There are several more interesting twists, but here are the basics (and why I need a co-writer). Merlin lives his life in reverse according to Authorian Legend. I want to write two parallel novels, arranged in the pages so that you turn the book over and your reading the other. On one page you have the Authorian Legend from King Arthur's point of view, turn it over and you have exactly the same scene from Merlin's point of view. This would be arranged so that you can read straight through one story, then flip it and read the some story from the other POV only the entire plotline is reversed. If you're interested let me know and I'll explain the rest to you, there are elements that will make this plotline reversal even more interesting.
Thanks,
-Josh
I am not a scholar on the subject of Arthur so I hope this is not too silly a question. Why do you say "Authorian" as opposed to "Arthurian." Just my curious nature I guess, but I had to ask.
Thanks and be well,
Josh Leone
www.JoshLeone.com
But I have to say that in my opinion, your idea of printing parallel stories in the same book requiring the reader to physically turn the book around sounds gimmicky to me. A serious adult reader doesn't want to be flipping the book around. I could never choke my way through "A Clockwork Orange" because I lost patience with having to wade through the invented language just to get to the story.
You might find that ten-year-olds would find the book flipping thing fun. It would be similar to those "choose your story" books that get them to a decision point in the plot, and then if they choose A they turn to one page, and if they choose B they turn to a different page, thus "creating" their own story & ending.
But for me, I want the REAL world to go away when I'm reading. I want to become immersed in the story. If you keep pulling me OUT of the story to flip the book around, you'd lose me. Guess I'm not as patient as a ten-year-old!!
Also, if a reader doen't want to stop reading one side, they don't have to. They can read all the way through and then read the other part.
[This message has been edited by Jsteg1210 (edited March 20, 2005).]
Sorry about that. I wasn't trying to nitpick. It was just that the typo was so consistent, and my knowledge of Arthurian lore so vague, that I figured it was one of those gaps in my knowledge.
Next time you should say something like, "Well, you see I was using the original French as transcribed from the letters of Demasi. In that ancient version of the language it is most closely translated as 'Authorian' and I wanted to be as accurate as possible."
If you had said that, I would have sat here going, "Wow, this guy’s really done some serious research!"
Ten years from now you might have heard the narrator on a Discovery Channel special use the phrase "Authorian Lore" and could have smiled to yourself content in the knowledge that, like any good scholar, something you made up from whole cloth has become historical fact. lol
Josh Leone
www.JoshLeone.com
Am I mistaken?
Just curious.
I'd be MUCH more intrigued by a standard form book written primarily from ARthur's POV--First or third person. That sounds like a great idea.
I know there's a YA book out there that explores it from Mordred's POV. Haven't read it yet, but I imagine I will someday. Then there's The Mists of Avalon which explores it from the female POV--though the pagan element was too strong for me on that one. I couldn't get past Bradley's matter-of-fact treatment of a ritualistic, drug-induced rape of a little girl. I still get creeped out even thinking about it.
So, yeah, Josh. I agree with the reservations stated above. Quite simply, it would be too much work to ask of readers, IMO. Readers read to enjoy, not to work. If they want to work at reading they pay for the privilege. It's called college.
But to approach the ARthur story from a unique angle (meaning just about ANYTHING except Merlin's POV) would be interesting to me.
Have you seen the books I mentioned? I remember them as being really creative. You might enjoy them. (They're not from Merlin's perspective )
I find that since I love the story so well, I mentally hold everyone else's stuff up to the high level she took it. And since then, everyone else has fallen short. It's the price you pay when you write something that there is so much to compare it to. A new author would have to simply kick *** for me to love it.
So I agree that looking at a different POV is worth exploring. I've not seen a book using, say, Gawain's POV or one of the other "Knights"... and wouldn't it be rather interesting to see the POV of Excalibur, the sword?
I maintain that the story can be done the traditional way... you can have Part I and Part II, without running them parallel on the page or requiring any flippy stuff. If you want to intersect one story with the other, do it in smaller segments... publishing gimmicks should never replace good writing, IMHO.
There is actually a series of books out there written from Galahad's POV--sort of.
It's called The Forever King series by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy. The first book is called The Broken Sword, the next The Forever King, the last The Third Magic (which I haven't read yet--darned library doesn't have it). Very good books!
I like Stephen Lawhead's other works as well. He has a great Celtic trilogy that starts in modern day England and involves time travel. The first one is called The Silver Hand. Cool concept of a modern bookworm turned ancient warrior hero.
R
I've seen Lawhead's books, but haven't picked one up.
I DID read Whyte's books--all of them, except Uther. He had painted Uther as such a despicable creature in the other books that I had no desire to read an entire book just about him.