Selah // Something Witty

Break the silence, damn the dark, damn the light.

Date: 07.07.17 -- Day 41
Music: "The Chain" / Fleetwood Mac

Learning how to outline a story has always been a problem for me. In the beginning, I simply didn't do it. My writing was all about free-thought and free-flowing ideas. As my disabilities began to kick in, I couldn't do that anymore. The brain just didn't have the power, captain. So outlining and I have attempted to become friends. Weird friends. Friends that do not always talk with each other about changes.

However, practice makes perfect, and I definitely need the practice. Here are some tidbits about the short story I'm working on.

Main Character: Merula. A traveling jester, once a great warrior in a far-off kingdom.

Potential Characters: Aloma, Chelidon, Fiach, Lonan, Manu, Vireo, Gawain, Akos, Kestrel, Aderyn, Lark, Halcyon, Gwennol

Sirins: "The Siren is essentially associated with sorrow and darkness—records tells us that a Siren would arrive on Apple Spas in the apple orchard full of sorrow but in the afternoon Alkonost emerges to rejoice and laugh. She also sang beautiful songs to the saints and foretold future joys, but they charmed humans (especially merchants) with their exquisite voices until they forgot everything related to earth, followed the divine creatures until they died of lethargy and perished in the sea."

Gamayun: "The Gamayun, like the Alkonost, is illustrated as a large bird figure with a woman’s head. Her iconic image represents happiness, prosperity and harmony. She is essentially a messenger for peace and sings beautiful melodies. She is considered to be prophetic in Russia as she is aware of everything that occurs within the world including man and animal, and she knows all amongst the gods and heroes. She lives on an island in the East near the Euphrates River or Eden. The Pythoness is not usually depicted with the Alkonost nor Siren, she is permanently alone knowing the secret fate of humans and the world."

Alkonosts: "The Alkonost exudes beauty and docility and, filled with contentment, flies around projecting a sound that is both exquisite and hypnotising. She enamours those who hear her voice and mentally immobilizes them until they disregard everything in order to hear her delightful melodies. Her eggs are laid on the sea-shore and then placed in the ocean. According to one version of Slavic folklore, she is able to regulate the weather to her liking; there is a calm before a storm for seven days until the eggs fully hatch."

All of this information and more can be found at Ancient Origins  . So my hope is to combine some of these myths in a fantasy setting, talk about how the set of these mythical creatures were banished, learned to survive on their wits, then were offered a chance to go home. It'll be a while, but this should be interesting.