Camelot: The Very Secret Diaries
A Little Backstory
There's a grand British literary tradition of speaking in abbreviations;
for example, in P.G. Wodehouse's stories, Bertie often had some "e. and
b." in the morning. More recently, Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's
Diary used a distinctive shorthand style.
When Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies came along,
some of us couldn't help noticing certain...subtext that perhaps wasn't
entirely intentional -- like the way Samwise kept staring soulfully at
Frodo. Most of us didn't do anything about it, but Cassandra Claire wrote
a set of Very Secret Diaries
of Frodo, Samwise, etc., in a somewhat Fieldingesque style. They were
funny and addictive, and it was easy to fall into writing in that style
after reading them.
Mary Anne Mohanraj wrote a brief description of Morte
d'Arthur in her journal in a VSD-like style; Jed Hartman suggested
that various writers take on the project of doing a set of Arthurian
VSDs. Then Wendy Shaffer provided some starts at Arthurian VSDs, which
prompted Mary Anne to write one for Arthur, and to set up this project
page listing all the characters, and to let people sign up to write the
other characters. That's how the madness began.
Some Extra Info for Potential Writers and
Confused Readers
Cast of Characters
- Merlin
- King Uther
- Igraine
- Gorlois, the duke of Tintagel (Igraine's husband)
- Arthur -- Mary Anne
Mohanraj
- Kay (who becomes Sir Kay) -- Mary Anne Mohanraj
- The Lady of the Lake / Nimue -- Heather
Shaw
- Excalibur -- Tim
Pratt
- Excalibur's Scabbard -- Karen
Meisner
- Questing Beast - Mike
Jasper
- King Pellinor (chases Beast) -- Jon Hansen
- Sir Percival (King Pellinore's son) -- Dan Percival
- Morgan Le Fay (also called Morgaine, Arthur's sister) -- Karen Meisner
- Guinevere -- Mary Anne Mohanraj
- Sir Lancelot du Lac -- Erin Donahoe
- Elaine of Astolat (aka Lady of Shalott) -- Vera Nazarian
- Sir Galahad -- Jed Hartman
- King Lot (Arthur's brother-in-law)
- Morgause (Arthur's sister, married to King Lot) -- S.E.H. Dewbre
- Sir Lamorak (Morgause's lover)
- Mordred (Morgause and Arthur's son) -- Karen
Jolley-Williams
- Sir Gawain (son of Morgause and King Lot)
- Sir Gareth (son of Morgause and King Lot)
- Lynette (Gareth's love, scornful at first)
- King Mark
- Iseult (Mark's wife)
- Sir Tristan (Iseult's lover)
- Sir Breuse Sans Pitie -- Fred Bush
- The Holy Grail -- Vera Nazarian
- T.H. White -- Shannon Clark
Optional characters?
- Sir Ector (Kay's father, Arthur's foster-father)
- Sir Agrivaine (son of Morgause and King Lot)
- Sir Gaheris (son of Morgause and King Lot)
- The Green Knight (who fights Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight)
- Sir Dinadan
- Sir Sagramore
- etc. (lots of random knights in Arthur's court...)
- Castle Camelot?
- Castle Tintagel?
- Castle Joyous Gard?
- Chretien de Troyes?
- Malory?
- Tennyson?
Mary Anne's home page