Of the Sea

Although I did not participate in NaNoWrMo this year I have been working on a novel. One of the central characters in my novel is also the setting: the sea. The vastness of the sea is daunting, and I have stalled because I want the mood of my novel to be right.

In his Introduction to Classic Sea Stories, Barry Unsworth's description of the sea acknowledges the otherness of nature. He states

"The sea is another world, uncontrollable, unpredictable, violent in her rages, beguiling in her calms, but always alien. Moreover, she is vast, beyond our scale in her volume and extent and limitless to our imagination."

It is the imagination of the sea I want to tap into; the juxtaposition of calm and power. The sea is familiar and foreign, comforting and frightening.

I need to dive into the sea and let my pen describe what I find.