There are several more interesting twists, but here are the basics (and why I need a co-writer). Merlin lives his life in reverse according to Authorian Legend. I want to write two parallel novels, arranged in the pages so that you turn the book over and your reading the other. On one page you have the Authorian Legend from King Arthur's point of view, turn it over and you have exactly the same scene from Merlin's point of view. This would be arranged so that you can read straight through one story, then flip it and read the some story from the other POV only the entire plotline is reversed. If you're interested let me know and I'll explain the rest to you, there are elements that will make this plotline reversal even more interesting.

Thanks,

I am not a scholar on the subject of Arthur so I hope this is not too silly a question. Why do you say "Authorian" as opposed to "Arthurian." Just my curious nature I guess, but I had to ask.

But I have to say that in my opinion, your idea of printing parallel stories in the same book requiring the reader to physically turn the book around sounds gimmicky to me. A serious adult reader doesn't want to be flipping the book around. I could never choke my way through "A Clockwork Orange" because I lost patience with having to wade through the invented language just to get to the story.

You might find that ten-year-olds would find the book flipping thing fun. It would be similar to those "choose your story" books that get them to a decision point in the plot, and then if they choose A they turn to one page, and if they choose B they turn to a different page, thus "creating" their own story & ending.

Also, if a reader doen't want to stop reading one side, they don't have to. They can read all the way through and then read the other part.

Sorry about that. I wasn't trying to nitpick. It was just that the typo was so consistent, and my knowledge of Arthurian lore so vague, that I figured it was one of those gaps in my knowledge.

Next time you should say something like, "Well, you see I was using the original French as transcribed from the letters of Demasi. In that ancient version of the language it is most closely translated as 'Authorian' and I wanted to be as accurate as possible."

If you had said that, I would have sat here going, "Wow, this guy’s really done some serious research!"

Ten years from now you might have heard the narrator on a Discovery Channel special use the phrase "Authorian Lore" and could have smiled to yourself content in the knowledge that, like any good scholar, something you made up from whole cloth has become historical fact. lol

Just curious.

I know there's a YA book out there that explores it from Mordred's POV. Haven't read it yet, but I imagine I will someday. Then there's The Mists of Avalon which explores it from the female POV--though the pagan element was too strong for me on that one. I couldn't get past Bradley's matter-of-fact treatment of a ritualistic, drug-induced rape of a little girl. I still get creeped out even thinking about it.

So, yeah, Josh. I agree with the reservations stated above. Quite simply, it would be too much work to ask of readers, IMO. Readers read to enjoy, not to work. If they want to work at reading they pay for the privilege. It's called college.

I find that since I love the story so well, I mentally hold everyone else's stuff up to the high level she took it. And since then, everyone else has fallen short. It's the price you pay when you write something that there is so much to compare it to. A new author would have to simply kick *** for me to love it.

So I agree that looking at a different POV is worth exploring. I've not seen a book using, say, Gawain's POV or one of the other "Knights"... and wouldn't it be rather interesting to see the POV of Excalibur, the sword?

There is actually a series of books out there written from Galahad's POV--sort of.

I've seen Lawhead's books, but haven't picked one up.