The Persephone myth, and a random tree analogy.

In Greek mythology, Persephone is both the goddess of spring, and the Queen of the Underworld. One person, (well, goddess) and two opposites. In the beginning of the myth, Persephone is young and innocent. She symbolizes spring, and lightness. Then she gets kidnapped by Hades, and she’s no longer thought of the same way. She becomes the Queen of the Underworld. She eats a pomegranate before her mother takes her back. If you eat food in the underworld, well, you aren’t exactly gonna be free from the place forever. What I want to know is, within the time of being abducted, marrying Hades, and just hanging out in the realm of the dead, why did she only eat one thing?  I mean, if I was kidnapped by the King of the dead, I’d be doing some serious stress eating, and you can bet it wouldn’t be fruit. Do they have carbohydrates in the Underworld? Okay, so I’m starting to think this Persephone chic was seriously skinny. Anyway, somewhere along the line, she stopped being thought of as Demeter’s perfect little daughter, and became feared. She was known as “dread Persephone” if mentioned at all. Though mostly mortals called her by other names, cos she was apparently so scary.

In CONSEQUENCE, my Persephone is kind of innocent. At the beginning she’s really clueless about the world, but curious too. Then she’s stupid enough to go off with some guy she hardly knows cos she’s sick of living in a vineyard. Okay, she’s more naïve than stupid, so far… At the beginning of the book she’s very spring-goddessish, you know, long red hair, dresses, that kind of stuff. As the book goes on, she…well, basically, she grows up. For the first sixteen and over-a-half years of her life, all she knows is routine. She knows about growing grapes, and about painting wine labels, but she knows nothing of life. She doesn’t know love, she doesn’t know hate, she doesn’t really know anything other than a need to find out. Let’s just say by the end of the book she knows a hell of a lot about love and hate.

 Persephone is one of my “good characters”. Not just cos she’s one of my two protagonists, but because she is naïve and trusting (well, for awhile), and a nice person.

 I always thought nice characters would be easy to write, but Persephone’s not.  She’s got this whole duality thing going on, for a start. I mean, Queen of the Underworld/Goddess of spring is hard enough when you’re a goddess…try being a fictional character and having that duality. No, try having to write it. I think I subconsciously got some of that through with her personality. I mean, she’s innocent, mostly sweet, and beautiful. But there is this other side of her, which is kind of below the surface for most of the book. I think the “Underworld” is actually a metaphor for what I don’t know about her character. There are so many aspects of her which I can’t quite grasp, and those aspects are what make her. I hate it when I don’t fully understand a character. There is something which I put in AMEND which I got annoyed with myself about. I made a character something he wasn’t. I’m working on fixing that with TRANSCEND. Anyway, with Persephone, I don’t know her like I know say, Phoenix, my other protagonist. Phoenix is complex, but she’s far easier than my simple Persephone. Phoenix has a ton of issues, has commitment phobia, and some weird things with fruit. Persephone is stubborn, loyal, and not much else. Who do you think is the most complex? Well, surprisingly, it’s my little Goddess.

The “Queen of the Underworld” aspect of Persephone actually comes out more with the storylines toward the end of CONSEQUENCE. It also has some effect on the next two books, but saying that would give away some storylines that I want to keep hush-hush for now.

If someone said to me “choose one character, and tell me what they would do in any situation”, I would always choose Phoenix. I know what she would do in any circumstance anyone could put her in. That is not because me and her share some, uh, similarities. It’s because I know her inside out.

I don’t know Persephone like that. For practically all of CONSEQUENCE I dismissed her as simple and easy to write. I’m now totally kicking myself about that. She had so much potential, and not only did I not see it, I didn’t use it.

Some people, who have never held a pen in their lives, might say that fictional characters are like clay: you can mould them into shape until they are perfect.

As I said, anyone who thinks that has never even held a pen, probably never read a book, either.

Fictional characters are made out of wood, or maybe even stone. No, wood: they are like a tree.

First you get the outline. This is a young tree, which you are considering planting. Then you plant it, and make sure you use a tree protector, make sure it doesn’t get all chewed up by some wild animal (I.E your mind).

Then the tree starts to grow. You can prune it back to make sure it doesn’t go in directions you don’t want it to, but you don’t have that much control. This tree could be a stubborn little word-I-won’t-use, like, say Phoenix. She always decides her storylines, so annoying. Or it could be a character like, say, Kai. If he was a tree, he’d be the kind that is easy to prune, and never causes trouble. He would probably be some kind of fruit tree; therefore, his whole existence is giving to others. Phoenix would never be a fruit tree. She’s in my head right now yelling at me to put that fact in. Phoenix hates fruit. No, I think she would be an oak tree. Taking a while to grow, then making sure she’s with you for a long time. Persephone would be a willow tree.

Anyway, your tree is a little older now. You can’t prune it as much, only in winter. You love your tree, and you’re incredibly proud of it. This tree is also a complete pain in the neck. It gets in the way of most of your garden. The garden represents your life outside said tree. If you have a tree like Phoenix, well, she’ll make sure that an oak leaf falls on you and never leaves you alone. She’ll never let you forget who planted her.

If you have a Persephone tree, she won’t put leaves on you, she won’t hassle you. What she will do, is grow without telling you so. One minute she’s your beautiful naïve almost seventeen year old, then, she’s so incredibly brave. She’s turned into a hero, and you didn’t even see when. If you had pruned her a lot, she never would have become who she is. Though I think Persephone turned into a weeping-willow rather than just a willow tree.

Your tree is now almost fully grown, and it’s nearly time to move on from that part of the garden. You feel this overwhelming sadness, and you have no idea why. Then you realize it: this tree was everything to you. You spent so much time pruning it, or sitting under this tree rather than doing whatever you were meant to. This tree is so much of who you are, and you’re moving on from a major part of yourself. The book’s over, and you’re finished. Maybe you’ll take a cutting from that tree, make it a sequel. The cutting isn’t that same as the tree you planted. The cutting is just its child. Just cos your first oak is strong, it doesn’t mean her daughter will be. Maybe the cutting from the weeping-willow gets this disease which makes it seem sour.

Then, one day, there aren’t more cuttings to be made.

You move to a different part of the garden, and you plant a new sapling. It’s a young tree; it’s not ready to brave the weather on its own. Then you realize it doesn’t have to. There is an old oak, and a weeping-willow which are taking the worst of the wind. They’re what you see when you look at the garden. They are what the world sees.

One day, the world will see the tree that the sapling grew into, too. But not until this tiny tree has grown into the character she will one day be.

Woah! That oak tree sums up Phoenix perfectly: it's completely crooked.

Note to self: must stop insulting characters.