 Fantasy: March 28, 2018 Issue [#8824] |
  Fantasy
This week: Passover: Spring Festival of Liberation Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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Fantasy Newsletter by Dawn
Writing this time about the Passover holiday and the potential within fantasy worlds. |
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Spring has arrived, at least in the northern hemisphere. Along with the arrival of warmer climates, time changed and chocolate covered eggs is also a variety of holidays and celebrations. While for some it's the easter bunny and candies, others notice the coming of spring with the Oester and still others have a more somber approach when it comes to how they approach certain days at this point of the year. In the area where I work, it's common to hear talk about one in particular and that is passover.
What is Passover?
According to the common used source of Wikipedia, it is a Jewish holiday that commemorates their liberation from slavery in Egypt. It is a spring festival that was connected to the Temple of Jerusalem by offerings of the first grain to ripen, which was barley. Passover starts on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for 7 or 8 days. It is also one of the more widely known of the celebrated Jewish holidays.
I will admit that I didn't and still don't know much about the holiday. I'm terrible about incorporating these kinds of elements in my own stories because if it's not something the main character deals with then it's not something that comes up in the story. Part of being more of a pantser than a plotter, I suppose. But it's something I need to work on. Some of my worlds might be to foreign for a passover but others that are similar or the ones set in our exact world, those need to have such holidays and situations come to surface.
So, how do we use this in fantasy or other speculative fiction stories?
This depends on whether we are doing stories set in worlds very similar to our own or not. For those doing more contemporary or perhaps even urban fantasy where the world is our own or one very similar to our own then it's more likely to be prevalent. If using our world then it's something that probably will come up somewhere in the world. It just depends on what the character do and how they come across during the time of spring. However, even in a fantastical world of make believe, we can be influenced by our world settings, details and celebrations.
Spring is a common time for such and many worlds have something similar in the warming of days and return to the fields. Many fantasy authors have their characters come upon places in the midst of a celebration that takes place during their spring season. Or they show their characters in their own homes/settings with such a festival in place. Pagan festivals are common but there are many others available for use as inspiration.
There is room for many different influences and ways to show the worlds. Having a Passover-like event is one of many options. How will you develop your fantasy world and story? That's up to you. Happy Pesach - Happy Passover. |
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Do you have a character who celebrates Passover or something similar?
Last time, which was at the beginning of this month, I wrote about trying to pick a time period and in doing research. Here are some comments sent in over by the topic.
Comment by Quick-Quill 
Dawn you are a woman after my own heart. I found a news article about a murder and a few years later the "murdered" woman shows up. It took place in the Upper East coast. I don't know much about that area or why this happened. I took the basic story (it comes with its own solution) and am writing about it during the prohibition days just outside St. Paul MN which I'm very familiar with. I can add all those historical characters like Al Capone, Ma Barker and the rest of the Mob. The area fits the action and I can place the murder right in that era. You have again given me the push to continue. Thanks *suiteheart*
Comment by Elfin Dragon-finally published 
I think when picking a section of history to use for a story depends much upon the type of story you're writing. Especially if you're mixing and matching types of history. Like a space western such as the TV series "Firefly" was. With such a story you might draw from our western history in the 1800's or earlier and then add your futuristic mythology type. If you're looking at stories like "Pride & Prejudiced" then you draw from the civil war era. And research can be found in so many different places...from libraries to online and even your own families.
Comment by Sand Castles Shopgirl 739
Good Morning, Dawn!
Was reading your newsletter over coffee this morning and by did this one resonate. I, too, have been kicking a story around with a period of history that I find absolutely fascinating. Or rather, that legends that it has engendered, the supposed disappearance of the Knights Templar.
I will confess to being a Curse of Oak Island Junkie and any of the other series that the History Channel has produced on the subject.
I have scoured the internet for information, picking and choosing what I need from the past to bolster my story of the present. Picking and choosing helps make the change of perspective of history a bit more believable. Not so much answering questions through historical fiction, but more of asking the question of "What if?". Not sure if that makes much sense, but it does to me.
I do find that I have to write and research as I go along. Having the internet at our disposal for almost instantaneous research is a blessing and a curse. Especially if you are like myself and find it easy to slip down the rabbit hole chasing each and every little bit of interesting information.
Just my two cents for the morning.
I really enjoyed this newsletter. It helps to know that there are others who are approaching their stories much that same way that I am.
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