I've lost my notebook.
This wouldn't be a big deal... except for the fact that, in an attempt to avoid the temptation of the internet (by avoiding my computer altogether), I've done the majority of my writing by hand. In said notebook. All of my research (yes, I've done research) is in that notebook. All of my character sketches (including literal sketches) and plot outlines and maps and plot development and and random ideas for dialogue and scene inspiration and... well, all of my notes are in that notebook.
This is a major setback for Team Productivity.
But, as per usual, there is a silver lining:
While wasting time that should have been spent pouring over the list of potential names for imaginary subterranean cities now forgotten, I've discovered The Hollow Earth Theory.
Now, I understand that the idea of a subterranean world lit by the center sun (where those of us less-enlightened had previously imagined a molten core) inhabited by near-divine beings living in perfect harmony, who use flying saucers to travel between Agharti (the subterranean world) and our... um... terranean (?) world is far-fetched and ridiculous, but you take inspiration where you find it. Slowly and surely, I'm beginning the maddening descent into the world of Science Fiction writing. And you know what?
I'm okay with that.
What's interesting to me is how the idea of a world beneath ours, like the similar principal tenets of many dissimilar religions, appears repeatedly in mythology from various cultures. Most strikingly are the parallels between:
•Shambhala, the capital city of Agharti believed in traditional Tibetan Buddhism to be a "place of peace/tranquility/happiness" occupied by the purest of the pure (located somewhere in Asia),
•Vanaheimr, which is, as I understand it, one of the nine realms of the earth (some of which are subterranean!) and is a dwelling place of the gods in Norse mythology (also theorized to be in Asia), and
•Heaven, the place where, in Christian mythology, God lives with the angels and where good souls go after they die (most likely not supposed to be in Asia (unless you're me, in which case Heaven is spending eternity lounging on a beach in Phuket with a near constant supply of Pad Thai and cigarettes, with no chance of skin or lung cancer and/or obesity)).
Tolkien modeled his map of Middle-earth after the níu heimar ("nine worlds") of Norse myth; admittedly, the idea of the níu heimar is also one of my major inspirations, but Shambhala and the many hidden tunnels leading to Agharti fill in some gaps that I was having trouble with.
Like I said, you take inspiration where you find it. The Hollow Earth Theory has joined the ranks of Things That Have Influenced My Writing, where it will keep the "Planet Earth" episode about caves and The Lord of The Rings company...
Okay. I should probably get back to re-writing those scenes that I still remember, and jotting down concepts and inspirations before I forget them. Time to put the computer away and act like someone who's serious about writing. Again.
Sigh.
[P.S. Rational, empirically-inclined Dallas knows that The Hollow Earth Theory is totally ridiculous (in the same way that the Jehovah's Witnesses are). But the whimsical side of Dallas--the same side that makes me want to write a YA novel about subterranean cities--wants to believe that this is possible. I'm sure everyone laughed at Ptomlemy when he proposed the world was round. How is proposing that it's round and hollow that much different?
The world is hollow. There there be dragons.]
Listen: On The Road To Shambala by Three Dog Night
