You may be wondering why I would venture into the world of the supernatural? Well, if you haven't? I have... especially about what made me choose to write about werewolves? To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why either. I know, I know you come looking to me for the answers, right? I laugh because I don't have them. I can only guess it because of the other werewolf stories I have read in my life or books I've read that included these creatures. I just knew that I wanted my book to be different - unlike any werewolf genre I have read before.
For the most part I have read and researched the stereotypical tales of werewolves that they are beautiful humans that on one night a year (full moons) transform into large fury animals. That their one goddess is named Selene, they are taken down by only one element - silver and the only herb that can hurt them is...you guessed it, wolfsbane! Well, what if I told you that all of that is poppycock! That there is so much more to the werewolf myth and the wonderful thing about writing is, you as a writer do not have to be stuck writing the same old cliché plot or mythology! Yes, it's true - you can take the millions of various cultures and early civilizations that have shifter lore and make it original to suit your own vision.
In my research, I found a myth from the Celtic myths of Cerridwen Goddess of the Moon. If you want to know her full legend, check out just one of many resources out there.
The Celtic Goddess Cerridwen - The Goddess Garden
A brief summary I am including below is from that link I just provided.
In Celtic Welsh mythology, Cerridwen is a powerful Underworld Goddess, and the keeper of the cauldron of knowledge, inspiration and rebirth. She rules the realms of death, fertility, regeneration, inspiration, magic, enchantment and knowledge. Cerridwen is a shape shifting Goddess, able to take on various forms. She is known as being a white witch or goddess, and is also associated with herbology and astrology. She is also considered mother to all earth dwelling animals. Cerridwen uses her cauldron to "birth" these creatures and she is believed to have been the mother of the "werewolf" in Cletic folklore.
This is the mythology I chose to base my plot for A Dormant Howl on. May I add as well, my wolves for all intents and purposes are not on all four, muzzled, snarling animals (per say). If you want to have an insight where I drew inspiration from that shaped my beasts aesthetics look no further than the book The Island of Dr. Moreau, written by H.G. Wells. In that book, you find the main character on an island where a doctor of genetics lives with his "children". Only, they are not children you'd expect to see out in what is considered normal society off of the island. They have the DNA pf both animal and human. Yet, their features are that of more humanoid and beast than one or the other. I found this fascinating, so I created my characters beast version to just be of a more humanoid beast when they transition. You will get to see them in a later post.
Why I decided to write A Dormant Howl?
A Dormant Howl was written as the anti-rejection story. It is free of many stereotypes and cliché alpha males that usually take over these kinds of stories. I also do away with the idea that all females in these stories are the damsel in distress and they all fall at the knees of the big bad wolf. My main character, Desdemona Patchett is raised in what used to be a patriarchal society that would rule their people - especially the females with an iron fist. They later fight their way out from under the choke hold of their predecessors and with the help from her parents, she forges her own path, her own destiny, her own future free of mates, free of constraints until she's ready to settle down.
So, in her eyes - she doesn't need a man to save herself. She takes a risk to live her life. And to be honest, in all my reading - I had not read anything like that in this subgenre.
I wanted to write a story that was a love story, but a love story where at the end, it could be considered a happy ending if that main female character chooses not to be with her mate at all.
Now for some aesthetics: Made by https://instagram.com/alyssa_evangeline_writes?igshid=r7y7loxo6o82
Alyssa Disanza
You can read chapters 1-10 of A Dormant Howl on Wattpad.
A Dormant Howl - LaurieBeth5 - Wattpad