Comments | atgstories: Story challenge

3scoremiles_10 in atgstories

Story challenge - a contribution.

Aug 24, 2004 04:14

Right. It is 4am and this thing has wanted to go off on several tangents of its own devising, but here it is - my response to the story challenge. It's a little clumsy in places - as I've said, it's 4am - but I hope it's fit to the task ( Read more... )

Comments 14

florachan August 23 2004, 10:51:12 UTC

You have a great understanding of these characters, and I can alsofeel a great respect from your part ( ... )

3scoremiles_10 August 23 2004, 15:35:53 UTC

Thanks for your comments Flora, I'm pleased if you enjoyed the story. I think I can probably explain your question regarding some of the phrases I use ie the damn him to hell part. For my own purposes, I have assumed that Bagoas is a follower of the ancient Zoroastrian religion of Persia, which has a monotheist tradition of cosmic and ethical duality. To put it simply, they believe in opposing forces of good and evil, and that upon his death a man will be judged by God as to whether he did more good or evil in his life, and sent to "heaven" or "hell" accordingly. I am of course speaking in Western phrases, since my Persian is non-existent ;). So in answer to your question, yes Bagoas would have had some concept of hell and damnation, although obviously it would have differed from our own. I suppose I could have written "May the Lord of Wisdom judge him harshly", but "damn him to all hells" seemed easier to understand. ;)

florachan August 23 2004, 15:52:38 UTC

Ahahah!Yes, it was definitely easier to understand...^^

It's always difficult when one tries to conceive an idea switching from a culure to another, aspecially if we are talking about so ancient cultures...
thank you for the enlightening!

Flora

3scoremiles_10 August 23 2004, 15:57:02 UTC

Oh, and I forgot to mention ... thank you for your comments regarding Hephaistion, I'm especially pleased his humour comes through. He tends to have quite a dry, irreverent sense of humour, and he's also a rather "internal" character - that is, a lot of the story happens in his head. Because I tend to use Hephaistion as my eyes when I write (and that may make no sense to non-writers, but others will understand) he is the one who is the most clear to me. Bagoas is useful, and Alexandros is a law unto himself half the time, but Hephaistion is good to work with.

Yeah, I meant to just say I'm glad the character works for you, and I've made myself sound slightly nuts. Oh well, such is life ;)

Thread 5

florachan August 23 2004, 10:53:43 UTC

GRRR!!!The damn livejournal cut the first part of my comment!!!

Anyway, it sounded prettu much this way:

I loved this story...Really...
You made my day, and such...^^

(The comment has been removed)

Re: GRINNING... florachan August 23 2004, 20:35:55 UTC

Thank you Nicky, I hope you'll like my story, as soon as I put it on line, but I warn you it's quite a long story...It seems I'm not fit for the short shots!^^

To tell the truth I've also wrote about 600 pages of a novel, which is driving me nuts from 3 years by now, and it's coming out utterly long...600 pages, and I still don't see the end of it...>_It is an attempt to explore Hephaistion's life since his very origins, infact it starts well before he even meets Alexander, and for about 200 pages the book is only about his life ( ... )

Re: GRINNING... 3scoremiles_10 August 24 2004, 01:00:23 UTC

Writing's not work. If it was, I would have quit by now ;). I don't mean to say that I find writing easy, because often it isn't ... but it's not work either. Work you can walk away from. Writing is more persistent than that. And don't get me started on all the ways working on a novel can drive you mad. Several years and two manuscripts later ... argh. Just ... don't.

With regards Bagoas, Nicky is overstating my dislike for him a little. Not by much perhaps, but still ... ;). I openly admit I don't subscribe to Renault's rather romanticised view of the eunuch - wonderful books though they are - and as a result I tend to keep him firmly in his place when he appears in my stories. The truth is, we know next to nothing about him ... we can't even be sure Alexander kept him that close. But that's the interesting thing about historical fiction - sources are open to interpretation and there are all these wonderfully intriguing blanks to fill in. How can you resist?

(The comment has been removed)

Thread 6

grecian1 August 24 2004, 09:30:11 UTC

Thought this was lovely as always. Your Hephaistion is exactly as I imagine him to be and in many ways I find him a much more interesting character than Alexander.

I have slightly mixed feelings about Bagoas as I do anyone who may or may not get in the way of the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion, so have no problems seeing him kept 'firmly in his place'.

One question - have you posted the story where Hephaistion picks Bagoas up by and shakes him when he catches him lurking?

3scoremiles_10 August 24 2004, 15:39:56 UTC

Curious here. When you say you find Hephaistion to be a more interesting character than Alexander, are you speaking in regards to my writing, or in regards to fiction and/or history in general? Because I would not like to think I've been short-changing Alexander. Yes, I do tend to use Hephaistion as my focus, for several reasons which I won't go into right now, but Alexander ... well, he can tell a pretty good story too. ;)

No, I haven't posted the particular incident you're talking about - it's part of something larger I'm working on at the moment. Still, it's always possible I could adapt something like it into a shorter version, it will just depend on how things work out.

Glad you enjoyed the story.

grecian1 August 25 2004, 10:05:20 UTC

I find Hephaistion more interesting in a number of ways. Firsly because there is so much written and known about Alexander and it seems to me very little about Hephaistion. Secondly if he was as close and important to someone like Alexander he must have had something about him and thirdly because I always seem to be drawn to the so called 'side kick' never the main character.

This was a general comment and I certainly did not mean to imply this is in any way related to your fiction. I like your portrayal of Alexander as much as that of Hephaistion.

3scoremiles_10 August 26 2004, 07:44:25 UTC

Just checking ;). I agree with you too ... for all the things we think we know about Alexander, we don't get a lot of info on Hephaistion. Which is odd, but then I suppose the things he was good at were not the sort of things that get a person remembered in the history books of the day. All of which seems grossly unfair to a man who seems by what accounts we have to have been pretty damned useful, so it's hardly a wonder if we want to give him his dues now.