EXCERPT from "To Dream a Dragon" by Rachael Pruitt in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction
Write what you love. Write what you know. Good advice, right? But for a novice writer who spent her childhood swinging on vines pretending to be Robin Hood, these two tidbits of wisdom set up a frustrating contradiction.
What I loved was historical fantasy, the action-packed kingdom of myth. What I knew was growing up female in a small town in Pennsylvania. Quite a distance to travel as a budding author! So when my first Master’s thesis advisor, Barbara Miller, asked what my novel would be about, I was horrified to hear myself speak honestly and tell her my secret heart's desire: "Gwynhyfar. I want to write a version of the Arthurian legend."
I will be eternally grateful to Barbara for not snorting, "You've got to be kidding!"
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Rachael Pruitt is a writer, storyteller, and teacher with a lifelong fascination for Celtic mythology and the Arthurian legend. Her Arthurian poetry has been published in Paradox magazine (2008 and 2009) and she has just completed her first Arthurian novel, The Dragon's Harp, a retelling of Gwynhyfar's coming-of-age. Currently an English as a Second Language teacher, Rachael has also published nonfiction articles detailing "Myths for Our Time", a personal mythology process she developed while an Artist in Residence in the Pacific Northwest.
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