Writers in the Storm

By Lyn Horner
Click here for Part 1 and Part 2 of the Druid series.

In the preface to his book, Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions, James Bonwick stated about the Druids, “They were, doubtless, neither so grandly wise, nor so low in reputation, as represented by tradition. Their ethical lessons must have assuredly prepared the way for Christian missions.” (First published in 1894)

According to Bonwick, early Christian writers believed the Druids possessed a literature.
Some of these writers claimed St. Patrick burned 180 Druid books, setting off a
book burning spree by his converted followers that eradicated Druid manuscripts.
Truth or legend?

Archaeological evidence proves Celts used a written language for everyday matters. Yet, Julius Caesar states the Druids studied up to 20 years, memorizing huge quantities of poetry (knowledge) rather than writing it down. But why?

One source quotes Caesar: “I believe they practice this oral tradition for two reasons:
first, so that the common crowd does not gain access to their secrets and second, to improve the faculty of memory.”

However, Peter Berresford Ellis, in his book A Brief History of The Druids, suggests the answer lies in the Druidic concept of Truth as a supreme authority. They believed the Word held magic power, that all Words, and even the earth itself were founded upon the Truth. Ellis says, “Truth was the Word and the Word was sacred and divine and not to be profaned.” Thus, it violated Druid beliefs to write down sacred knowledge.

We should also keep in mind that Caesar was writing about the Gaulish Druids of Europe, not Irish Druids. Had the Irish broken away from that ancient taboo against recording
their teachings? We don’t know. But if this was the case, they may well have possessed the books that St. Patrick reportedly burned. If so, what a tragic loss!

The Druid belief in the sacred Word bears a striking resemblance to this passage from the
New Testament: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. Is this similarity mere coincidence? Maybe not if we remember that many cultures, including the Jews and early Christians, were influenced by the pre-historic Indo-Europeans, from whom the Celts and Druids sprang. Fascinating, isn’t it, how interconnected we all are through our long ago ancestors. But I’m drifting here. Back to Druid religion.

Although Romans claimed the Druids practiced human sacrifice, no Celtic insular writings back this up. Keep in mind that the Romans sought to undermine all “barbarian” groups they conquered. Their writings were often intended to vilify Druids because they were spiritual leaders who wielded great power among the Celts. Therefore, while it’s possible the Druids did practice human sacrifice, we can’t know that for certain.

Whether or not there were female Druids has also been disputed. Considering the Celtic
attitude toward women, it seems certain some would serve as Druids. If women could be warriors, why not priests? My sources bear out this conclusion.

Both classical and indigenous writers refer to the role of the “prophetess,” a diviner of future events, but this term came from the Greeks and Romans. Other indigenous texts
call such women Druidesses or Vates. In his book War, Women and Druids, Eyewitness Reports and Early Accounts of the Ancient Celts, Philip Freeman says: “. . . that of the few individual Druids known from antiquity, some are women.” In a later chapter he sites three passages from a 4^th century collection of (Roman) imperial biographies, which mention Gaulish (Celtic) women called “Dryades,” meaning Druidesses. That’s good enough for me!

Sadly, no record exists of the original Celtic creation myths. However, Irish mythology
does speak of Danu, the mother goddess, and her children, the Tuatha Dé Danaan.
Danu’s name relates to the Danube  River, whose headwaters spring from the area where early Celtic tribes evolved. As in other countries, the concept of a sacred river flowing from a divine source existed in Ireland. Irish bards believed wisdom, knowledge and poetry sprang forth at the river’s edge. The worship of sacred springs and wells also traces back to this belief in waters from heaven.

Despite the Druids’ belief in Truth as the wellhead of existence, the ancient Irish also worshipped a large pantheon of hero gods and goddesses. I don’t have the time or space to go into all the old hero legends here. If you’d like to learn more about them, and about Druid ceremonies, astrological work and views of nature, I recommend the following sources.

Books:

A Brief History of The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis
Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions by James Bonwick
The Celtic Druids' Year, Seasonal Cycles of the Ancient Celts by John King
War, Women and Druids, Eyewitness Reports and Early Accounts of the Ancient Celts
by Philip Freeman  **This book is a little gem!

Websites:

Gods and goddesses in Celtic lands
Celtic Gods and Goddesses  **A lovely site!
Druid Beliefs and Values

Watch for the fourth and final post in this series, which will focus on modern day Druids.

Remember, I love hearing from you! Whether it's Druids or some other hint of magic, do you try to add that extra bit of "something more" to your stories? Do you find these differences help you answer some questions, or that these legends and special abilities bring up more questions? I'm interested to know!

ANNOUNCEMENT: This Friday's Summer Sensational guest blogger is Connie Flynn!

Connie Flynn is the author of ten published novels and several short stories (click the links for story excerpts or a complete list of her books). Connie is a co-founder of Bootcamp for Novelists Online and also teaches a novel writing series at Phoenix College. Her werewolf series has recently been reissued by Back in Print and is available on Amazon and two of her Harlequin books are scheduled for re-released in July.

By Sharla Rae

In our WITS crit group, we all have our individual critiquing talents: grammar, tight writing, action scenes, male point of view, description  etc. And when one of us starts a new project, we verbalize or write an outline of the story so that our partners can critique the individual story elements as well as the Big Picture. That’s where my own critiquing talent pays off – I’m the big picture gal in our group.

The big picture is everything that happens from page one to “The End,” in other words, the story as a whole. While story structure is involved, I'll leave that discussion to David Morrell in his book, Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing. I’m discussing how to stay focused on the story's roadmap to the big picture.

I ask these questions:

• Do the characters stay true themselves and thus the plot’s roadmap?
• Do all the events serve a purpose toward the resolution of the story?
• Do both characters and events support the themes?

Note: To varying degrees, I’ve seen these very same questions on contest judging forms. So I’d say these questions are “very” relevant.

From the above questions the three “basic” elements of the big picture are evident:

• Character
• Plot
• Theme

I’ll touch on plot and theme first and since plot and theme are notoriously confused, here’s an easy clarification to keep in mind:

Theme

Theme is what the author is trying to convey. It’s woven throughout the entire story and connects to the reader on an emotional level. Short stories usually have only one theme but a novel can have several.

Sometimes writers aren’t aware of the theme(s) until they start writing. Think about the emotions evoked in your book, and you’ll realize the themes. If a story is about a woman who has lost her husband and then years later finds love again, perhaps the theme is grief, acceptance, and learning to love again.

Theme Examples:

• Trust
• Grief
• Fate
• Revenge
• Love
• Coming of age
• Convention and rebellion.

See more: 101 Common Themes.

Plot

Plot is what happens in the story -- the why and order of events. No matter the twists and turns in a book, all events/scenes need to move the story toward its resolution.

Basic Plot Events:

• Opening information
• Complication/Conflict – Catalyst that starts the complication
• Climax – turning point that occurs when characters resolve complication
• Resolution – event that bring story to an end

Characters

Everything characters feel, say and do should logically fit into the big picture. Even if the characters decide to hijack the bus, the writer still holds the road map and thus controls their direction.

If an event or a character’s actions do not support the big picture, the result is a disruptive, gratuitous scene. It’s disruptive because it detours the reader right off the story's map and either changes the big picture or at the least makes it confusing.

Surprisingly, it’s very easy to write a gratutitous scene – usually because it satisfies something within the author. We’ll be writing along when wham, this crazy idea pops into our heads - what if this or that happened? Hmm, I think I like it! And we just have to write it into the story because the idea is too good not to use. On rare occasions the new event might work but often it's like taking a scenic route on a trip and then getting lost.

Other times, a gratuitous scene might occur because of a need to convey an idea or the desire to follow a commonly accepted genre format -- whether it’s right for our particular big picture or not. I could have easily made this mistake in one of my books.

Most long historicals have a love scene at least a third of the way through a book.
Looking at the big picture, I couldn’t make that happen in my latest book. My heroine
had trust issues and the plot’s roadmap called for events in which the hero earned her
trust before intimacy took place. Since the hero had played unfairly to begin with, he        needed time to prove himself worthy of her.

I worried about disappointing readers, but throwing in a love scene too early would’ve
been nothing more than gratuitous sex. The reader would’ve lost respect for my heroine and the book!

I couldn’t allow that to happen. Instead, I built the sexual tension to a boiling point so
that when my characters finally hopped into bed, the sheets caught fire. The integrity
of the big picture remained in tack and the readers’ expectations were satisfied.

Another mistake writers make is adding gratuitous humor. I love writing funny scenes but writing one merely for the sake of a laugh will drive the big picture into a ditch of the ridiculous. Humor needs to be a natural occurrence. The same holds true with a blood & guts scene or even an action scene like a car chase.

So before you write that wonderful scene in your head, make sure it fits the story’s big picture. If it doesn’t, give yourself permission to write the scene, but file it in your “x-files” to use in another story where it fits perfectly.

Web sites:

• Seventh Sanctum - Quick Story Theme Generator
• Great list of Common Themes in Literature
• Interactives - Analyzing Themes (Great site to study theme and plot!)

Have you ever had “big picture” problems or caught a few in a book or movie? How do you keep true to your big picture?

Welcome to the first installment of Sensational Summer Fridays! We'll be finishing up each week with a stellar post to help you through those long Summer weekends of writing, starting off with the amazing Kristen Lamb. In addition to being renowned in writing circles for her social media savvy, Kristen is a wonderful writing teacher.

Kristen is the author of two best-selling books: We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer . Both books are recommended by the hottest agents and biggest authors in the biz. Her methods teach you how to build your author platform and still have time left over to write more great books! Be sure to stop by Kristen Lamb’s Blog at any time for a dose of excellence.

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Developing Your Unique Writing Voice

When we begin as new writers, we often just take off like a shot. Who needs to plot? Plotting is for sissies. Of course, failing to plot is a lot like failing to read the instructions. *whistles innocently* At the end of the day, the shelf leans like the Tower of Pisa and we can’t figure out how we only managed to use half the necessary screws.

So nice of them to give us extras!

Yeah…no.

Fail to do at least a general plot, and I guarantee that your plot will have a lot of missing screws. But plotting ahead of time gives a newer writer an advantage that most people don’t think about. It gives us a playpen to contain our baby writing “voice.” Voice is one of those aspects of writing that is tough to define and quantify. Yet, it is at the heart of who we are as writers. The more we write, the more mature our writing voice becomes. Leave an immature, unformed voice to wander off on its own, and it will be wandering around getting into everything and making a mess.

We will get back to voice in a second…

In my opinion, there is a mistaken assumption that creativity is birthed by removing all boundaries. Just a blank page, a keyboard and your wildest imagination and GO! I disagree. I believe that limitations, boundaries, and constraints are necessary for creativity to thrive. Don’t believe me? Take a tour of Alcatraz. There are few people more creative than prison inmates.

On the positive side, if humans were born with the ability to fly, would we have invented such a vast array of flying machines? If we could communicate telepathically, would we have invented the telegraph, telephone, cell phone, or even e-mail? It is our inability to do something that focuses our energy and generates dynamic results. Light is wonderful, but when focused it becomes a laser.

An author’s voice is what defines his style. Dean Koontz has a distinctive voice when compared to John Grisham or even Amy Tan. Voice is defined by how we use words to convey imagery. I believe that when writers are new, most of us possess a voice that is in its infancy. I propose that this voice will develop more quickly if given boundaries. If an author will choose a genre, then whittle all the ideas whirling in her head down to one kernel idea, she will be closer to finding her unique writing voice than had she just started writing.

How is this?

The writer has erected boundaries that will focus her creative energy instead of letting it dissipate like white light.

Think of the preplanning for a novel as a series of lenses. You are going to shine the brilliant white light that makes up the whole of your creative capacity. Ah, but then we erect the genre lens. Genres have rules. Picking a genre will focus that white light creative energy. Then, the next lens is the one-sentence original idea. The energy focuses even more. With these two lenses, it will be harder for us to stray off on a tangent. Then, want another lens? Even a rudimentary plot outline will concentrate our energy even more. Finally? Detailed character backgrounds will add a final lens that permits us to take on that novel with all our energy at laser intensity.

When we are new, many of us have a lot of favorite authors. Our infant writing voice (tucked in its playpen to keep it out of the adverbs) is much like a baby learning to speak. It does a lot of mimicking. I find it humorous when I read first-time novels. I can read the prose and almost tell what author that writer was reading at the time he wrote the section. The voice is all over the place. That’s normal. When we are new, we are experimenting and looking for the influence(s) that will eventually take root and hold. The trick is to get past this stage.

So what are some ways we can develop our author voice?

1. Erect Boundaries

We just discussed this and it could wholly be my opinion. I believe that even pantser writers (those who write by the seat of their pants) will benefit enormously by erecting even broad constructs. You don’t have to outline down to the last detail, but a general idea of where you are going and the stops along the way are great.

Think of it like taking a road trip. When you begin a trip, how you decide to travel makes a huge difference. If from the beginning, I decide my trip will be by car, as opposed to by plane, train, bicycle, roller skates, or pogo stick, I understand my limitations. By car, I cannot, for instance, go to Hawaii. Then, if I choose an end destination, there are only so many possible logical routes. Say I am going to go to L.A. Well, from Dallas, TX, there are only so many highways that will get me there. Also, I know some routes are just a bad idea. I-20 East is not a consideration. So I know I want to take certain highways to L.A. Now my path is much clearer. Also, since I know the main highways I need to stay on, if, along the way I decide to amble down a country road (pantser) to visit the Alligator Farm and World’s Largest Ball of Dryer Lint, I know that I just have to be able to find my way back to the highway.

But what kind of trip do you think I might have if I just began driving? Sure, I might uncover some great places and have unplanned adventures….but those unplanned adventures might not be positive. They could involve getting lost in the projects or having a flat tire in the desert.

2. Read, read, then read some more.

The best musicians study all kinds of music and then blend elements with their own unique style. That is a great parallel to how we develop our own writing voice. Read other writers. What do you like? Try it. What did you hate? Lose it. What could have worked, but didn’t ? Modify it. The more you read, the more hues of color you add to the pallet that you will use to define your voice. You will have more subtlety, nuance and dimension than a writer who doesn’t read.

3. Write, write, then write some more.

Put it to the test. Does a certain style work for you? Did it feel natural or forced? When did you hit your stride? Can you push it to another level? Practice, practice, practice. Jimi Hendrix did not start out his music career playing Purple Haze. Elvis, Axel Rose and Meatloaf began as a gospel singers. Picasso began painting traditional subjects in traditional ways. All of these artists practiced and studied and added new elements until they created something genuinely unique.

What are your thoughts on voice? Do you guys have a different definition? What are your experiences? Frustrations? Does your voice climb out of the playpen and eat all the cookies? Do you have some suggestions you’d like to add? I love hearing from you!

CONTEST ALERT: The final days of the Going To The Chapel Contest have arrived! You have until midnight this Sunday to use one of our ‘processional lines’ to write the first scene of a fictional wedding. How fun is that for wedding season??! Click on the link above for all the details...