#greek retelling

[belle-keys]

— On Cassandra of Troy

"Cassandra" by Florence and the Machine // "Cassandra" by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys // "A Thousand Ships" by Natalie Haynes // "The Cassandra Scene in Aeschylus' Agamemnon" by Seth L. Shein // "Ajax and Cassandra" by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein // "Elektra" by Jennifer Saint // "Cassandra of Troy" by Jan Drenovec // "mad, mad, mad" by @diradea // "mad woman" by Taylor Swift // "Helen and Cassandra" by Al Stewart // "Cassandra of Troy" by Evelyn de Morgan // "The Daughters of Troy" by Euripides

[laladanefilm]

"Achilles, prince of Phthia, swiftest of all the Greeks, best of the Achaian warriors at Troy. Beautiful, brilliant, born from the dread nereid Thetis, graceful and deadly as the sea itself."

"Then the best part of him died, and he was even more difficult after that."

"What was his best part?"

"His lover, Patroclus. He didn't like me much, but then the good ones never do. Achilles went mad when he died; nearly mad, anyway."

– excerpts from "Circe" by Madeline Miller

[hecates-corner]

Telemachus to his mother after Odysseus had slain all of the suitors:

[lavender-laney]

writeblr introduction!

About Me

Hey, I'm Laney! I'd love to become more active in the writing community and find some writer friends. I love reading about everyone's ideas, and I'm always happy to beta read if anyone is looking for feedback! I'm currently a reporter, but have a passion for creative writing and editing. Some of my other interests include evolutionary biology, Greek mythology, and all forms of art.

About My Writing

Although I'm still trying to find my niche and what I enjoy writing, I'm currently working in the genres of literary fiction, fantasy, and gothic horror. I'm especially inspired by mythology and folklore, finding magic and significance in the mundane, and the diversity of the human experience.

Writing tag: #my writing

Current WIPs

Choking on Sea Salt - wip intro, chapter 1, chapter 2 part one, chapter 2 part two

tag: #choking on sea salt

In the same vein as the Southern Gothic subgenre, this novel is inspired by the idea of Coastal Gothic. In a remote coastal town, a young journalist finds herself unraveling the town's foggy history and ever-growing mysteries -- why are there so few women, why is it forbidden to walk along the beaches or sail in the waters, and what is the haunting song whistling through her windows each night?

Acrylic Body (tag: #acrylic body)

Upon the passing of an eccentric and reclusive painter, his artwork is left without a keeper and lies abandoned for years. Eventually, his home is cleaned out and his paintings are sold at auction. Through the eyes of one of his paintings, we view the lives of those whose hands she is passed through.

(untitled) (tag: #lysandra)

Ovid's Metamorphoses detailed the devotion of Persephone's handmaidens, and their transformation into winged sirens to pursue the goddess. This retells Persephone's myth from the perspective of Lysandra, a nymph-turned-siren who would travel to the ends of the Earth for her maiden.

I'd love to find some other writeblrs to follow so feel free to comment if you think our interests may align! + feel free to reach out to me if you ever want to chat about writing or want another pair of eyes on your wip!

<3

[wargodtalk]

Working on a role reversal Trojan War thing and am researching Helen with a vengeance because I want to ensure that she stays as complex—to the best of my ability—as she always has been

[wastelandbabyvirgo]

antigone was sooooo real i am also a stubborn bitch

[ray-desoleil]

If you loved the PJO show representation of Medusa I HIGHLY recommend reading Athena’s Child by Hannah Lynn.

[howhow326]

Nerites x Poseidon retelling where Nerities is a young adult and he gets saved by Poseidon which causes him to fall head over heels and everyone else tells him that he shouldn't be with Poseidon because he's too old for him and he's problematic and there's a power imbalance and and and but Nerites decides "I'm going to fuck that old man" anyway.

Bonus: Poseidon dosen't push Nerites into a relationship and allows Nerites to decide how fast their relationship is going and he dosen't kidnap him or rape him or force him to be his husband or turn him into a cup barer or whatever and yes I am shiting all over the other two ships

[wxseda]

Chiron spends his time translating modern books into Ancient Greek so that demigods could read them. This resulted in a library being made.

Nico gets retellings of hades and Persephone, and when he’s finished reading them, he goes to the underworld to read some bits of it to hades to piss him off about the misconceptions about him. Persephone always enjoys them

[camilleisdrawing]

Prince Hector and Apollo to congrats my friend Samuel on his/her Greek myth retelling's publication เพียงชั่วเสียงพิณ! <3 <3

[j3ntle]

What's worse — the low number of retellings of dionysus/ariadne? or the retellings of dionysus/ariadne that paints dion as some sort of asshole who hates ariadne and ariadne as a doormat? or a dionysus/ariadne retelling that somehow manages to make them both appear as a very uninteresting couple who are just together for the sake of the story? or dionysus/ariadne rarely appearing in an 'inclusive' greek mythology retelling?

this is me begging yall for books/fanfiction recommendations of them.

[hecates-corner]

Teach me a math problem? Not gonna remember how to do that in six months.

Read the story of Pygmalion one time? Oh yeah. Got his name down. The island. Hell, I even know the name of the fucking STATUE WOMAN he carved: Galatea.

What I’m saying is I retain Greek Mythology like a madwoman.

[lavender-laney]

It began with the narcissus flower.

Narcissus, a man whose love for his own mirror image ultimately led to his demise. It is a tale oft repeated by parents to their children, warning them to remain untainted by vanity.

"It is a curse," Lysandra's mother had told her the moment she'd begun her ascension into womanhood. Her mother held onto her shoulders as they stood at the edge of the washing pool together. Lysandra remembers this as the first time she had felt shy in the public pools, hyperaware of the beginnings of breasts forming on her young chest. "Unless you wish to bring Aphrodite's ire upon you, or suffer the same fate as that foolish man, you'd best tamp down any arrogant feelings that begin to fester."

Lysandra has never thought herself vain, always the one to remain neutral during the other handmaidens' titterings about who will gain the hand of a nobleman.

She has, however, caught herself wondering if Narcissus would have suffered the same fate if his unwavering attention had been focused upon the image of another. If Narcissus had instead fallen in love with a nymph, and spent his hours gazing upon her features until he withered away to nothing.

Lysandra often wonders if this is the fate she may suffer, before bidding such childish thoughts from her mind. Afterall, children's tales do not tell of lowly handmaidens. 

The narcissus flower is one Lysandra has never been fond of, and she's unsure if this distaste began before or after her mother had clutched her young shoulders like a harpy gripping a shuddering salmon.

Nonetheless, she can understand why Persephone had kneeled in the soft, dew-speckled grass to admire the flower. The way the warm morning light reflected its amber glow? The petals reaching towards the sun, appearing as though they had only just unfurled, fated for Persephone's admiring gaze? If Lysandra thought him capable of such artistry, she might believe Hades created this flower himself to entice the maiden.

Regardless, Lysandra feels nothing but contempt for narcissus – the flower, and the senseless man.

(Unwillingly, she feels the very same contempt for herself – for allowing her mother to so strongly sway her feelings for a measly flower, and for believing herself different than a man who simply felt love too strongly.)

Just a little something I'm working on! I was reading about the myths of Greek sirens and Persephone's handmaidens and got some ideas...

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

"You were to take her home." "The lady is rather... unbiddable." "Thank you. That might well be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me."

Sarah McLean, A Rogue by Any Other Name

[wastelandbabyvirgo]

i love a good greek retelling

[utterlyconfusedacademia]

“Give my body to the fire, bury me in the golden urn your mother gave you. It’s big enough for two. Let’s be together in death as we did in life.”

Patroclus to Achilles in The silence of the Girls by Pat Barker.

“When I am dead, I charge you to mingle our ashes and bury us together.”

Achilles to his soldiers after Patroclus’ death in The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.