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

  Having not been home the last couple of days, I needed to get back into some of the 'heavy' work and managed to bash out this rather 'primitive' and 'amateur' rendering of the main character of the epic poem - evidently carved by a friend or colleague of hers, whether a fellow member of Greyfair clan or even one of the other characters mentioned in the text. I used a much wider chisel (in truth a ground-down screwdriver) and hammer, eschewing fine lines and going straight for the memorialization aspect, whilst encapsulating the essence of the character. Rustic, basic but inherently honest in its intentions - perhaps the essence of 'folk art'. I like how the thick, simple lines are also suggestive of the English chalk hill figures: The Cerne Abbas Giant and the Wilmington Long Man - hill figures which have fascinated me for over 30 years This was my first attempt at writing actual Gyldish runes, namely her name and title: "Womba Wislig" (Womba

 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