From my fantasy writing desk:
My favorite writing project this week involved some virtual interior designing. In my current work in progress, one large reception hall holds a lot of the action in multiple scenes. I hadn’t done a detailed job of creating that space. It was boring. Yikes.
So I went back and did two things. I drew a floor plan on graph paper with the furniture, hearth, openings, etc. My drawing skills are nonexistent, so these floor plans are for me only, but they greatly improve how I write about any given space. Second, I grabbed a book off the shelf that I hadn’t read in a few years and reread a chapter on Bronze Age palace architecture, furnishings and decorative arts. I made a long, rich list of details that might be part of the room I was building in my imagination. Armed with these two tools, I added to the first scenes set there so the reader will see and feel the room. And I’ve got some treasures for later scenes that I can add that will emphasize the theme and moods of those scenes while building the world at the same time.
During one of the early scenes in this room my main character is recovering from having removed a curse from an entire army. She is so drained she cannot walk. She’s hoping her strength will return, but she isn’t sure. I noticed in the reference book, a photograph of a figure sitting in a chair, both made of clay. The bucket-like chair swallows up the figure in a very comfortable-looking way. Either the artist depicted a child, or it’s a very big chair. One you can make a snuggly nest in. I’m guessing it would be made of hides stretched over a wooden frame. It was just right to emphasize Tesha’s weakness–and ground the reader in Tesha’s body and feelings. We all know what sinking into a pillow-filled, comfy chair feels like and how it can raise the spirits just that necessary little bit.
Archaeology posts I enjoyed:
Archaeology hands me rich fantasy material
There have been new discoveries at Matariya/Heliopolis in Egypt. The current dig focuses on an area dating to the 4th-2nd century BCE.
These enigmatic sentences drew me in: “This excavation led to the discovery of a mud brick enclosure wall. A limestone staircase led to a higher level bypassing a canal with a false door that probably was connected with the rituals in the innermost section of the temple at the obelisk. Dr. Raue stated that an inscription points to the creator-God Atum as being responsible for the floodof the Nile.”
Let’s see, a staircase rising above a canal, a false door, unknown rituals in the inner sanctum, and the creator god who causes the Nile to flood. My imagination is having a grand time figuring out what those rituals might have been. Since I’d give free rein to any magical events that the worshippers believed might happen, writing this would be a blast. I’m guessing the site report isn’t quite that exciting, but nothing like archaeology to hand a fiction writer rich material. Viola my style of historical fantasy fiction (although at the moment I’m not planning on fitting this gem into any plots). Click here for Archaeology News Network “New Discoveries AtMatariya/Heliopolis In Egypt”
WWI artifact that touches the heart
Here’s a post about an artifact that touches the heart. It was an aluminum canteen, not the most likely start. A Polish prisoner of war in 1915 transformed it into a heartwarming image of love and hope. The artwork, based in Cossack folk images, portrays the prisoner and his sweetheart. I’m wondering what other examples there are of artwork made under the duress of war. Ideas? Click here for Archaeology Magazine “Artifact”
