The Legend of Arthur

Hi guys! Welcome to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by.

As always, with the beginning of the month comes the beginning of a new blog series, and this month is one… well, it’s one that I literally thought of just in time to write this post and get it ready to post online. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good one! In fact, I really like it. And I think we’ll all have fun this month.

Themes, Myths, and Legends from which Great Stories Come

Yep. You read that right. For the month of October, we’re going to talk about mythological creatures, legends of old, and themes that writing repeats all the time—and that we could all stand to borrow in our own writing, because they’re just that good.

Today?

Arthurian Legend

I love Arthurian legend. I even took a class on it in college. It’s one of those legends that I can’t get enough of, one of those stories I get more and more out of every time I read it—whether I’m reading Percival or Le Mort D’Arthur, or anything in between.

There’s a reason for that.

Arthurian legend, if only because of how much it’s loved in Great Britain, is one of those stories that never gets old. It’s a story of knights and maidens, of chivalry and epic battles, of the once and future king who will return to the throne of Camelot one day.

But, because it’s so well-loved, because we all know it so well, it’s one of those stories we can easily take and modify into some amazing writing that a lot of people will love. There are, after all, droves of people who flock to Arthurian legend novels, whether they be old or new. You could be one of the authors they find themselves loving, you know. ;-)

Of course, you have to know how to do it.

You can’t just rewrite the story of Arthur. You can’t easily make it into a modern retelling, and if you try, you'll alienate a lot of the people who so love the legend. But you know what you could do? You could take one or two of your favorite characters from Arthurian legend and write a story about them, outside the already written Arthurian canon. You could take Galahad on an epic adventure to slay a dragon, or to discover a web of spies threatening the security of Camelot—the possibilities are endless.

All you need to know are the characters and base canon of the Arthurian legend tales (and if you need any of that, well, you know who to ask). 

Make your story one that fits into the canon, that doesn’t discount anything we all know has happened to Arthur and his knights. Make us believe it. We’ll love you for it, and we’ll keep coming back for more—even if you start writing other things.

[love]

{Rani Divine}