musings
Alright, I realize that this in some ways applied to my life and not just my writing, but it is having a profound impact on my writing, so I'm going to talk about it anyway.
On Fealty. I used to never write characters who were in any way bound in fealty to anyone. They were free spirits, thieves, wanderers, bards, insolent, cheekey, independent, and without ties. But recently (in the lasst few years) my charcters have grown more .. connected? They have families, either blood or found, and sometimes owe allegiance to someone. It's interesting, because I find myself interested in the conflicts of duty, honor, fealty, and being true to oneself. My characters, as usual, got the clue before I did.
Now see, recently I was offered the opportunity to tie myself to a group of people in the SCA. The offer is standing, I haven't responded yet. But I find that I take the idea of fealty very seriously, as I do the ideas of honor and chivalry. In my daydreams, Kings and Queens inspire fealty, not because they are perfect, but because they try to be good. I'm not talking about early 20th century Japanese fealty here - not gonna say my life is nothing compared to the emperors - but the idea that fealty is something you take very very seriously. Not something you can just toss away, or ignore. And so when I pledge fealty, I want to mean it with my heart and my mind.
I suppose this reflects as well my evolution of religion. In my early teens, I ditched the church, went seeking free spirited goddess nature tree loving religions with no rituals and no ties. And gradually I came back to the idea of serving God through my actions - trying to behave honorably in order to bring honor to myself and my God... okay, that's not what I mean, exactly, but I guess I can't explain it. I'm thinking about confirmation now. And for me, swearing fealty and getting confirmed are very similar. You are binding youself by oath to a group of people, and pledging that you will serve them as they will serve you, that you will consider how your actions affect them and how others perceive the group before you act. It's not a decision to be taken lightly.
And I like writing about that. It's a way of discovering, but also a way of conveying the ideas to people who might not otherwise have considered them.
On Fealty. I used to never write characters who were in any way bound in fealty to anyone. They were free spirits, thieves, wanderers, bards, insolent, cheekey, independent, and without ties. But recently (in the lasst few years) my charcters have grown more .. connected? They have families, either blood or found, and sometimes owe allegiance to someone. It's interesting, because I find myself interested in the conflicts of duty, honor, fealty, and being true to oneself. My characters, as usual, got the clue before I did.
Now see, recently I was offered the opportunity to tie myself to a group of people in the SCA. The offer is standing, I haven't responded yet. But I find that I take the idea of fealty very seriously, as I do the ideas of honor and chivalry. In my daydreams, Kings and Queens inspire fealty, not because they are perfect, but because they try to be good. I'm not talking about early 20th century Japanese fealty here - not gonna say my life is nothing compared to the emperors - but the idea that fealty is something you take very very seriously. Not something you can just toss away, or ignore. And so when I pledge fealty, I want to mean it with my heart and my mind.
I suppose this reflects as well my evolution of religion. In my early teens, I ditched the church, went seeking free spirited goddess nature tree loving religions with no rituals and no ties. And gradually I came back to the idea of serving God through my actions - trying to behave honorably in order to bring honor to myself and my God... okay, that's not what I mean, exactly, but I guess I can't explain it. I'm thinking about confirmation now. And for me, swearing fealty and getting confirmed are very similar. You are binding youself by oath to a group of people, and pledging that you will serve them as they will serve you, that you will consider how your actions affect them and how others perceive the group before you act. It's not a decision to be taken lightly.
And I like writing about that. It's a way of discovering, but also a way of conveying the ideas to people who might not otherwise have considered them.