Classical Themes - 1 of 4

Classical Themes within the ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series

Myths, magic, rituals, quests, places, people and animals; all of these elements are helping to shape the forthcoming tales in my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series. Here is the first of FOUR posts.

Magical beasts and food; feuding siblings; rags to riches; death and rebirth; initiation and rites of passage; serpents, dragons and treasure – drawing on ancient and classical themes are of utmost importance in providing familiar storytelling arcs that readers can naturally connect with. Whether we realise it or not, most stories will resonate with an ancient theme and ‘remind’ us of something we have encountered previously in our conscious or subconscious. Fairytales are but one example of how repeated themes provide a wide variety of stories. 

Consider:

Sleeping Beauty                      Beauty and the Beast

Cinderella                               Snow White

King Arthur                              Chronicles of Narnia

Red Riding Hood                     Alice in Wonderland

Lord of the Rings

Stag in misty forest

I have immense pleasure incorporating these fascinating myths, legends and beliefs into my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series and hope you, my readers, have as much pleasure hunting for the morsels embroidered into my tales; small threads weaving through the whole. In my second ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ novel I have elements of the following themes:

Rights of Succession of Kings

This is deeply rooted in Indo-European mythology. There is an underlying, ancient archetype of a son or grandson killing their father or grandfather in order to marry and/or rule alongside the queen or mother goddess. The son has a hand in despatching the father (not necessarily a blood descendant and not necessarily with malice) and the son-lover joins the female sovereignty until the next ‘son’ arrives and repeats the cycle.

Think of:          Perseus and Acrisius, or

                        Oedipus and Laius

Celtic warrior aloft a war chariot drawn by two horses

Feuding Siblings

These also appear frequently in my sagas, though not all are blood-related. Brothers and sisters can be actual relatives, or bonded kinsfolk in religious orders or warrior bands. For my second ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ I was inspired by the half-brothers Nissyen (who wished for harmony) and Evnissyen (who wished for discord) from the ‘Sorrows of Branwen’ in the Mabinogion. Where there is disharmony, there is always interesting conflict!

Pair of wolves

Cinderella Stories

These are another recurring theme in many cultures: a hero or heroine undergoes a series of trials at the domestic hearth or in the wilderness, their true worth revealed at the story’s climax. This crisis-initiation-resolution appears in several forms. I’ve already used it for two main characters in my first novel in my series ‘Wulfsuna’ and expect to see it again in future sagas.

Midnight pyre

• Can you think of other classical themes repeated in literature?
• Do you like to include ancient themes in your writing?

~   ~   ~

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA

Breathing in the Past

Nothing compares to visiting historical sites and locations used in your novels to literally ‘inhale’ the past around you. If you write about locations near to where you live, this is a boon and most convenient, and should not stop you from exploring what your characters would have explored.

Thundery skies over the Avebury Circle

However, we may write about far away places and if, for any number of reasons [national lockdown the latest barrier], you are unable to reach those destinations, there are alternatives. Consider the topography of the location: flora and fauna, how the land lies, types of trees and animals, weather. Then challenge yourself to find the same or similar in environments around you.

Stag in a misty forest

You may have to visit multiple local areas to come into contact with the sounds, sights and smells of the place you are writing about, but the important aspect here is to experience the same sensory stimulations.

Lady reclining on a hill in the sunshine

If it is a hot country, go out on a warm day and notice the difference in temperature on the skin, how sound travels in a dry atmosphere and how the heat can accentuate scents. If it is a Scandinavian country find a pine forest and visit on a cold, damp day to absorb the smell of the foliage and soil and the sound of how the wind sounds through the pine tops.

Waterfall

These will not be complete substitutes of actually going to a particular place, but it is all part of research as a novelist and making the most of what is available to you. The rest will be added using your imagination and creativity as a writer!

Once upon a time...

~   ~   ~

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA

Creative Boost

A rainbow of journals

If, like me, you are one of the may writers who have lost momentum during lockdown (read my previous post) or you have decided to change career direction though are not sure where you want to go, or what you want to do, there is something you can try. Journalling and keeping a diary have been used for hundreds of years as an expressive art form and more recently as a therapeutic process. Documenting your daily thoughts and feelings keeps you focussed on the present and can reveal patterns in your lifestyle that you love, or that you want to change. Why not use this to your advantage?

Astronaut in space

Writing a daily journal keeps you ‘in the moment’ and distracts you from what’s happening around you. If you use the opportunity to write yourself into a preferred ‘reality’ by referring to yourself in the third person, you can escape into this make-believe world for a while. The distance you gain from daily troubles will reduce your anxiety. Also, by inserting yourself into a story of the life you want, you gain an insight into your dreams and create positive manifestation. By writing of the life you would like, you can bring about the changes to achieve it in the real world.

A beautiful garden and a gate leading somewhere...

Use positive quotes, clippings and photographs to assist you and enjoy the chance to ‘escape’ to anywhere in the world (or indeed the universe!). Make it as real or fantastical as you like, from wanting a change in home or career to a total lifestyle change such as becoming a millionaire or flying a rocket to Mars. Don’t plan it. Write it as it comes, off-the-cuff as it were. This way your subconscious will creep through and you may be surprised by what you create. If you are fortunate, you may gain insight into what makes you happy. You could unlock changes you can implement into your ‘real’ life.

Handwriting with pen on paper

While many of us prefer technology and our smartphones, this technique is best done with pen and paper. This method connects more closely to our subconscious through muscle memory and is more immersive.*

Grab a pen and explore!

• If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
• If you could be anything, what would it be?

*Mental Health Disclaimer – if you are under any medication and/or guidance for mental health issues, for safeguarding purposes please consult your GP or psychologist before trying this immersive diary technique.

~   ~   ~

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA

Inspiration Hibernation

A blank piece of paper

You would imagine having twelve weeks at home would have been a writers' dream. No external distractions; no time wasted on journeys here, there and everywhere; no meeting friends in coffee shops or wasting time mooching around department stores. I'd been waking much earlier, often before my alarm at 6.15am, and not retiring to bed before 11pm most evenings. But... and this is the BIG 'but', I hadn't spent any extra time writing. My inspiration had gone into hibernation along with me!

Apple blossom

I have spoken with other creatives who haven’t sat at a laptop or picked up a pen or paintbrush either. Unable to go out and about, to see people or places, had sapped our spark. To rectify this I began by posting my ‘Hibernation Inspiration’ blog posts. These were a small effort to aid fellow creatives and a channel for me to kick-start some writing by creating the mini poems and prose for the posts. Here is my first 'Hibernation Inspiration post.

My little tray of filter coffee and matching mug

The ability to ‘find’ ideas comes from stimulation or solace, neither of which are always attainable when you are indoors for months with all your family! The muse wanders, so you have to find new methods. I substituted visits to coffee shops, woodland walks and running my local writing group with coffee moments at home, writing letters and spending more time in our garden for work or leisure. To maintain my writing group, I organised video meetings for my members and emailed them topics. I have found beauty and inspiration closer to home. To spur my writing, I switched to smaller projects needing less focus time and a shorter attention span. I extended deadlines on larger projects and succumbed to a slower pace of life.

Scales of work/life balance

Life is all about balance and when something is tossed at you that tips the scales, you make adjustments until you regain that balance. Sometimes it takes a while, but when you find the magical mix, mind and body relax. Relaxation of mind and body facilitates the return of the muse and eases creative production. If you are stuck in a creative rut, keep trying. Your muse it out there. You may simply need a little longer to find it. And take heart… during this time of global hibernation many people around the world have chosen the creative arts to express themselves, to entertain them and to inspire them to try new careers.

• Have you struggled to write through lockdown?
• What have you done to maintain inspiration?

~   ~   ~

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA

Hibernation Inspiration #5

I've been listening to my favourite composer, Chopin. The variety of pieces have inspired various scenes in my mind. There are some that evoke the incidental music played over silent films of the Twenties: the heroine dashing around in blond curls and a scarf, fleeing a moustached foe in an overly-large tuxedo.

Then there are pieces that suggest a peaceful walk along the Seine on a balmy, Paris summer's evening. Bateaux mooches pass by; lovers embrace on the steps; the happy chatter of people at bistros lining the street rise into the warm night air.

And some compositions have you reminiscing of unforgettable English summers, with long pink and golden sunsets, swallows or bats chasing insects in the fading light. A warm ale, sipped outside a familiar country pub and faithful dogs lingering at their owners' feet, waiting for a hot, vinegar-soaked chip to fall within their reach on the cool grass.

What music whisks you away to pleasant memories?

Write about a happy memory; a place; a person.

Hibernation Inspiration #4

Come into the garden and explore!

I've been watching various things come into bud outside, in our garden and other people's across the way. There are plenty of daffodils and dandelions!

Now and then I venture into the back garden to feel the sunshine and see what is sprouting. I love the earthy smell of the soil and the sweetness of grass. These photographs are from my travels, alas my own garden is not so amazing, but I thought they were immensely cheery!

Perhaps it's time to write about the fairies and other mythical creatures who may be living beneath or inside the plants and flowers of our gardens or wild spaces? Let's take a trip to fantasyland this week, shall we?

'Soft green buds sprout on small trees and shrubs,

Bringing plants back to life.

Through the ground peep shoots, so slender,

Straining bravely against the wind.

You are embraced by the quiet solace of a warm, spring day.'

Hibernation Inspiration #3

Ideas on themes of 'nature' and 'springtime'.

Hello again! What have you been creating? Any good ideas to share? I'm having fun compiling some simple poems about nature and things I can see from the windows of our home.

I was thinking today of perhaps a story, compiled of a series of poems, that could all link together? If you give it a go, let me know how you get on.

'Sun peeps through leaves on the trees.

The church bell peels through the warm afternoon air.

Spring bulbs bob their dainty heads upon the gentle breeze.

A child's hair flies wild as they bounce over green grass,

Cries of joy and excited screams fill the park,

As bikes and skateboards go flying past.'

Hibernation Inspiration #2

More observations on the themes of 'hibernation' and 'emergence' - some Spring things to inspire ideas!

Another week and another morsel of inspiration from my personal photo collection and an observational poem. I'm sure many of you will be able to do better justice to poetry - so have a go!

Try some Haiku or flash fiction. Begin a new story and see where it leads you. Above all - have fun with words.

'What are the words,

Exchanged between birds?

What do they say to one another?

Do pigeons coo of love?

Do robins tweet of the sun above?

Do blackbirds chirp when tugging worms are a bother?

Who is the crow cawing to?

Where to the swallows fly from and to?

Do baby birds fight with their brothers?'

Lickey Hills Country Park

Visiting this local forest is inspiring and refreshing for the soul.

A short drive from where I live there is a wooded nature reserve of predominantly pine forest. I love to visit for many reasons. I love nature and find it soothing to be among trees. The fresh air provides a welcome reprieve from the often fume-heavy atmosphere of suburbia. The forest is out of time, a place where you could be in any era from the Stone Age to the Renaissance. Trees have stood for hundreds of years, bracken and ferns blanketing the floor year after year.

Often I have been there, with friends and family, absorbing the nourishing clean oxygen beneath the ageing boughs of oak, yew, hawthorn or pine. It never fails to inspire me, whether I have gone simply for fun or for a serious walk (with camera). I feel closer to the divine around us, embraced by mother nature and all she instils. Inevitably, I come away from these visits with ideas that I transcribe into notebooks once I reach home. Photographs I have taken there have become backdrops to scenes for my novels or thoughtful pieces I use in blog posts, or merely as wallpaper on my computer.

An hour’s ramble is worth so much more in prose, adding atmosphere and elements of all the senses. Sometimes, walking among the trees and climbing through groves and clearings, I see my characters milling about. I follow them, seeing where they go and what they do. Then  dash home to log it before I forget!

• Do you have particular places that are repeatedly inspiring to you?
• What types of landscape do you find the most inspiring?

E S MOXON has had a lifelong passion for history and writing. A childhood filled with family visits to ancient burial sites and stone circles fuelled her imagination. Inspired by classic medieval tales and Norse sagas, Elaine imagined herself inhabiting these Dark Ages and exploring the landscapes in her mind and continues to do so through her novels. The first in her ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series is ‘WULFSUNA’ and books two and three will be out soon. When not lost in pages of the past, she lives in the Midlands with her family and their chocolate Labrador.

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA

Hygge: the new Mead Hall

Hall of Hygge!

I’ve been embracing Hygge, the Danish art of ‘being’ and ‘sharing’, and it got me thinking. This isn’t a new craze that’s never been tried before. This is something the Danish have been perfecting for hundreds of years. It’s something the human race has been practising for thousands of years. It’s simply a case of switching off from all the external distractions of life in our current world and curling up with those you love. It’s about downtime without artificial lights or modern technologies that interrupt us all the while. It’s time to switch off your smartphones, or in the case of our ancestors, leave the swords outside.

'If I can just thread this needle...'

Some may argue that television is the modern equivalent to the tales of Scops or Skalds in the Mead Halls, except instead of listening to oral stories of brave heroes we are eagerly watching people dance or bake their way to glory. Here in the Moxon household we’ve had candles and fairy lights on and the whole tribe has been curled up on a sofa surrounded by cushions and blankets. There’s been reading, board games and knitting. I’ve almost completed a knitted tunic that I began in the spring, hoping to wear it for winter. This is now taking shape and I may still have the weather to wear it in. It made me think of Medieval women combing raw wool as they sit by the fire.

Get the tea on!

Surprisingly, or not, all this Hyggelig behaviour spurred my writer’s brain into action. I’ve had plot ideas, promotional ideas and thoughts of exciting twists in future novels. We’ve planned holidays and daytrips or taken 40 winks, sent into slumber by the warmth of the dog beside us (not with the candles burning mind you!). The communal ‘downtime’ not only liberated us from modern society, but liberated our imaginations. It is easy to see how productive this socially engaging enclosure is and would have been to our ancestors in the Mead Halls. Campaigns could be formed and strategized; community disputes discussed and settled; plans passed for building and crop growing.

Time for adventure

Like a warrior whittling runes into a bone comb, dreaming of heroic ventures as he warms his toes by the hearth, so we have been busy making and plotting in our own 21^st Century way. There is a saying that ‘the old ones are the best’ and I think the Danes know this very well. Hygge is an old tradition and is still the best way to live, tapping into our past as we move into the future. Here's to exciting adventures and some literary 'a-viking' across the oceans of the writer's page!

BE CANDLE SAFE – NEVER LEAVE A BURNING FLAME UNATTENDED

~  ~  ~

Elaine writes Historical Fiction as E S Moxon and is currently editing the second novel in the 'Wolf Spear Saga' series, writing the third instalment, as well as a set of Old English tales and several novellas. You can keep up to date with her publishing progress on her website.

Available as e-Book, Paperback & Hardback (Amazon, Book Depository & more)

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

An ancient saga is weaving their destiny.

A treacherous rival threatens their fate.

A Seer's magic may be all that can save them.

WULFSUNA