#BloggerBlast #Spotlight ‘Into The Forest’ edited by Lindy Ryan

After reading Lindy Ryan’s novel, ‘Throw Me To The Wolves’, I was super keen to read her anthology based around the mythology of Baba Yaga, titled ‘Into The Forest’

The list of contributors alone had my reading gland salivating and I am eagerly awaiting the much delayed arrival of my copy-not judging the postal situation in the UK and 100% support the right to strike!-it will come just in time to be devoured over the festive period!
So when Black Crow PR kindly reached out to bloggers to be involved in the tour I was super keen, and then work (I work as a nurse) got increasingly fraught and hectic and I have backed away from tours because, as you can see from the graphic, I am late in posting as days/months have spun away from me and I hate letting people down-hugest of apologies to Black Crow and Lindy for being late with this piece.

Here is a little descriptor about the collection to whet your appetite….

Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that spins on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the baba yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the baba yaga may find help, or hinderance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch—and these are her tales.

Black Crow kindly provided me with an author piece, by Stephanie M Wytovich, so come with her, if you please, and look a little deeper into the inspiration behind her contribution to the anthology…

Writing prose has always been a slower process for me, whereas poetry has existed as a more fluid, organic means of creating in my art. Oftentimes before I start working on a story, I write down themes, words, phrases, anything that really jumps out at me about the topic or general narrative I’m looking to explore. After some light brainstorming and what I like to refer to as mental mood boarding, I lean into what I consider my strength and write the poem version of the story first. This is helpful for a number of reasons, but the most important one is that it delivers the heartbeat of the plot to me, the snapshot of emotion that becomes the story’s pulse. 

When it came to Baba Yaga, I knew I wanted to write something about food and hunger, and since I was pregnant at the time, I also wanted there to be some discourse about childbirth and the triple goddess: maiden to mother and then a focus on the immense power of the crone. I wanted a strong, matriarchal bond, something born out of food: finding it, preparing it, and sharing it with one another, and that’s why I wrote “Dinner Plans with Baba Yaga,” which became a spell and a recipe as much as it became a poem.  Through writing it, I discovered some of the backstory to who would become the protagonist of my short story “A Trail of Feathers, a Trail of Blood,” and once I had solidified this sense of loyalty and routine that was built between the woman and Baba, it helps me better flesh out the plot to the story I wanted to tell. 

This practice of poem to story is something I’ve instinctively done for ages, and I did it a lot especially when I was plotting and outlining my first novel. I ended up writing poems for each chapter, and sometimes wrote pieces based on scene studies, character maps, etc. A lot of the time, I’d end up pulling some lines and phrases from my poems to better build moments in the story, so that became a great tool to help show rather than tell, too. In general, I think that writing poetry helps one become a better writer of prose because you can’t waste any words with poetry. As such, the form teaches you to be descriptive and creative in a way that honors words and time that I don’t think you get anywhere else. Plus, maybe there’s a little magic that carries over, too, but then again, if you’re working with Baba, you better know there are two sides to every story, and wow does that woman loves to cut a deal!

What do you think?

Do you have plans to pick a copy up for yourself, or are you already reading it?

Let me know your thoughts!

Links-http://www.stephaniemwytovich.com/

https://www.lindymillerryan.com/

https://www.blackcrowpr.com/

https://vesuvianmedia.com/black-spot-books/

Twitter @lindyryanwrites @blackspotbooks @BlackCrow_PR @swytovich