The setting for my upcoming books in Ireland sometimes reminds me of home. But while the hills of Ireland generally stay green all summer long, the hills of my home turn gold by June. Now near the end of July they’re a somewhat drab gold. Here’s the hill I matched with Ireland’s a few months ago.
When I took this photo this afternoon I was just going for the dry look, not expecting company. Look low center and you’ll see a big elk browsing on this warm summer afternoon. My camera isn’t sharp enough to bring her close, but she was a pleasant surprise.
The match in May was more like this:
Home, same hill as aboveIreland, setting for my upcoming stories
Which brings me to my writing. In the next few days I’ll embark on the actual writing of book three in my trilogy, the story of Ainne, who walked onto the screen on a Summer Solstice Day awhile back. She appears as a child in book two, but now she’s a young woman of twenty years. In her story she’ll be drawn from the green of Ireland to another island with golden hills such as she has never seen before–the island of Crete.
And so it begins. My favorite part of what I do, the immersion into a world of imagination and history and enchanting lands, whether green or gold. Also a few challenging critters. Not elk, but boars and–well, I won’t give it away now. But challenging for sure.
One of the most exciting things for a writer is when the ideas flood in. I’m thrilled to say that I’ve been having that kind of creative fever with one more story set in ancient Ireland. This one will make a trilogy.
I took the photo above when I had just stepped away from the heart of my trilogy, the Bohonagh Stone Circle in southern Ireland near the small town of Rosscarbery. It’s the sacred Golden Eagle Circle for my fictional clan. I glanced back to see it one more time before I left on my last visit, wondering if I would ever see it again. This image with the powerful clouds nearly took my breath away.
I’ve been living virtually in ancient Ireland for some time now as I set my stories in that enchanting place. Why do I love Ireland so much? Because it’s like home but with cool ancient stuff? I recently posted comparative pictures on Facebook, posing that question.
There’s this, below, one of Ireland’s back roads, a short walk from the wonderful Rosalithir B&B where I stay. The stone circle on the skyline isn’t quite visible in the shot.
And next, below, the hill above my house. Someone mentioned that I simply had to imagine the castles and ruins on my hill.
So maybe there’s some inspiration right outside my door.
I sent book two to my agent last week. She has book one already. Yesterday I wrote the first four pages of the third in the trilogy to see how my new thoughts looked on the page. I’ll stop now and follow my usual process. I’m an outliner, so I’ll outline. I already have the storyline, the list of scenes I use to track it, and I’ve organized my many notes in the order of that storyline. So from that I’ll do the outline, which for book two took three weeks. And from the outline I’ll write the first draft.
Things will shift. New ideas will come. That always happens. But it’s real now. I feel the distress of my protagonist, her hopes, her fears. I’m beginning to know the other players. It’ll be pure delight for me to step back into her world, that enchantment of Ireland. I call it Éire, an older name for Ireland, if not as old as my story, which begins in 713 B.C.
Then with the conclusion of the third in the trilogy I’ll turn my focus to the rest of the collection, which will be a saga of prequels about the ancestors of my characters in the trilogy.
In the photo below, it’s their sacred circle close-up, where they come to dance and bring the sky and earth together, or to find quiet and connection. And more.
And below, from the southern stone to the sea. Note how the slant of the stone’s top echoes the slant of the gap to the blue water.
And down to the sea below their village, where my new protagonist was shocked as a child by how cold the water was.
