From My Fantasy Writing Desk:
Sometimes as a writer, you’re a lot less in control of what happens in your fiction than logically you’d think. Those darn characters get pushy and creative.
I bumped into an intriguing issue this week when my main character decided to use a disguising potion despite knowing that it caused extreme pain and danger. She had an extreme need to look like someone else as a means to escape her guards. In her reckoning, the danger of staying trapped and unable to uncover the truth was greater than what she imagined the potion’s affects might be.
I’d kind of forgotten that this main character is pregnant—she hadn’t really faced up to it (anymore, apparently, than I had) and she was not at all certain she was pregnant. She took the potion, and then we both got an epiphany.
It was an occurrence of that mysterious alchemy wherein a fictional character takes on “real” life and reveals things I, the writer and creator of said character, didn’t know. That child inside of Tesha made its presence known and now I know what happens when you use magic while pregnant. And I also learned something key about this future child for the next book. Writing is fun. Baffling, but fun.
Archaeology I Enjoyed:
Laying out the Land
While I infuse a fair amount of fantasy into my fiction, my inner historian stays ever vigilant. This article in Archaeology Magazine about an ancient map pleased my hyper-historical self very much.
The article describes a map of the Babylonian city of Nippur, dating to about 1500 BCE. The map shows irrigation canals and identifies estates and which fields belong to which gods (i.e. temple property). It’s fully labeled in cuneiform and is a clear visual representation.
Apparently, it’s unusual for the period. Usually “landholdings in Mesopotamia were typically described rather than drawn.” I find the impulse to draw maps, the mental leap to represent the physical world on a small flat surface really intriguing.
I wrote a scene recently in which my main character, Tesha, creates a map from information she’s being told by scouts. It’s a fairly novel idea to the scouts and to her husband. I’m glad to discover that such maps did exist and Tesha acts in accordance with others of her time, but also that I’m on track with the admiration and surprise she inspires in those around her with her clever way of processing information on clay tablets.
Click here for Archaeology Magazine, “Nippur Map Tablet”
Pit Burials in Oxfordshire
Human sacrifice? Archaeologists uncovered Iron Age and Roman remains in Oxfordshire. A giant pipeline project led to the discovery. They excavated dwellings, animal carcasses and household items including cutting implements, pottery and a decorative comb.
But the oldest burials contain the most intriguing hints. The arrangement of these skeletons in pit burials suggests they might be human sacrifices, as indicated by other finds of this period.
These hillfort people from 3,000 years ago are the ones who carved the Uffington White Horse in chalk stones on a hillside in such a way that it appears to gallop along with the course of the sun during the day. A mysterious, ritually focused folk.
I find the skeleton photo the BBC featured downright disturbing (you’ll have to click through to see it since I don’t have copyright for it), given the hint that this might have been a sacrifice. What drives people to this sort of thing?
Click here for BBC News “Oxfordshire water pipe work uncovers ancient skeletons”