greek name belonging to one of the Gorgon sisters, and I've read that it means "far-roaming," or something of the like. I'm not going to stop to check Wikipedia again just now. I thought it was beautiful and suited the story well, so our main character's name is Euryale, and she has magics. She can, like her mother, make plants grow at an astonishing rate of speed. From sprout, to flower, to fruit, to seed, Euryale can encourage plant life wherever she finds it.
There's a lot happening in Euryale's world when we first meet her, though I'm sure I'll write the beginning over and over until I find some brilliant way to hook you, Dear Reader. But we'll quickly come to the crux of the story. Her father becomes gravely ill, and does not show any hint of recovering. Euryale's mother, Hermione, has powers of greater scope and magnitude, but even so, she is not granted the ability to heal humankind. What she can do is keep him alive, and that is, naturally, what she does.
But Hermione is also responsible for the region's agricultural health, and without her tending the fields and warding against threats, things begin to go wrong, and her husband isn't getting any better.
Hope is in short supply until Hermione reveals a slim chance at saving [I had a name, but I've decided to change it. Bear with me.] Euryale's father. In a faraway land, far to the north, there is a tree blessed by a foreign goddess. If Euryale's father is to be saved, she must find her way to this tree and gather some of its sap, which has magical properties unlike anything short of ambrosia itself.
It's an old theme, older than the hills, but I've got plans. If you think this will be easy for Euryale, you don't know me. You might end up throwing the book at the wall by the time I'm done with it - but I hope you'd pick it back up and keep reading after that.
In further posts I'll tell you a little more about Euryale, and what sort of journey I've come up with for her. I'll introduce other characters, too. When I get in deep, I will use an obvious "spoilers" tag, so you can avoid learning too much. But sometimes, this blog will also be about what I'm learning craft-wise and about sharing interesting facts and tidbits I've found during my research. This is one book that's going to take a lot of research.
The time period will (likely) be sometime between 900 AD - 1100 AD. We start in Greece, and eventually reach Norway. It's an alternate world, but it will recognizably be our world. Our own world is deeply infused with magic - real magic; I do believe this - but in Euryale's world, things are a little different, a little closer to the surface. And as I am not a professional historian, I am quite sure I will get details wrong, however much I strive for accuracy. I do intend to be as rich in interesting detail relevant to the times and places that have been chosen for this story as I can be. That means a lot of trips to the library and a lot of notes and a lot of new books, because you simply can't expect me to not want my own copies of the good ones.
I've started building my collection with the following two books:
and Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs, by John Lindow.
I only just got them tonight, so I don't know for certain how useful they will be, but they have pretty great reviews, and look promising.
I also got a new five-subject notebook - which I have promptly started filling with declarations, commitments, and inspirational quotes about writing - and new mechanical pencils, plus highlighters. Really, the only difference keeping you from confusing this notebook with the diary of a teenage girl is that I have hearts around the word "research" instead of a crush's name. But you know, shout-out to the teenage girls or boys or gender-binary-crushing badasses who DO draw hearts around research notes. I know you exist!
Two final things before I wrap up this post. One - all the writing contained within this blog, unless quoted or shared or linked or what-have-you from another source explicitly, belongs to me, Heather Landon. This means no stealing. Don't do it. If you do like something I've written, please attribute it to me and link to this blog and the post you got it from. I want to share snippets of my work here occasionally, for your enjoyment and review, but I've got to be able to do so with a reasonable amount of confidence that my stuff won't be stolen. I don't think I'm a master, by any means, but once in a while I do come up with some lovely turn of phrase or funny scenario. And I'd just like to keep what's mine.
And one more thing - comment rules. I'm pretty sure I've set to receive notifications when I get a new comment, so I'll be monitoring the blog. I don't expect a lot of traffic and I expect I know most of the people who'll be reading along, so I don't anticipate any problems. But I would like to state clearly here: this is not a place to spread any views which are homophobic, transphobic, sexist, racist, ableist, or discriminatory or hateful in any way. This is my space, and I expect respectful attitudes when dealing with other commenters if there are ever disagreements. No body shaming, no slurs. So on and so forth. If that sounds like too much work, you might be in the wrong place.
Other than that, I would welcome your feedback. Sometimes as a writer you can get caught up in your own "genius" or your love of the story - I've got a tiny bit of one and an awful lot of the other and that's the way I prefer to have it weighted for sure - and in your eagerness to tell it, sometimes craft slips through your fingers! I can get really choked up thinking about a scene, for example, but if I don't use my craft properly to convey what I feel when I think about what's happening, you're not going to get the same impact. And I'm here to hone my skills so that I can make people care and experience things, so feedback is absolutely invaluable. Tell me what works for you, and if you can, why. Similarly, I really need to know when something is NOT working for you. I can't please everyone all the time, but if you're my eventual target audience, I need to have some appeal.
I love writing. I have since I was very young, and it started with a love of stories. For a long time, I thought maybe I didn't have any stories to tell, but I was wrong. There are so many of them inside me, so many more waiting to be discovered...
I'm telling this story.
Other than that, I would welcome your feedback. Sometimes as a writer you can get caught up in your own "genius" or your love of the story - I've got a tiny bit of one and an awful lot of the other and that's the way I prefer to have it weighted for sure - and in your eagerness to tell it, sometimes craft slips through your fingers! I can get really choked up thinking about a scene, for example, but if I don't use my craft properly to convey what I feel when I think about what's happening, you're not going to get the same impact. And I'm here to hone my skills so that I can make people care and experience things, so feedback is absolutely invaluable. Tell me what works for you, and if you can, why. Similarly, I really need to know when something is NOT working for you. I can't please everyone all the time, but if you're my eventual target audience, I need to have some appeal.
I love writing. I have since I was very young, and it started with a love of stories. For a long time, I thought maybe I didn't have any stories to tell, but I was wrong. There are so many of them inside me, so many more waiting to be discovered...
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
― Maya Angelou
I'm telling this story.
Heather Landon
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