Inspiration
From a young age, it became clear that Maedhros loved reading, or at least playing a great attention to the story his parents would read for him when it was time for bed or just to spend time together. And writing, as best as a toddler could write or draw paintings with his crayons.
"I like stories!" he would tell the adults at the forest kindergarten in Formenos, when he brought a small picture book with him in the backpack. But this did not mean that Maedhros would sit at some dry spot like a fallen tree trunk and read all day instead of playing. He did the same activities as the other children, even taking a leader role at times like it was perfectly natural.
"He have a big talent for telling stories, your eldest, especially with how creative he is. It would be a waste if he was not allowed to use it," one of the staff members told Fëanor when he arrived to pick up his firstborn so they could return home.
"Yeah, we are always telling him to never give up a story, because it might become a treasure in the future."
Fëanor wanted his son to be proud of the talent Maedhros had been blessed with, not ashamed about having a big imagination. Nerdanel enjoyed to help her oldest son to get inspiration for a tale he could tell others, big or small.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
As he grew up, Maedhros did not stop writing or imagining up stories. The first notebooks written in a childish handwriting, were joined by others under the years as he became a adult.
Since Maedhros did not debut as a author at a young age, mainly because he wanted to develop his writing and imagination until that he felt confident enough to dare to submit a script to a book publisher in the south, he chose to have a full-time work in the local library so he could support himself after moving out when finishing college.
"I would like a plot for a real debut book one day…"
His inspiration came, of all places, from no one else than Anairë Ringil, the wife of his father's childhood friend Fingolfin Ringil, who was gaining fame as a very skilled police officer in the southern city of Barad Eithel where the lived with their four children. During the family holidays during summer, which often was here in Formenos so Fingolfin could use the long distance as a legal excuse to not be dragged into a case so easy by his fellow police officers, Anairë had taught Maedhros some very useful guidance about how it was to be a author and that even if he would not become famous like her, he should not be wasting his talent simply for being refused by publishers on his first try.
"Nelyo, duck for the ball I am about to throw!" a voice commanded from behind, warning him from something that had happened enough many times in the past as Maedhros grew to be a very tall adult on two meters in height. It turned out to be Celegorm, training his newest puppy to eventually become a hunting dog since the third brother was a trained hunter.
"Celegorm, would you mind being a source of information for my next book to try and publish? I was thinking of something with mother nature, but I want a main character that could...well, be a kind of teacher about wildlife."
The silver-blond hunter grinned.
"Trying to make ignorant people realize that wildlife is nothing like the animals in a zoo or domestic animals? With the greatest pleasure!"
Of course, Maedhros had to clarifying that his intended age group was teenagers and young adults, with the hope of maybe having the book be able of editing into a book for younger children with simpler text to read as well, but he did agree with Celegorm on one point:
There would be realistic mentions and dangers of people not having a common sense about wild animals, which happened more than often enough in Himring each year. And since many of the animal species in the national park was endangered, they could simply not shot every single animal of said species until they found the animal that caused harm to a human, because it would not only be a waste of time and bullets, it would risk the animals to be brought even closer to extermination.
"Just tell if you need to get any detail of hunting right and I will tell you, brother!"
~X~X~X~X~X~X
A couple of months later, a new book for young adults and teenagers arrived on the market, named Hunter's beginning in Himring as the author told the readers in the foreword that the main character was based on someone they knew personally.
The author did not use their real name, which made it impossible to guess whatever it was a man or woman who had written the book, but rather used the pseudonym of Russandol.
But that did not matter. The book was a success in the intended age group, especially as it turned out that there would not be any of those cliched love-triangles or paranormal romances. No, this book focused on life in the northern wilderness far away from modern-day cities and modern lifestyles, as seen through the eyes of the main character.
The whole family was happy to see all the good reviews of the book in the newspaper. Of course, there was some people who did everything to find anything wrong with the plot and events inside.
"Too violent with how the animals reacts against humans? Really?" Celegorm commented in disbelief at reading a so called "review" about his brother's book that in reality was only showing that the sender had no idea about how wildlife behaved in reality, "Those self-claimed mortal guardians seem to think of wildlife as seen in cartoon programs for children, cute and harmless alongside thinking of humans as friends. In reality, those animals would not react well on seeing their babies in what they view as danger, since we humans is only one of many predators who hunts them for food or other things their bodies can be made into and sadly many of those baby animals are often abandoned because they have the scent of humans on them!"
Given that Celegorm was a qualified hunter, no one in the family found it odd that he felt insulted in some way by how ignorant some people would be about the real behavior of wild animals. Maedhros, however, was pleased with that his debut as a author had gone well and did not even seem surprised when his editor made a phone call, telling him that there was requests of a new book. Could Maedhros imagine making it into a series of some kind?
"Of course. I have a unfinished beginning of another book that can be rewritten to fit into the Hunter series."
If he started tomorrow, there could be a new book arriving next year. After all, he had all he needed for inspiration in the national park and information about hunting not only from Celegorm, but all the other people who was hunters here in Formenos.
"Celegorm?" Maedhros wondered, making his brother stop ranting about people who deserved the Darwin Awards because of their lack of common sense, "do you think that Oromë would like to give me information about what to do and not do near bears?"
Oromë Woods was the most famous bear hunter in Formenos, acting as a teacher in the shooting gallery, and Celegorm's tutor in becoming a hunter.
"Bears are his speciality, ya know, brother!"
Maedhros laughed, knowing how true that was, already having a feeling that the Hunter series would become useful for the future in some form.