I was on a plane and had just finished the book I was reading, and was just feeling sorry for myself because I was between YA series (and I do love them so). I started thinking about how authors come up with the plots for their books, and I started making notes and diagramming things. I think it’s really important that a book has a theme and an underlying point – not a preachy one, but something to tie the story arc together. For example, the Harry Potter series is so obviously about racism and World War II and the historical parallel.
I had actually just finished the classic book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, and the underlying plot for Goddess was really stolen from it. Betty Friedan writes about how post-WWII advertising very craftily and intentionally promoted the idea that women belong in the home, and are most fulfilled when their lives revolve around their homes. I started thinking about historical parallels, and I thought of the Vestal Virgins, an ancient Roman priesthood where women tended to the “hearth of the nation.” There seemed like a connection there, plus the added ick factor of the concept that virgin women are somehow more special or holier than others.
WILDsound Festival 