There is something intriguing to me about keeping track of the context around a project that is itself simply the context of a thing. It is all very convoluted, but in the convolution there is clarity.

From the author...

Essentially, this blog is an opportunity for me to discuss the process of writing these stories from within the character of Matthus Sparrowblade. Forcing myself to think about why he would include this story, and what questions he would be having, helps keep me honest.

Friday, April 06, 2007

One of the things I've always found interesting in reviewing different tellings of the same stories is the disparity of information in some cases. Sometimes, it is simply the two different accounts correspond to the personalities of the two different tellers. This is fairly common and in same cases very illuminating.

On the other hand, sometimes in the information in the stories is just inaccurate, or imprecise. I have tried to maintain the integrity of these stories, even in my adaptations, because I think it is useful to see how the people of that time saw. Here is a small, but pertinent example.

In the story "Robes of the Flesh," a fair amount of energy was expended in explaining the origin of Barek Union. In the discussion of Asharoh, that terrible place is described as being a peninsula. In truth, it is an island, which is occasionally connected to the mainland by a land bridge when the tide is extremely low. The fact that the main source of this story refers to it as a peninsula shows the abject terror most people felt toward the place. In their minds, if it was ever connected by land, it was always connected by land. If there was any chance of contact with it, then in was an ever-present fear.