Writing a book wow āļø
Alright, lemme introduce you to a project Iāve been working on for a few years now š
I have been very dedicated to it, and itās been through many, MANY changes because of the concept for it, which has been hard for even me to develop and have it make sense lol
Also hereās some art I made for it, hehe
This novel in question is, āThe Book of Saul,ā a fictional retelling of, well you know, King Saul. But strictly through his perspective and how he sees the world around him, which is shown in a very symbolic way. Everything about this story is symbolic with it presented through symbolic imagery that Saul experiences. Within the story, Saul would go through seven visions, given by Zeāev, his evil spirit, detailing his state of mind and his gnawing grudges.
Basically, this story brings light to Saulās mentality in the Bible in other means of interpreting it, in which Saul is honestly never sane and he has a lot of issues lol. Also, the story goes through his entire life, and I mean going back to when heās around 15, which is where the story starts (other than his traumatic flashback that Iām not going to talk about loll) So itās an origin story as well, but it ties into the whole idea of what drives Saul forward in the life he lives.
Also, thereās generational trauma š„¶ that explains Saulās abuse for Jonathan (although there are many more aspects to it, Saulās past is partly the reason for Saulās abuse) in which Saulās father, Kish, is the biggest asshole youāll ever meet lol. And yeah, thereās a reason why, and yet, heās an asshole through and through and thereās no redemption for him. Kish doesnāt want to be associated with his son which spirals into endless abuse and neglect (kind of explains why Saul has little to no confidence in himself and is constantly paranoid).
There are also prominent characters Iāve come up with, such as Saulās mother, Hodesh, and basically the character of Saulās evil spirit, Zeāev, who is a shift-shaping demon wolf that guides Saul to seek his truest intentions while bringing fear into his heart so Zeāev can feed off of him.
Firstly, Hodesh holds a special place in Saulās heart. And itās to the point where he becomes obsessive of her, trying to find answers through her since she is the bearer of his life (also she sings really well, making it the origin for Saulās musical needs). Zeāev, on the other hand, stems from Saulās traumas/fears and becomes prevalent later on to weaken Saul and to bring him to a place of chaos and terror so much so it hinders Saul seeking for the answers heās been looking for for all his life.
And some other things about the novel: Saulās childhood is absolute garbage, yet Ahinoam has always tried to alleviate him from his burdens. His relationship with Ahinoam, however, is at first very, very strong but becomes unstable when Saulās drama with Rizpah comes into the picture, which is all Saulās fault by the way lol. Him and Ahinoam though have a strong connection, despite their troubled beginnings with each other, and Jonathan is basically a combination of them in good ways lol. Jonathan is really prominent in the story too, and Iāll maybe make another post discussing David/Jonathanās relationship in the story, because Iām still trying to figure out a symbolic way to add them into Saulās narrative.
One thing about Jonathan is that Saul in his visions constantly imagines a scary version of Jonathan, which is supposed to be serious, but Iāve always found it funny loll. Like Saul would be waking up screaming from Jonathan drenched in blood and then sees a perfectly normal Jonathan smiling at him.
Iāve been working on this novel for a long while, and it has gone through a lot of changes. I have written the first draft for it, but Iāve recently scrapped the entire draft because the whole story has entirely changed lol. The first draft actually dwelled on Saulās childhood, but the narrative ended up being really pandering and stupid while not adding anything to the story, if Iām being honest š„¶ I mean, there was a chapter of 10k words of just little Saul talking to little Abner about some plan of sneaking out to go and see the Philistines. Theyāre like 7 btw. Youād spend five chapters of an annoying, 7 year old Saul who thinks heās tough and brave in every sentence he says loll.
Alright thatās enough rambling š I doubt anyone would read this other than me, but if you have, then youāre amazing and I applaud you greatly ššš I ramble a lot because Iām a nerd, and Iām very passionate, and uh- DAVID FOREVERRR ššāØš«¶ EEEEEEEEEE
Also, any ideas/suggestions would be AWESOME ššāØ