Ynys Afallon | Island of Apples
How to pronounce ‘Ynys Afallon’ in Welsh: https://www.howtopronounce.com/welsh/ynys-afallon > (Un-is Av-ah-lhon)
Ynys Afallon is a mythological island in the west (of Britain), which is a place of perpetual youth and fertility, similar to the Irish Tír na nÓg. I conflated it with Myrddin here because it appears in Arthurian legends as the place Arthur was taken after the battle of Camlann, where he was defeated and close to death. There are also several prophetic poems attributed to Myrddin addressed to his apple tree (and his pet pig), so that’s why Myrddin has a thing for apples in The Day We Ate Grandad, too.
I also liked the idea of playing with portals and perceptions, so the ruins that Ricky and Wes find themselves in do not properly belong on the island at all, so there’s constant slippage of one realm to another that I hope further destabilises the notion of our own world and what is possible there.
Ynys Afallon was also a name for Glastonbury, so that’s why they ascend a small tor to get to the ruins, which are a cross between St Michael’s Tower and Carmarthen castle, two real life places that converge confusingly in the dreamspace on the island. The time and space rules within that ruin also work on dream logic, so you have the scene where Ricky and Wes become separated on the spiral staircase and Ricky has a vastly different perception of it than Wes does. His mantra, I’m a god, I’m the Soothsayer, I’m the One and Only, isn’t helpful here. It only serves to make his failure starker.
I did have a whole scene where Ricky is forced to verbally express to Myrddin in poetry what Carrie means to him, but this was cut when I rewrote the middle section to include the wishing well. I will put this version of the scene up on Ko-Fi for supporters to read!
I liked exploring a new dimension, one that was very different to the Outside. There will be more about these realms in future!
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