Friday, January 14, 2011
Saga magicicada
Here is the first post for Saga Magicicada. First, about the name. I wanted to start a blog about narrative writing and that's why I chose the word saga. I was looking for some way to describe the long narrative with a word that somehow conveyed the amount of time and effort that went into such sagas. As I was rooting around for such a word, I just happened to come across a story about magicicadas, which are a type of cicada that periodically emerge every 13-to-17 years. That's about how long it takes for me to finish one of my own sagas.... So I think it's only appropriate to name my blog Saga magicicada!
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ReplyDelete(From Bill Marvel) The cicada reference reminds me of a couple appropriate bug stories.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived on the sixth floor of an apartment in Maryland, years ago, we found an aphid on our tomato plant out on the balcony. We had grown the plant from seeds, so we were sure the aphid didn't come from the plant store. My guess is that the little aphid was six stories down, on a blade of grass, and he looked up and thought, "Hmmm. there might be a tomato plant up there." So for the next eight weeks he laboriously climbed the bricks, floor after floor, until he got to our balcony and -- sure enough -- there was dinner, just waiting for him.
Another story: A little tick climbed a great oak tree and crawled way out on a limb, in hopes that a succulent animal would pass beneath.
Sure enough, a horse came trotting by. The lirttle tick launched himself into the air. And missed the horse.
Both stories, i think, contain lessons for long-form narrative writers.