They say that in order to write, the best place to start is by writing what you know. So let's think about this one. That's the thing, I know more about the ancient world and mythologies than I do about anything that happened in the past 200 years. How sad is that? But let's go with it.
The Greek Gods
I'm not a huge fan of the Roman gods merely because the Romans were a roving band of thugs who basically stole the identities of the Greek gods and gave the new names. I know about the ancient Egyptians because her stories seemed to dominate the genre. When you go in search of any information on the ancient world, they still need to be seen as they did all those years ago.
And I know a little about the ancient Celts, but only what the Romans said about them and a few things that the archaeologists are slowly learning about them. This is my real love. I wish there was more known about the ancient Celts, but unfortunately they didn't leave any written record. The archaeologists are slowly learning more about them as time goes on, but this is a slow process.
I'm also one of those geeks that likes to watch Ancient Aliens. No, I don't believe most of the stuff that they put out there about them, but some of the stuff is at least plausible. Most of it is just a bunch of crap. Okay, I'll admit it. I watch to see Giorgio Tsokalous and his seriously jacked up hair. Sometimes I think I was born into the wrong frame of time.
What else do I know?
I know how to garden. I love flowers and plants. I love being a able to grow my own food and get my hands dirty. It's very therapeutic for me. And sadly, that's about it. Anyway, that's the only things that I enjoy learning more about. Well, that's not exactly true. There are a lot of things I'd love to learn but that's a post for another day.
Oh, I love this post for so many reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe scariest part of 'write what you know' comes when I actually find myself writing 'me' into the character. I know a certain mindset, because it's mine, but then I end up transmitting it into my stories. It makes me feel all kinds of vulnerable, and I hate that!
But every writer does it, you know? It just rots.
I know the feeling. I find myself doing the same thing, both in my stories and in my non-fiction works. It's hard not to put yourself into you work, even when you're trying to be completely neutral.
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