5 min read

Making Sense Of Ancient History

To write a historical retelling necessitates going down multiple rabbit holes. I research ‘just enough’ to create a setting for my novel, set in 600 BCE on the Indian Subcontinent.

Folklore and mythology

Wikipedia is a poor friend. I end up diving deep into Reddit, Quora, and public conversations between scholars and laypeople arguing their versions of the truth. Really, this is my box of prompts and where the muse lives. Some stories resonate while others, I don’t touch. How do I choose? Usually, it’s a gut feeling. There’s also the cherry-picking of stories to suit the story I ultimately wish to tell. I’m diving in with a purpose. What I pull out are the pearls.

The colonists collected anthropologic stories of the natives. Today, what they wrote down is available as scanned books. There’s a wealth of documented history. The limitation is the need for English versions. Also, decolonizing what was written.

If THIS is my truth, then what does that mean?

Places of interest for the Sinha Series of novels — D.M. De Alwis

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