VIP POVs

So let's talk about the inspiration behind "Brothers". You have probably pieced together the fact that I've been telling a few familiar Greek myths (Medusa, for example) from the point of view of the traditional "monster" rather than from that of the "hero".

I have to say, I really love doing this. It's a device that I often take with stories, and there are several reasons. The first time I really remember the concept making an impression on me was when I read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. It's mostly a picture book, told from the point of view of the Big Bad Wolf- and needless to say, his story differs considerably from that of the pigs. In his story he is the victim, not the villain (I mean come on- even in the traditional story they light the dude on fire).

As an adult who's done a bit of study into literature and creative writing, I've learned that the truly great villains never consider themselves villains- and they are never evil just for evil's sake. That smacks of prop more than character, and an evil-for-evil's sake villain may as well be replaced by an evil mop- it won't matter, because the villain has no personality beyond Evil. And that is boring.

The other thing I've learned over the years is that the victors write the history- and according to history the victors are never, ever villains. Which is kind of an amazing coincidence, don't you think?

Yeah, me neither.

So it stands to reason that at least some of the time, the victors really were the villains- and that there might just be a story of the forces of Good on the other side. (This is, of course, ignoring the fact that in the real world it's more often a pretty good mix of good, evil, and neutral on both sides of the conflict).

Add to that the fact that I have an absolute fascination with legends, fairy-tales, and myths of all sort (most story-tellers do, I find), and you end up with a girl who finds Medusa a potentially damn sympathetic character- not to mention her poor sisters. The nice thing about myths, of course, is that they are so beyond public domain it's not even funny. They've entered the collective consciousness of civilization, and everyone has their own personal version of them. They can be told again and again, with new discoveries each time, new moments of "Well why did character X do this? What if s/he had an actual motivation, one that made sense to them beyond narrative necessity?". I like to delve deeper into those "what-if"s, and I think that the answers make pretty good tales, breathing new life back into the old.

I hope that you like this version of Medusa's myth, and I hope that you'll enjoy where I'm going with the story of Pegasus and his brother, as well. Once it's all over I'll probably do an entry explaining where I got each of the characters from, so if there's someone about whom you're saying, "Wait, who is that obscure figure?" you'll get to go, "Oh! Right!" (Or maybe you'll go, "Nope, never heard of 'em. Good thing Jenny O has taken it upon herself to further my knowledge of Greek mythology!" And then you'll send me cookies in gratitude.) (Or a cake. I'm not picky.)