4 min read

Where Do My Stories Come From?

Memory, past lives, what we call our gut or a hunch — are they built into our DNA?
Where Do My Stories Come From?
Staircase at Yapahuwa, Sri Lanka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yapahuwa#/media/File:Yapahuwa_Staricase_2_cdm.jpg

Where do stories come from?

In my mind, the imagery is born of a life living between two worlds: Canada and Sri Lanka. I will always be an invisible outsider visiting Sri Lanka with a Canadian perspective.

Yet, something in my gut resonates with its exotic and strange pre-colonial history. I’ve grown obsessed with understanding my culture, which sprouted from its legend of being the Isle of Demons, fertilized liberally with Buddhism and influence from the Indian subcontinent.

I asked some questions:

  • How did Sri Lanka remain stubbornly independent of external influence for SO LONG?
  • What can I learn from historical documentation of the island?
  • What was there before the colonizers arrived?
  • What influenced society and culture?
  • What did people wear?
  • What drove their lives?
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  • How I envision a scene and setting.
  • Influences for cultural deep dives.
  • Is what I am writing literary, historical, fantasy, or horror?
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Scene and setting

When I envision a scene for my series set in ancient Lanka, I see rock temples, deserted crumbling granite stone bridges, the jungle and muddy rivers snaking through the green countryside. I’ve seen the paddy fields.

I’m doing the research but making up huge swathes of details. I don’t know names, faces, places. It’s all based on recorded folklore.

The photos of places such as Sankapala Mahavihara and Yapahuwa strike a deep chord.

I sometimes wonder how I can see around the corner when it’s not photographed? Am I channelling some energy that runs deeper within my genetic makeup?

Culture

An early manuscript featured an orphan sent to a random village estate to be raised by a collective (draft, work in progress, book 4). While researching historical records, I discovered that those shipwrecked on Lanka’s shores were randomly placed in villages in 1s and 2s (Robert Knox’s experience, source). Because his story is told from the captive's perspective, I have to draw from Buddhist and Sri Lankan cultural practices to try to understand why people were subservient to the whims of the high king and why or how they would have compassion and curiosity for strangers.

Is this some knowledge overheard, or did I instinctively feel this is what would be done in a predominantly Buddhist culture?

In Which Genre am I Writing?

I’ve struggled with whether I'm writing a YA Fantasy series. It's not, though the story is one I would give my teenager to read. For one, I’m wondering how much demonic possession belongs more in horror and whether or not the story I’ve written could be considered historical fiction. Eventually, I was convinced its literary fiction on account of comparable titles and the feedback of my peers.

Timeline

I’m purposely going ancient—pre-500 BCE. There is no sign of Mahasona (admittedly terrifying)—not yet. But if you’d like a taste, Prasanna Srinath Subhasinghe has weaved a great tale.

Excerpt from the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 4, Colombo Apothecaries Company, Published in 1866 (an actual book recording the tellings of villagers)

Demand

Let me know in the comments if you'd like to read the first few chapters of the work currently on submission.

More later.

-D.M. De Alwis

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