I have noticed several posts discussing writing about King Arthur. I am an avid King Arthur fan and have a collection of Arthurian legends collecting dust on my bookshelf as I speak (or type). This thread is to discuss the merits of Arthurian legend and ways to approach writing about it.

My Arthurian legend is based on a fiction character, Linetta, who I pose as the daughter of King Pelinnore of Wales. In my story, she poses as a knight and foils an assassination attempt by Sir Mordred. The dialogue is mostly Old English, which makes for difficult writing, but it is also quite fun to write. If anyone would like to read what I have written in it (75 pages), PM me.

So do I. Mine would follow the adventures of a knight of the Round Table up until the last fateful battle.

You wrote the dialogue in Old English? Wow...I'm impressed. Old English is the form of English that's almost like a different language from English, right? (Middle English is understandable though, right? I forget). Anyways, Robin Hood legends sound cool. At least when they're done right.

If I could understand Old English, though, I'd like to read your book.

eruheran

One day, when I'm old and grown up and educated, I'm going to write my longest, greatest novel, and it's going to the Legend of King Arthur. I have read and understood Morte D'Arthur. I can tell you the history of the Holy Grail from beginning to end. I know Lancelot's entire history and all the spellings of all the versions of Tristan and Isolde.

The problem with King Arthur is the sheer amount of material, the various interconnections, contradictions that have to be worked out and explained... I think I'm going to start a set of binders with all the legends sorted into chronological order or by character or something...

Thanks for starting the thread! This looks like a happy place for me!

(This is an old thread.)


I am going to bring in the Arthurian legends in my current project, somewhat (As well as other legends and myths), so I've been doing a lot of research on the legends now.



The binder idea is a good one. I might have to try that.

This "trouble" isn't unique to the Arthurian legends; we see the same thing with every major legendarium, and even many modern fandoms (except that they have the benefit of a single, usually self-consistent set of canonical source material to refer to, while the Arthuriad does not). But I'm not sure that it's possible to collect even every major or important interpretation, especially not in a set of binders. (I wonder if someone has a website somewhere ...)

For my own use of the Arthurian legends, I think I've drawn most from Charles Williams' poetry (Taliessin through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars) but gone off on my own tangent from that.

Okay. That makes sense.