I’ve had the privilege of working with Cheri on Words to Music (y’know, that short story anthology where all proceeds go to charity? Go ahead, click the link. We’ll wait.), not to mention getting to read some of the AWESOME Artemis Rising before it became the book it is now. I knew she had talent then, and I waited impatiently for someone to prove it…and they have!
It’s also fitting that I feature her on Wednesday, because I adore the cover of her first book. The first time I saw the title of her story, I was drawn to it (no, my love of all things night sky had little to do with it. Okay, maybe a little.). Actually, it was the mythology behind it. She’s graciously offered to talk to us about the myths today.
How is it that mythology touches us so profoundly? Why do we keep coming back to these same stories century after century? They have a power and a purity—after all, they are some of the first stories of humankind—that has had a far-reaching effect on our collective thought as well as our subsequent written works. Retellings of classic mythological tales are as popular as ever in film, books, graphic novels… And we gain new insight into these stories with every retelling.
I discovered mythology quite late in my life. I was around twenty-one or so. I had fallen in love with the film Legends of the Fall and was randomly searching the Internet for the meaning of the main character’s name. Tristan, it was. Funny thing, though. I found out that film had parallels to the classic Arthurian legend of Tristan and Isolde. In an instant, I was hooked. I read the legend and was amazed at how complex the story was—and how tragic.
It might have all ended there, but another funny thing happened. I was bored one day, browsing a Greek mythology site. I came across the Greek myth of Alpheus and Arethusa. I was dumbstruck. How could an Arthurian legend and a Greek myth have such striking similarities? They were written centuries apart in two vastly different countries. I studied them and studied them, and then, just like that… a novel was born.
My debut novel, Artemis Rising, while a love story set in the exotic Azores Islands, is also an exploration of just how universal mythology can be. Each of these stories runs through mine like subplots, like mirror images, like undercurrents. But I take the usual route of a simple retelling of a myth in a new milieu and turn it on its head. My characters acknowledge these stories as the myths they are. But they also see in them so much more. My characters become so enmeshed in these tales and their belief is so intense that they find themselves locked within these mythological fates. The story begs the question: if you believe in something strongly enough, does it make it true?
How did I conceive of this crazy plot? Frankly, I don’t know. It boiled down to a lot of thinking and planning and comparing. And a desire to discover the answer to that weighty question for myself. There is no doubt that mythology makes us think. It forces us to see outside of ourselves to the world beyond our tiny spheres. As we read, we begin to see the world through others’ eyes and, in the end, we discover that they don’t actually think all that differently from us. Mythology is universal precisely because it shows us ourselves in a profoundly new way.
Using these two myths within my story wasn’t my only use of mythology for this novel. I also studied mythological archetypes and mixed and matched them to create well-rounded three-dimensional characters. One of my favorite resources was Victoria Schmidt’s 45 Master Characters. I adore this book because it lays out major character archetypes from Greek mythology and lists characteristics in a user-friendly format. This was like a character playground for me and it was one of my favorite parts of writing this novel.
It was also the most difficult. Trying to create a unique yet consistent people who are literally playing three characters at the same time made me a feel a bit like they all had multiple-personality disorder—including me! Imagine trying to work out a voice and way of thinking for a character like that. Whoa! In the end, it took me ten years to get it right, but I’m glad I took the time on it.
This novel would most certainly not exist if I hadn’t stumbled on the legend of Tristan and Isolde that fateful day. I suppose we never know what will spark a story idea. But the study of mythology is a wonderful place to gather new ideas from classic stories. It’s a treasure trove of universal knowledge, and I, for one, can’t wait to dive right back in and see what I uncover!
~~~
SpireHouse Books launched Cheri Lasota’s first novel, Artemis Rising, in Sept 2011. The book is a YA historical fantasy based on mythology and set in the exotic Azores Islands. Currently, Cheri is writing and researching her second novel, a YA set on the Oregon Coast. Over the course of her sixteen-year career, she has edited fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, and short stories for publication. Cheri also has twenty-four years of experience writing poetry and fiction. Learn more about Artemis Rising at http://www.cherilasota.com or buy it at http://bit.ly/ArtemisRisingNovel.
Great article! There’s no doubt that mythology fascinates many of us (myself included) and the more research we do into them, the more we find to fall in love with. I hope the trend never dies.
Hey Jessie! Thanks for posting. I love mythology of all kinds, too. Most of my stories are based on myths, too, and they never get old (soooo many hours spent on the computer, getting lost in those stories).
I agree, Jessie. Mythology is both ancient and eternally fresh. We keep finding new insights into our lives by digging deeper into the mysteries of our oldest stories. Viva la mythology!