Camelot

A Whole New World

Serendipity happens in my life a lot. I used to dismiss it as coincidence. I now like to think of it as my intuition paying attention. It happens in my writing, too, and here's how it showed up in Chapter 6 of Dancing at The Royal Jade, entitled "The Knight Alone."

As the endearing relationship between nine-year-old Libby and her 'Uncle' Grant began to reveal itself to me, I learned that, in addition to Nancy Drew, Libby loves the King Arthur stories (much as I do), and she pretends, as young girls often will, to be a princess. Given her enthusiasm for Arthurian tales and considering the timeline of my story, it made sense to me that Libby might see the 1967 movie-musical Camelot.

Postcard replica of "Camelot" promotional material

As the characters were revealed to me, I learned, indeed, Libby, her mother Gwen, and Grant did go see the movie together, and for months after seeing it, Libby and Grant roleplay medieval royalty. Grant is typically acts as a generic knight, who serves Princess Libby by holding doors open for her, bringing her snacks, taking her for ice cream, and other things a nine-year-old would relish.

I named the characters in the novel very early in my ideation process: Libby, Gwen, Grant, Nate, etc. So, when I began actually writing scenes between Gwen and Grant and their waxing-and-waning attraction, I was delighted by the remembrance that the queen in Camelot is Guenevere (typically spelled Guinevere, but this is how it was spelled for the 1967 movie). Although my Gwen is Gwendolyn (and Grant is no Lancelot), it was still exciting to recognize that my subconscious had pulled an element into the story that had more meaning than I originally intended.

Small treasures, such as this, that I unexpectedly uncover as I write are what keep me going!

See how this post relates to my novel Dancing at The Royal Jade by checking out Chapter 6: "The Knight Alone.”

This post first appeared on my Substack publication.