The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley was the first novel I remember visualising as a film while reading it. I first read it when it was published, in the early nineteen eighties.
I don’t know how to describe the feeling exactly but somehow I was totally involved with the characters and the story. I know I felt transported to a mystical world of castles, cliffs, raging seas, desolate locations and fierce female characters I could never have imagined. The imagery was so vivid and unlike anything I had read previously. The experience has always stayed with me.
The story takes place in Camelot with much focus on the life of King Arthur, during the clash of old religions with newly embedded Christianity. The jacket cover describes the book as ‘a brilliant reworking of the powerful Authurian epic where we see the tumult and adventures of Camelot’s court through the women who bolstered the king’s rise and schemed for his fall’.
The strong female characters in what would typically be a male dominated story left very strong impressions on me. Their daring, defiance, darkness and power of the feminine was new and exhilarating. Understanding the author’s depiction of women and ‘seeing’ the story unfold made room in my mind for imagining what was possible; that maybe I could create a visual story through screenwriting. Interest in writing an original screenplay lingers with me still. Now, in retirement it has become a Big Dream.
I have started re- reading The Mists of Avalon, forty years later, to see how the filter of time might have changed my impressions of the novel. I had forgotten that the book is quite a tome. The prologue is written in my favourite character’s voice, Morgaine, also known as Morgan Le Fay and I am instantly captivated again.
When I finish reading the book, I have several screenplays of some favourite films waiting for close study. This will serve to rekindle the spark needed to begin writing.
Viewing the 2001 film series adapted from The Mists of Avalon is also on the agenda. It will be exciting to see how the screenwriters adapted the screenplay from the novel.
