Ladies & Gentlemen and all the myth lovers around Wattpad. This time we had an amazing time interviewing the Wattys 2021 award winner @Alatary for her winning story Enheduanna: The First Author. Let's get started!

About Author: I am Alatary, an archaeologist by day, a writer who wants to retell the stories of history's writers by night. Or tell stories about the life of an archaeologist, which is how most people know me here on Wattpad. I love everything historical and love reading about myths and legends from all over the world.

About Enheduanna: The First Author: My story 'Enheduanna: The First Author' is inspired by the real-life Enheduanna and contains many Akkadian legends, myths and gods as Enheduanna was a high priestess in that society that had its own pantheon of gods that were worshipped. 

Q1. What made you start writing on Wattpad? 

 In 2017 I stumbled onto Wattpad because I was searching for some new books to read. I fell in love with the community here, and wanted to attribute to said community, which is why I joined the Wattpad Ambassadors. There I made so many amazing friends, who encouraged me to write about my stories as an archaeologist on Wattpad. I didn't think anyone would really be interested in that, but to my shock and delight, Diary of An Archaeologist won a Watty in 2019 for non-fiction. Which is what pushed me to actually pick up writing again, and start publishing more real stories about history's writers. 

Q2. According to you, what makes stories with myth and legend concepts so special and intriguing?

 In my opinion, those stories are so intriguing because they blur the line between fact and fiction. A lot of ancient myths are nowadays told as if they are fairytales, but in most cultures they were regarded as facts to explain the world around us. Why do the seasons change? Well, the goddess of spring is spending time with her bae instead of her mom. Why is there snow on a volcano? The Poliʻahu had to cool Pele's temper with some snow. It sounds absurd to us now, but that was how people explained things. They might not be scientifical, but if people tried to understand the surrounding science. We might actually still be doing it today. 

Q3. What do you like most about myths & legends?

 I like the common elements that can be found in myths all over the world. Every culture has at least one underworld myth, or an end of the world myth. There are so many elements and gods that have been picked up by other cultures or evolved into

Q4. Tell us more about your story's myths and legends and what intrigued you to write about it?

My story 'Enheduanna: The First Author' is inspired by the real-life Enheduanna and contains many Akkadian legends, myths and gods as Enheduanna was a high priestess in that society that had its own pantheon of gods that were worshipped. In Enheduanna's work she revers a lot to Akkadian myths and/or stories about the gods, so obviously there are tons of references to that in my story. But the one where I am really proud of is the story of the goddess Inanna and the mountain Ebih. The reason I included the myth of Inanna and mount Ebih is because Enheduanna was the first to write this myth down. In the hymn, she first praises Inanna, before talking about the mountain Ebih who would not show the goddess any respect, and thus provoking her wrath, despite her father's warnings not to destroy the mountain. The myth perfectly reflects and also kind of foreshadows what Enheduanna is going through, and how she deals with her problems. Another myth that I was really surprised to find and absolutely had to include in my story was the story of Moses. Turns out that Enheduanna's father, king Sargon of Akkad, claimed to be the son of a high priestess, conceived in secret and set in a basket of rushes, to drift down the river. Sounds familiar? Whether there is any truth to the story no one knows, but the fact that one of the mightiest kings of the first Empire claimed this to be his story far before Christianity was even a religion is absolutely fascinating to me.

Q5. What is your advice for new writers who want to try writing myth and legend concepts in their stories? 

Don't be afraid to have them contradict with each other. You often see these picture perfect pantheons of gods who all have one specific role to play in stories that are based on real-life myths like Greek or Norse mythology. But mythology is NEVER that simple. Gods have contradictions, play different roles in different stories or even have different meaning depending on the time and/or region. And that is what made those mythologies feel alive. Even some retellings of legends like Robin Hood or King Arthur suffer from this crystal clear by the book trope, if I may call it that, which makes them feel stale and one dimensional. Dionysus wasn't always the party loving drunk. The nights of Arthur weren't all that noble and that is fun to read about.

Q6. If you have a chance to relive one myth, what would it be? 

 Atalanta. She is really the definition of a badass in ancient Greece, and even though she is raised by bears, I'd like to think that, that was just Artemis her disguise. So yeah, would be cool to have her as my mom.

That's it for December. Myth and Legend Team hopes you had a great year learning about mythologies as well and reading these fabulous interviews of some great stories on Wattpad. Here we say goodbye to this year interviews. 

Next Year let's have some more authors and more dynamic interviews and learn plethora of new myths. Until next time!