by Signe Pike
At what point in your research did you realize that Languoreth’s story required a novel, let alone a trilogy? Is The Lost Queen the kind of story you originally envisioned? If not, how did it change during your research?
As I discovered that Languoreth had lived through such devastating events as the destruction of Bright Hill, the raiding of her father’s granaries, the Anglo-Saxon migration, and the Battle of Arderydd, I couldn’t stop thinking about the nature of this woman and her incredible human experience. I began my own research and found Adam Ardrey’s work was not only sound, it was transformative. Yet still his book (and that of other authors like Nikolai Tolstoy) was being overlooked. As a former book editor, I understood that sometimes the only way to truly popularize new scholarship was to fictionalize it. I was determined to create an opportunity for people to remember Languoreth and the others who lived through such monumental events in the sixth century.
Originally I wrote through multiple perspectives, not just Languoreth’s. It wasn’t working—the writing just wasn’t coming through. By this point I also knew there were too many important historical events to fit into one book. When I realized that this subject longed for a trilogy, I understood that The Lost Queen was meant to be her story. In book II, we experience much with Languoreth but also get to journey the broader world through the eyes of other characters.
Tell us a little bit about your research. In your author’s note, you mention that you spent six years of research/writing. What resources were the most beneficial in helping you craft such a detailed account of what Languoreth’s life might have been like?
The first thing I did was to focus on historical sources, examining every ancient text that held a mention of Languoreth or Rhydderch. There were mentions of Languoreth in ancient king’s lists, in Mungo’s hagiography, in the Glasgow folk legend “The Fish and the Ring,” and in some Welsh poems attributed to Myrddin (regretfully, those have been heavily tampered with and appropriated by later medieval writers). The Welsh triads contain some maddeningly elusive references to major historical events, and we catch glimpses of Gwrgi and Peredur there, as well as Angharad, Aedan, Rhydderch, and Gwenddolau. I studied the Celtic culture from its origins up to modern times. I visited the historic sites in Scotland where we know Languoreth would have lived, visited museums, watched documentaries, spoke with both archaeologists and modern-day Christian monks; I also read scores of other books, including other contemporary theories about Arthur and Merlin and any academic papers on the subject and time period I could find.
Before becoming a writer full-time, you worked as an acquisitions editor for Random House and Penguin. How did this experience affect your experience of writing a novel? Did it help or hinder the process?
Editorial experience comes in handy when revising, but is entirely detrimental to the creation of a first draft, I discovered. Without a first draft, you have nothing. I had to learn to silence my inner critic long enough to create at least something that I could build upon. There’s an incredibly good video featured on the website Brain Pickings in which Neil Gaiman gives advice on writing a first draft, on finishing a novel. I watched it on repeat. I learned that if you can simply stack word upon word, again and again—this is how you build something. As an editor I was always so certain—for me it was always simple to see the direction a story should go or how to express something more powerfully. But I was always behind the scenes. As a writer, I felt too vulnerable. I still do. But perhaps in this I’m a bit like Languoreth. Painful experiences are part of living. I can’t allow myself to shy away from something just because it scares me.
The ending of The Lost Queen leaves us with some tantalizingly unanswered questions. Was planning the whole trilogy part of your process for crafting this first novel?
Yes. I created an extensive time line of the historical events that includes battles and dates of noble rule as well as the lives and deaths of all my historical figures. I knew that, given how much I had to cover in three books, Arderydd was the natural climax of The Lost Queen. Everything hangs in the balance. My drive to reawaken people to the occurrence of this great and horrible battle was foremost in my mind in writing these books, so to move beyond it was inconceivable. (Book II picks up right in the middle of the action but also provides new readers with substantial grounding so they can get their bearings if they haven’t read The Lost Queen.)
The Lost Queen includes many questions about faith, destiny, sacrifice, and the creation of historical narratives. What themes from your research about Languoreth were most compelling to you when you first started writing? Were there any that developed out of the story later that surprised you?
When I first started writing, the theme that loomed largest was that of historical narratives: How can we unearth the whole of what is true when history is written by the victors? Another that still consumes me is the concept of endings, especially the perceived endings of societies. Languoreth’s experience of this was twofold. The rise of Christianity in a pantheistic world and the Anglo-Saxon power swell that would eventually eclipse the whole island, save places like Wales, Cornwall, and across the channel in Brittany. There is an epic, painful, and tragic expansiveness in fighting for one’s beliefs in a time of great change. These are the times that create heroes, heroes who deserve to be remembered. Sadly, it also can create fundamentalism. That there were so many other themes that emerged as I told the story—that in and of itself was surprising. I thought I had quite enough to grapple with!
Languoreth and many of the other characters prove to be strong female heroines. How do you feel that Languoreth’s story is still applicable for women today, particularly considering our contemporary, political moment?
Languoreth lived fifteen hundred years ago and we are still carrying on the battle women like her began: to have influence in a world of men. However, as someone preoccupied with history, I tend to see human history in epochs. There was the time of the matriarch, embodied by the mother goddess, and that stretched on for millennia. Christianity ushered in the time of the patriarch. Compared on any time line, the patriarchal epoch has been a blink. Astounding then, to consider the damage. We’ve been brought to a precipice, a breaking point, and now more than ever women are being called upon to prove ourselves—fit to rule our government, our businesses, our environment, and even our own bodies. Languoreth’s story is more applicable than ever because today we are each of us being asked, “What to you, is worth fighting for?”
Your first book, Faery Tale: One Woman’s Search for Enchantment in a Modern World, is a memoir about your travels—both physically and spiritually—through some of the lands described in The Lost Queen. To what extent do you find resonances between the projects? How was the experience of writing a memoir different from that of writing a novel?
In both, when I was “on the ground” conducting my research, I followed where I was led. Writing and researching Faery Tale taught me a new way to live—that synchronicity in life could be real, and that it is possible to find a sort of everyday enchantment—it manifests in both subtle and astonishing ways. There is much to be said for locating, then listening to your gut instincts. I had many goose-bumps-inducing moments in Scotland while visiting ancient battle sites and fortresses, and always the feeling that I had come home—that my “characters,” for lack of a better term, had been waiting. When it came to the nuts and bolts, there was a lot of hard work. I had to teach myself how to write fiction, which is an incredibly different beast. From my editorial experience I also knew this could prove an impossible thing to do. I was fortunate to have some incredible mentors, and that made a world of difference.
The Lost Queen recalls many influential Arthurian and medieval myths and legends. What books were influential to you growing up or during your writing process that helped you capture the atmosphere of this world that has become so pervasive and yet elusive in the popular imagination?
I grew up on Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle. I’ve always bee
n fascinated by old things and old places. As a girl I can remember the distinct and lamentable feeling that I’d simply been born in the wrong time. When I was fourteen or so, I read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. There was something so much more authentic in that book than anything I’d come across in relation to the Arthurian legend. I’d never been particularly taken by it before then, in fact, aside from being fond of Disney’s The Sword in the Stone as a child. Though Bradley’s book tells a very different version of the tale and is more fantasy driven, it brought that world into sharp focus for me.
During your research was there a part of Languoreth’s story that puzzled you or never made it into the final draft of the novel? How difficult was it to decide which parts of her complex and eventful life to highlight?
Languoreth’s relationship with Rhydderch is complex. I believe she married him around (or even before) age fifteen, and they remained married until his death. I’m interested to see how their relationship may evolve and change over the course of these three books. When it comes to what to include, the events that needed to be retold stood out clearly. They were large, emotional.
Considering the lengthy research process, the presence of previous scholarly and fictional work on this topic, and complexity of writing a three-part epic, what did you find to be the greatest challenge in creating this novel? Which part felt the most rewarding?
The greatest challenge was creating the pieces of narrative that take place between the actual historical events. What story arc leads from one event to another? How would Languoreth speak? How would she think? How would she feel? These are things no one has recorded. It brings into the forefront larger questions about humanity and daily life. It was essential to craft scenes in the most authentic way possible. But given how little writing and remembrance we have of her, I had to rely on fiction writing and instinct to try and accomplish this.
I also had to tune out or ignore much of what deviates from my own belief of how the story went. There were certain shows or books that just didn’t jive with me. They gave me a visceral feeling so I honored that. I kept my head bent to my own work.
What did you interpret your responsibility to be to Languoreth and her family in writing the story of her life? Relatedly, what do you believe Languoreth would think about the way you depicted her in the novel?
Oh goodness. The responsibility! Serving Languoreth and her family some justice is the most elemental drive of my writing. When I’m in my writing shed, I’m sitting with them, and it comes only to that. I come back to it again and again, asking for things to become clearer. So much of their real, human existences are shrouded in mist. I will never know if I’ve accomplished what I set out to. Only Languoreth can be the judge of that. But it helps to know that I am not the first writer to write about Merlin and Arthur and the times that they lived in—even if I am the first to envision the life of Languoreth—and I know I won’t be the last. Writers and scholars have been seeking them and writing about them for hundreds of years, and I hope they will continue to do so for many hundreds of years to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Signe Pike is the author of the travel memoir Faery Tale: One Woman’s Search for Enchantment in a Modern World and has researched and written about Celtic history and folklore for over a decade. A former book editor, she lives in Charleston, South Carolina, where she writes full-time. Visit her at www.signepike.com.
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Faery Tale: One Woman’s Search for Enchantment in a Modern World
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Signe Pike
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First Touchstone hardcover edition September 2018
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-5011-9141-1
ISBN 978-1-5011-9143-5 (ebook)
