Comments | the_vernacular: LJ Idol Topic #19: Mirage

the_vernacular

LJ Idol Topic #19: Mirage

Mar 28, 2011 23:24

“Hi,” says the strange girl. She wears boyish clothing and a simple ponytail. Her tone is too familiar for someone I don’t recognize ( Read more... )

non-fiction, history, memoir, folklore

Comments 22

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the_vernacular March 29 2011, 05:05:49 UTC

Ahh, thanks! I had two things I wanted to write, and then I decided to why not just do them together?

agirlnamedluna March 29 2011, 06:36:59 UTC

Oh I love Arthurian legends, especially the Bradley version where Morgana isn't just another rendition of a sinning Eve.
The story about Jessica was particularly sad, especially interwoven with the other, maybe because I know the backstory and Avalon resonates with me, but it creates this really melancholic and wistful tone I'm loving in here. So well done :)

the_vernacular March 30 2011, 01:55:14 UTC

You would like the really, really early texts then-- Morgana and Modron, her previous Welsh Incarnation, are pretty awesome before the later writers started messing with her. There are also some Italian folktales about her that are kickass-- she lives inside a volcano and is the mother of the Fairy King! It's only ones you start getting to Malory who that they started pouring icky sexist stuff on her.

I am hoping I did enough to conceptually tie the two stories together. I feel like this was a risky way to go, and in a Gatekeeper week, eek!

shadowwolf13 March 29 2011, 17:08:38 UTC

I love the way they twine around each other.

the_vernacular March 30 2011, 01:55:41 UTC

Thank you! I was hoping it would "work" for people.

myrna_bird March 29 2011, 23:33:28 UTC

Very interesting presentation having two different stories like that. I had done a little research on Morgana Fata but wrote something else. I was happy to see her turn up. :)

the_vernacular March 30 2011, 01:57:19 UTC

Oh, goody!

I started out remembering the day I thought I saw Jessie in the library after she died. That's all true! But I wasn't sure if that was too maudlin and I kept doing research about the Fata Morgana. But Jessie kept tugging at my mind and I felt like I should write about her, so I ended up seeing if I could turn the two stories into one.

myrna_bird March 31 2011, 22:27:34 UTC

I realized later I had reversed the name. You knew what I was talking about anyway. :)

the_vernacular April 2 2011, 00:21:28 UTC

Hey, that's the order it goes in in English! No sweat!

yachiru March 30 2011, 17:55:08 UTC

I like the way everything moved and brushed together. Odd pacing but I think it works!

the_vernacular April 2 2011, 00:20:56 UTC

Thanks! Are there places where the pacing was particularly off for you?

yachiru April 2 2011, 16:56:30 UTC

The pacing is more of a jump start then stop then start thing that I think fits the mood of the piece so it wasn't really off so much as odd. ^^

Thanks for the snail btw! I love snails. Well except when people try to make me eat them. >_