The Origin Story

Stephanie Thornton asked what got my writing about Adam and Eve, and the Classical Mythology of the Greeks, and I promised her a post answering, so this is it!

 It began with "what if it was all true?" and it wasn't limited at all to mythology. In my mind, whole worlds and universes opened up-- what if writers had this ability to see beyond the usual limits, and their stories of fiction were more like journals of observation? I had always toyed with this idea in my head, thinking of my favorite book series, my favorite characters, as old friends as a really little kid. Living, breathing people who lived elsewhere. I wanted a way to bring them all into balance-- even from as early as 1996, I was writing on this topic, while I was in middle school. I still have the "book" that started it all in a gray binder, in a pink crate, sitting in my bedroom right now. (It is terrible.)

She wasn't Eve at first. At first she was just a woman, reincarnated. A girl, even. She had been separated from her family at birth somehow. (There may have been cosmic rays and crazy sci fi tech involved. I distinctly recall something about her being stolen from the womb, and exchanged with another baby still in the womb.) But I knew even then that getting the permission to play in other peoples' sandboxes would be nightmarish, so I could never write about a girl who lived and traveled between the worlds of fiction, like I had dreamed about--of if I did, it could never be published. There was a force of evil trying to keep her away from her family, punish her and them with unhappiness, and she was struggling to get back home to them. And in my mind, she was always part of a set of twins. From the very beginning, she had two twin brothers-- the one who was her real brother, pre-crazy-baby-stealing-device, and the one who was her birth brother, post-crazy-baby-stealing-device. I wrote a lot of pages of garbage with this idea, and I was really too young to know what I was doing with it, but it never left my mind.

And then the first scene came, upon which I built everything else. I was, of course, in the shower. Where all the best thinking happens for writers! I remember that first scene which came to me, and the premise behind it in my mind, almost exactly. It was the first time that this woman really became rooted in one world, where she began to take shape as Eve. A woman who was reborn through the generations on earth, who had been reborn more than once to the same family, who could recognize her, who knew her history. This scene has been preserved in essence and emotion and is still in my book today. I cut out the idea that she had been crazy-baby-stolen, and that the man she was about to marry was somehow her brother. But she still had a brother, and there was still a threat.

The thing is, I don't really remember when I first realized that she WAS Eve. So I can't really explain how I got there. I just knew, and now it seems impossible that she was ever anyone else. But once I rooted her into the "real" world, Eve seemed like the most logical choice. If there was a woman who was special, who kept reliving life, who kept coming back again and again, who else could it be? How else could it happen? Explaining how a regular human was doing it would be difficult. Why are they living and being reborn and no one else is? Why not just begin at the beginning? If she was being reborn over and over again, shouldn't it have started at creation?

So I did. It was the only reasonable solution to me. And Eve and Adam began their journey--the journey of antagonizing one another for all of history. As for the gods, well, they were late in coming to the game. I've said before that Thor showed up late, and I couldn't get rid of him. With Thor came every other pantheon. The Olympian gods and the Egyptian, the Hindus, the gods of civilizations I did not even know. Because if one god, other than God was real, it only seemed logical that the rest were there too, moving around behind the scenes. The idea captivated me, of course, for reasons I discussed here. When I rewrote the book, I realized just how much influence they had. Eve and Adam themselves did not explain everything.

As far as working with the Greek myths, it began kind of on a whim. I wanted to write a book about Eve in one of her lives, and I wanted it to be something that wouldn't be boring. Some of her lives are, you know, just boring and normal. I already knew that she was Helen of Troy, so that life seemed like the most action-packed life to begin with. But then I got to really know Helen for herself, and Theseus and Menelaus for who they were-- and I was pretty much hooked.

So, I think that is the answer of how I started writing on these topics-- or at least it's the best answer I can give! Hope I didn't bore you all! :) If you guys want, I can post the scene that started it all, but I thought this post was getting pretty long already so I left it out! Let me know! And hey-- what's your origin story?

100!!

A HUGE Thank You to all my followers! Thanks for reading! Thanks for following! Thanks for commenting and making suggestions! Thanks for joining me in this blogging and writing journey!

I am brainstorming a contest to celebrate you fabulous 100 followers, and as soon as I figure out what I'm going to do, I'll let you all know! In the meantime, you guys rock! I want to get to know you better! So I'm asking:

What's your favorite genre (to read or write) and why?

My favorite Genre to read used to be science fiction, but historical fiction is beginning to grow on me! I may be in the process of a conversion. But I'm picky about my science fiction-- I like stuff that deals with social issues and makes me think. I like to see what people think we're going to make the world into, as a society, as a culture, as a people.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys in the comments!

Blogfest Wrap-Up!

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by the blog this weekend! And extra thanks for all the comments! You guys are great!

I also wanted to welcome all the new followers to the blog! I'm only five three away from 100 now, and it seems like 100 followers is some kind of milestone, requiring some kind of contest or celebratory giveaway or blogfest around these parts, or something? I mean, I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone...

I am NEARLY back to myself again, but this week I am still on wrist-probation, so I'm supposed to not be writing yet. I'll let you all know how that goes, I'm sure. (hint: not well, now that I'm feeling better! Lugh is making a nuisance of himself, which is even MORE of a nuisance because I'm supposed to be working with Helen and Theseus this month.)

So, now that those other blogfests are behind us, let me give you a quick peek at what lies ahead!

There are four blogfests upcoming:

• Body Language Blogfest on April 24th
• Baking Blogfest on May 1st
• The Bad Girl Blogfest on May 7th
• Deleted Scene Blogfest on May 10th

Now, I'm not sure I'll be participating in absolutely all of them, but I thought you'd like to be informed! And I'm for sure, for sure going to be participating in the first two, because I'm dying to make someone bake. Eve already does, of course, and she's quite good at it, but I have a feeling it would be more entertaining to see someone else attempting to do so... Does pizza-making count as baking? The sad thing is, I'm afraid that most of my characters are pretty proficient cooks. When you're immortal, or constantly being reborn, there probably aren't a lot of things you can't do reasonably well.

Feel free to plug any blogfests I missed in the comments! It's good to know about these things. And again, thank you so much to everyone for all your comments this weekend. It really was great to hear your thoughts! It was a great way to end a hard week.

Be sure to leave your suggestions for what should happen when I reach the big 1-0-0 in the comments, and let me know if there are any topics you'd like to see me cover in the near future!

Bar Scene Blogfest!

No cheating over here this weekend-- only because I didn't want to throw out spoilers. Welcome to my Bar Scene Blogfest contribution! This fabulous fest is hosted by the phenomenal Tara of Secret Story. Don't forget to follow the links and check out the other participants!

This is a scene that was originally, originally, originally, part of THE BOOK OF GENERATIONS, before I rearranged everything and filled in 2000 years of history (actually, before it was even titled BoG, when it was still DoE). Now it appears in the sequel which has not been revised--after the rewriting of parts of GENERATIONS, book two no longer syncs up exactly the way it should. Things will have to be excised and rewritten, for sure, perhaps even this scene!

Anyway, the year is sometime around 1000 AD. Thor will tell you the rest himself, I think. I did omit some spoilers, but the scene should flow just fine, regardless.

[Excerpt removed]

And that is that! I wanted to post another scene with Lugh, but unfortunately there was no way to cut the spoilers without ruining it. But someday he will show up again! Gah, now I want to go reread some Thor stuff...

Thanks for a fabulous blogfest weekend everyone!

Murder Scene Blogfest!

Right.

So it's Murder Scene Blogfest day, hosted by the fabulous Anne Riley and I broke the injunction against writing, because sadly all the murders I have already written are too spoiler filled to be presented for the blogfest today! That means all new, freshly minted, content. Love it or hate it, and I honestly don't even know if it is really any good, as I just wrote it ten seconds ago and that generally means I'm still in the glow of yay!Iwrotesomething! but the likelihood that it will ever make it into a book is very very low, so consider it bonus background content or something. My book on Helen begins 20-30 years after this event. I present you with some Theseus, and his most famous slewing. (That is a terrible misuse of slew.)

The Minotaur's breath was hot and moist on the back of Theseus's neck, but he did not increase his pace. His legs were burning, but in another moment he would reach the outside wall of the labyrinth and the corner where the masonry had crumbled just enough to give him a foothold. At least, he hoped it would.

He could not hear anything but the sound of the Minotaur's heaving breaths and heavy footfalls, and then he jumped, his nails scraping against the bricks, somehow finding purchase, and he hauled himself up. The Minotaur howled with rage beneath him as he clambered to the top. He could see his sword, half covered in dust, two turns back, but somehow he had managed to keep hold of the string. It was too great a risk to reach his weapon with the Minotaur beneath him, panting and pacing and bellowing with its bull's voice. He would never make it to the sword before the creature was upon him.

Theseus wrapped a length of the string around each hand, standing on the edge of the wall. He could, of course, leap over the other side, but Minos would only throw him back into the maze. No, he had to finish this now, but it would require more precision than he was certain he had left in him. He silently thanked Poseidon for Ariadne's help, and prayed that the string would hold long enough.

Then he dropped, landing on the beast's shoulders and forcing it to the ground and the dirt. A horn tore into his bicep, but he ignored the blood, pulling the string taught around the creature's neck, a knee in the animal's back. He pulled up with the string and pushed down with his knee and prayed that his strength and the string would last. The blood was hot and cold down his arm and the Minotaur struggled beneath him, trying to throw him free, but Theseus held on, and the string sunk deep into the throat of the beast. The animal's bellows were silenced abruptly, turned into a guzzling gulp, and the dusty ground stained with blood. Theseus wasn't certain how much was his own, but he stood there long after the Minotaur had stopped struggling, staring at the red-black puddle as it grew, until his fingers grew numb from the string which wrapped around them.

Theseus did not collapse in the dirt, though the idea was more than tempting. He rose to his feet, pulling the string free from the monster, causing a fresh spurt of blood to flow, and carefully disentangled it from his hands. He did not think this was what Ariadne had intended when she had given it to him, but it had served. Theseus retraced his steps back to his sword and then followed the path of the string back through the turns and twists of the labyrinth. He did not have much time, now, before Minos sent someone to be sure the Minotaur had done its job, and Ariadne waited.

His arm ached, hanging as if deadened by the time he reached the entrance. Ariadne hovered, her eyes widening and her lips pressed together into a thin line at the sight of him. He fell to his knees before her and bowed his head. Her fingers moved through his hair, light and gentle, the touch of a butterfly on a flower.

He raised his eyes to hers, but did not touch her, for he had no wish to smear her with its foul blood. "The Minotaur is dead."

She nodded and bent, taking hold of him by his good arm, and helping him back to his feet. "Then we must hurry."

Of course, by most accounts Theseus slew the Minotaur with his father's (Aegeus, not Poseidon) sword, so my interpretation is, in that respect, quite incorrect, but I don't know, it just felt more dramatic this way. Besides, how the heck did he get all the way through Crete to the labyrinth with his father's sword, when he was taken as a slave?  It seems kind of impossible that he would manage it, so I feel like if he DID have a sword, it was a generic one. Not that any of that matters here, really! I am terrible at fight scenes though, and not all that good at death, so feel free to take it apart.

Happy Blogfest!

March Books!

Since I'm still on wrist-rest, and not allowed to computerize it up, I'm cheating and just going to tell you about the books I read in March! I am including graphic novel trade paperbacks, because I love comic books. You may count them as real books or not as you see fit!

The Saga of the Volsungs
A must read, in my opinion, for anyone interested in Norse mythology and sagas. I have other posts about my feelings regarding parts of the Saga of the Volsungs here and here. The narrative can be a little bit confusing if you don't read attentively, and there are definitely a lot of names to keep track of, but I think the story, especially the relationship between Sigurd and Brynhild is compelling-- and it certainly left me wanting to explore it in greater depth myself as a writer.

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
I love this book. It's one of my favorites-- I've read it at least a half dozen times. There's a richness in this book and the world it is set within that is really beautiful and easy to fall into. I wish that there had been more development of certain character relationships, but I still enjoy it, regardless!

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I reread this one because the first time I read through it, I was rushing through it as if my life depended on finishing. This is definitely a hard book to put down, and the historical elements are really fascinating to me. I love the time travel elements, and I think that the first two books in this series are hands down the best.

Ultimatum
Ultimatum: Requiem
I'm putting these two graphic novel trades together because they're part of the same arc, really. And it was entirely disappointing. When all was said and done, I felt as though I had gotten a cliffs notes version of something that might have been interesting if the proper time had been taken to tell the story. Everything after Ultimates 2 just kind of went down hill. Ultimatum is no exception, though they did have to go some to surpass the terribleness that was Ultimates 3. Somehow, they managed.

Thor vol. 3
I'll be writing an in depth review of this for GeekaChicas one of these days, but for now, I was not entirely disappointed, but it did not live up to the level of the first volume of the series, either. I felt, at the end, that I had more questions than answers, and there was altogether not enough Thor for my satisfaction. Also, I'm really not sure how I feel about Marvel's Sif, when it comes down to it.

Superman: Red Son
My review for this can be found on GeekaChicas, here! Long story short, I LOVED it.

Superman: For Tomorrow (vols 1 and 2)
I will write up an in depth review of this trade soon, also. It was amazing. I thought it was beautifully written and beautifully illustrated, and I thought that the agony of Superman and his "sins" of ego and heartbreak were really well done. It addresses to some extent the question of what happens when Superman loses the links that really tie him to humanity and the world, though I think it could have gone even further and deeper into that, but it was a great taste. It reminded me of why I love Superman so much, and sent me on a Superman kick.

Supergirl: Who is Superwoman?
This trade I picked up mostly just because it involved the New Krypton EVENT which I've been trying to read only somewhat successfully. I loved Supergirl's introduction in the Superman/Batman title, but as usual, her character has gone into kind of a downward spiral. Supergirl is one of my favorite characters, though, so I can't quite stop myself from trying to love her when I read her books. This one was only a marginal success for me. It wasn't awful, but I find the New Krypton story to be really interesting, so she didn't have to be all that awesome for me to be interested in the book, I guess.

The King Must Die by Mary Renault
I have so much to say about this book, all of it good. Mary Renault explores Theseus's life as a youth into adulthood, and she does it quite well. There were some bits of history I wasn't entirely sure about, but as far as characterizing Theseus goes, I think she did an amazing job with him. The most interesting part of reading this was seeing the similarities and differences between her interpretation of Theseus and my own--and the way that ultimately, the myths guide us both to the same kind of place. Theseus is honorable and compassionate and heroic, while still being a troublesome teenager trying to find his own identity. It got me all hyped up and ready to dive into writing my Helen book! I'm chomping at the bit. In the meantime, this is another Must Read, in my opinion!

So there you go. Lots of reading in March! I would kill to get my hands on the second Mary Renault Theseus book, and I would also love to get my hands on more Superman. They will both have to wait a bit though! I've got more Sagas to read and lots of Icelandic to study!

Misc. and Award

I have unfortunate news. At this time I am under orders to lay off the computering for the next week or so (I pulled something in my right arm/wrist). Basically this just means that my internet presence will be diminished, and my posts won't be quite as awesome as usual unless I'm feeling particularly rebellious. It also means I am WAY behind on the First Page Blogfest entries and I'll be slowly getting around to them in the next week or so a handful at a time. Thanks so much to everyone who visited and commented! First Person seems to have won the vote by a landslide! I haven't been able to respond to all the comments, due to the fact that I was out of town for Easter weekend, but I am very grateful to everyone who weighed in!

I'm hoping for a quick recovery and for things to get back to normal quickly, since I am really really anxious to keep working on Helen. There's nothing worse than getting all geared up to start working on a project, and then getting delayed from the start date.

In the meantime, I wanted to thank Ms. Maggie Desmond-O'Brien over at Maggie's Bookshelf who recently awarded me with the Beautiful Blogger award. There are some rules for this one, which have drawn me out to stretch my arm against Dr. Husband's command. I'm supposed to give this away to 15 fellow bloggers and list 7 things about myself, for your entertainment.

First, the facts:

1) I hate hard boiled eggs. I do not even eat them at Easter. bleh.
2) One of my favorite movies is The Big Chill. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's awesome.
3) I will read Lois McMaster Bujold's Cordelia's Honor at least twice this year. It's one of my favorite books--well, technically it is composed of two of my favorite books, Shards of Honor and Barrayar. It's sci-fi intergalactic war and politics meets romance.
4) I do not miss the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Even though I don't have cable, I make my brother tape it for me then avoid all news sources for a week to make sure I don't see who won until I've gotten to watch it. This year, the results were conveniently lost in the mass of Olympics coverage.
5) I can't stand the toy group. Dogs that tremble make me sad.
6) Thor was never supposed to take up half of my book. He just happened, and then I couldn't get rid of him.
7) I hate when movies have more than one ending. Perpetrators of this Pet Peeve include: The Dark Knight, LOTR: Return of the King and James Bond's Casino Royale. Otherwise enjoyable movies, but that three ending finish drives me nuts!

As for the 15 blogs, I'm afraid that is going to take more typing than my arm can take right now-- so let me start with five, and see how it goes from there!

1) Margo at Margoblog!
2) Nicole at One Significant Moment at a Time
3) VR Barkowski at VR Barkowski: A Writer's Blog
4) Muse in the Fog at Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog
5) Valerie at As The Moon Climbs

Okay, I think that's the best I can do for now. See you all Friday, hopefully with something substantial, and good news about my arm!