Warning
Contains spoilers for Blindsighted Wanderer & Origins
The first draft of Blindsighted Wanderer was written in February 2007, when I was 15 years old. It was a personal challenge: to write a novel within one month for the first time. However, I had limited computer access, so I wrote the entire manuscript by hand, during my school lunch break and after finishing homework. It was eventually published in November 2012 by Staccato Publishing. The subsequent independent editions were released in 2016 and 2022, respectfully. The Asrae are inspired by a type of water nymph that appears in works by Victorian Scottish poet Robert Williams Buchanen. They also feature in the folklore of Cheshire and Shropshire in north-west England. Depending on the story, they are called Asrai or Asrey. You can read the original folktale here.
The title of the novel alludes, both literally and metaphorically, to the four main characters: Raphael, Merrin, Silas and Irima. At various points in the story, all of them are blind to some aspect of their lives, or to their ignorance of 'the other'. They also all wander, in attempts to find various truths which will unite them. One of the Elitland Valley's inspirations is the Lake District National Park in England. The name of Ullswick in the story is taken directly from two Lake District locations: Ullswater and Keswick. Other places of inspiration include the Scottish Highlands and Interlaken in the Swiss Alps.
Merrin's name is derived from 'merrow': an Irish-English term for a mermaid. According to legend, merrows have green hair and webbing between their fingers: traits also exhibited by the Asrae. Adrian's capture of Merrin, which is accidentally repeated by Silas, is essentially a retelling of the original Asrai legend. This moment was the catalyst for the creation of the entire story, as I wondered what might have happened if the Asrai had managed to escape.
Raphael and Uriel are both named after Archangels. Raphael's namesake is the angel of healing, alluding to his kind and caring nature, as well as the forgiving impact he leaves on Merrin. Several words in the story are written using archaic counterparts. The language would historically have been Middle English or Latin, but for benefit of readers, it bears closer (albeit loose) resemblance to the Early Modern English spoken in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Peregrini are very loosely inspired by the Romani people. Although the Romani are popularly envisioned as travelling in horse-drawn 'gypsy wagons' (vardos), these caravans were not used until the 19th century. Historically, they would have travelled via tilted carts and slept in tents, as is depicted in the novel. The Peregrini belief in cleanliness is also borrowed from Romani culture. In order to help me portray Silas's blindness, I blindfolded myself for a whole week and forced myself to navigate my house using my other senses. To echo the story, I only removed the blindfold at night.
Delamere Forest, which surrounds the Lake, is named after a real forest in Cheshire. It translates literally as "Forest of the Lakes." The Elitland's name in modern English literally means 'land of the elite'. However, in the context of the story and its historic setting, it means 'the chosen land', as it takes its name from the Latin precursor to elite: eligere, or, 'choose.' This references how the Valley was chosen by the Asrae to be their new home above all other places - this emigration to the valley is mentioned in the prequel story Origins.
When the Nyhtegale Singes is a real medieval poem which tells the story of a man mourning a lost love. Within the story, it is created by Adrian Atego for Merrin, and is passed down orally in the Elitland. However, in reality, it was not recorded until c.1310, almost one hundred years after the events of the novel. The third stanza, which Raphael sings, looks like this in original Middle English:
"Suete lemmon y preye þe of love one speche, Whil y lyve in world so wyde oþer nulle y seche. Wiþ þy love my suete leof mi blis þou mihtes eche, A suete cos of þy mouþ mihte be my leche." The song sung at the Peregrini Midsummer celebrations is an English translation of the 14th century Latin song Stella Splendens. It was included in the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat: one of the oldest extant medieval manuscripts containing music.
When Raphael forgives Merrin for her actions, he quotes the Bible verse Ezekiel 18:20, as it appears in the 1599 Geneva Bible. This is the earliest Bible to be written in the English language. Historically, Bibles in the 13th century would have been written in Latin, and would have mainly been used by monks and priests. |