I liked the idea of creating an “author’s commentary” of the novella that I just published. This is something that was recommended as a Patreon perk for subscribers. I love that idea as well, but I think for this one I’d like to put it here, on my blog.
So, this is a commentary and “behind the scenes” look at my recent novella, Arrows and Ambrosia. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s available for $0.99 everywhere you buy ebooks. It’s part of the “Heaven’s Apocalypse” series, and set in that same world.
Arrows and Ambrosia was a subplot.
I’ve been working my way through three drafts of an ambitious novel of Greek myth retellings for several years. I finished my third draft and had it professionally edited in 2022. That editor, with an eye toward making this book stand out against the competition, and getting it within ideal wordcounts, recommended that I cut this entire subplot from the novel.
I had left it in because of the “Psyche” character, Alma. She was the only real person continually interacting with the gods, and showing readers what it was like to talk with or be around gods in our world. That’s going to make that particular job as a writer harder in the next draft of the novel, but that’s how it goes.
I ripped the subplot out, and then realized that it could easily stand alone as a novella. The original subplot was only from Alma’s perspective, not Eros’s. So I had to add several chapters to this draft to make it work.
Thanatos was a Surprise.
I was focused on the elements of the retelling that allowed for Eros to experience personal growth and his own emotional and inner journey to take place in this draft. I was surprised when Thanatos decided to become a de facto narrator, and ongoing companion of Eros.
The Eros/ Thanatos drives in Freudian theory are intriguing to me, particularly in this modern era, where we all seem to vacillate between self-destruction and creativity. I’m going to be working a lot more with this dyad in the coming weeks, because I’ve been finding it deeply inspiring.
I talked a little bit more about this in the lecture I gave at Morbid Anatomy.
A Few Easter Eggs
For the mythologically nerdy, there are a number of little details throughout the book. They aren’t intended to be necessary to understand the plot, or appreciate the story. Just little nuggets of fun for those who really enjoy and know the original text. I adhered pretty closely to the beats of the original story, as I find a number of the psychologically meaningful. A side-by-side reading will bear quite a lot of similarities.
First of all, most of the names have meaning. In almost all cases, I translate the names that the character has to make it useful for the plot. For example, Cadmus is a Greek word for Dragon (who Psyche was supposed to wed). Adelfa, her roommate, means “sister,” and Dion, the Ganymede character meant “Follower of Dionysus” which I related to his role as cup-bearer.
Some Crossover Work Callouts
The Demeter, Hera, and Zeus cameos are from the novel that I’m still working on. It’s possible that those scenes won’t make it into the fourth draft of that book, but that’s why they mutter the things they mutter or say certain things that are baffling. I chose to let them be there, and baffling, to allow Alma to continue to be adrift in this otherworld she finds herself. She didn’t understand what the heck they were talking about, so I didn’t mind leaving readers a bit mystified as well.
The ”Athena is busy” at the archery contest throwaway line was a reference to my story “The Wise look for all the Stories,” and Dionysus mentioning getting married soon was a reference to “Bull-headed.”
The choice to use they/them pronouns for Dionysus isn’t included in “Bull-headed”, but it is included in my YouTube ASMR video about them!