My current series is contemporary fantasy and one of my favorite parts about writing fantasy is creating the world and especially the characters who populate the world.
Living in the UK, I concentrate on Celtic mythology as I have so much real Celtic history right on my doorstep. In each book of my series, I take my characters to different parts of the UK where they get involved with different types of fairy beings.
The home base for the characters in my stories has so far been Cornwall, mainly because I live in South Western England near Cornwall, which has long been my favorite part of the UK. When I searched the local folk law for a unique Cornish fairy race, the Cornish piskies stood out as the most fascinating. Existing stories describe piskies as small, but I used some creative license and made them human sized.
In the Magic Knot, the first book in the series, my characters had to face the cantankerous Irish Fairy Queen, who is Tuatha dè Danaan. These noble Irish fairies are trooping fairies who live in a group, and are described as tall and beautiful, descended from Greek gods—an ideal bloodline for my heroes! But I couldn’t visit Ireland without including leprechauns. So just to make sure the heroes of the first two books in my series aren’t too cocky, I gave them some leprechaun blood to deal with.
In The Phoenix Charm, due out on December 29th, I sent my hero and heroine to the beautiful rural corner of the UK called Wales. Welsh myth and legend contains tales of a Welsh Fairy King called Gwyn ap Nudd, who as well as being a fairy king, is also the King of the Underworld. The Welsh fairies called the Tylwyth Teg are tall with pale blonde hair and a nasty reputation. People believe they steal human children from their beds and replace them with changelings.
I also introduce an Arabian djinn character into The Phoenix Charm to add another element of mythology. I love layering in different types of mythology to enrich my fairy world.
To read an excerpt of The Phoenix Charm or The Magic Knot go to www.helenscotttaylor.com
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4 comments:
Hi Helen,
I just read your post and saw the video and now I want to go get the book. It sounds wonderful. Years ago I used to be a big fan of the Poldark books, set in Cornwall. Your characters sound just as entertaining, but more magical!
Melina Morel
Hi Melina,
Gosh, Poldark takes me back. I loved that series. Cornwall is a beautiful place. It really does seem magical enough to have fairies and piskies hiding in the little valleys and clumps of woodland.
I'm glad you enjoyed the post and the video.
Helen
Your book looks like a great read and I'm adding it to my list of books to get.Cornwell does sound magical.
sasluvbooks(at)yahoo.com
Hi Stacey,
Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment. Cornwall is a beautiful county. I have had so many wonderful vacations there over the years. I even went there for my honeymoon!
Helen
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