Metafiction, Myth and Language: A World in Words (and Pictures)

 While I currently have about 80,000 words writen of the epic poem component of this project - what is in effect 'The Gyldland Saga' itself (though still a working title) - and most of the writing still to be done is linking material (followed by extensive editing), I'm certainly open to introducing new ideas, scenes, or themes if they are relevant and worthy. One such is the structure and nature of the Rockcats' divine lineage - the feline people from whom the heroine of the whole work originates. The idea was to create a heroic figure who had none of the qualities of traditional epic heroism - while wise with words and healing-craft, she is not strong, is middle-aged, overweight, non-human and non-male. She grows slowly and reluctantly into her destiny, as unlikely as it is. Her very name, 'Womba' - derived from the OE word for 'womb' - is, as various characters remind her, a misnomer, as she is past child-bearing age (which in certain systems of patri

 Getting back into serious work has been hard the past few days, but last night and this afternoon saw progress on the Gyldland Runic alphabet. First, the usable alphabet had to be defined - no Q, V, X, J or Z; no P (many words starting with 'P' in OE are Latin loan-words, and I wanted each Rune's name to have the initial letter which it represented), with additional characters for the 'specials', namely 'ash', and 'eth/thorn'. I set the six prime deities as the first six characters in the 'alphabet', with the others more or less randomly ordered as follows: So some slight modifications there from the first rough draft, with a couple of alternatives as well for good measure. This Rune system is clearly showing its pictographic origins, with one of my favourites being the 'B' - boda , = 'messenger', i.e raven. The Germanic reference there for readers ought to be clear enough (cf. Hugin and Munin). Also began a basic numbering s