The Forum

I had a complete moment of Eureka while reading the epilogue to American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Great book. However, I've been trying to write the same novel for about 2 years now. I keep stalling at 50-60 pages, regrouping, and coming back for another try. I figured out what I was doing wrong and why all my characters, like cheap macaroni, taste like cardboard.

I'm trying to write about a place, not people. I fell in love with the heroic flavor and feeling of the Viking Age several years ago and started doing research on it. However, you can't write a novel based just on that, I don't think. My characters are just props at the moment for a lot of self-centered wankery on how great the Viking Age was. So, the bad news is, I need to write an entirely new novel. Or rewrite it for the fourth time.

The good news is, at least I know what I was doing wrong now, on a basic level.

(If only I could feel this brilliant every time I realized a personal epic fail..... )

I find that age is more or less untapped for the moment. I hope you finish it. My brother is actually writing a Norse novel based in a time before the Vikings; before the Christians etc... It will be epic.

Some tips for character developement. PLEASE take these as helpful (or not) & not as being a knowall & trying to tell you what to do.

My knowledge of Vikings is limited, but I do know enough to understand a few simple characters.

Most Norse would be farmers or fishermen. The soil is c***, late springs, short summers & cold winters, so famine & crop failure are a constant threat. Any lower class person on the land would be on the edge of starvation unless they are an extremely skilled artisan.

As I understand it, "Vikings" as in longboats, shrooms & axes are the equivalent of knights in western europe, so the captain would be a kind of duke or lord & his men would be his retainers.

The relationship between fishermen, "viking" warriors & shipbuilding artisans would be a complex one. I do not know about their gods, but would assume some sort of Gods of War, the Sea, Harvest & probably fertility.

So to me, the archtypical "Viking" story would revolve around a farmer's son, a famine or raid, his family dead & he runs away to sea. Starts as a fisherman or boatbuilder & rescues/kills/helps some minor lordling & is taken on as a warrior.

From there it's England-ho! Sacking Monestarries etc & if you are really brave, steal a woman & tell her story of being a slave wife.

This will not be helpful, but my point is most of the characters are probably not 7foot 6 with long flowing red hair & bristling muscles. Most are going to be poor & downtrodden which is why they felt the need for such audacious raiding.

Sux to be them!

Ok, coming from the shetland islands we have a strong Viking heritage. If they were fishermen they would have gone off in boats for days at a time fishing. The women were typically the farmers.

There are authors out there writing about Vikings, but very few exploring Nordic life.
Good luck with your story idea. I am sure lots of people on here would be happy to offer help and ideas.

The "Vikings" were indeed mostly Scandinavian farmers and fishermen. And there are authors out there doing "Viking" novels right now, many of whom I enjoy: Tim Severin, Robert Low, and Bernard Cornwell among them. Harry Harrison's old Hammer and Cross series is my favorite. However, I'm writing a book about the Jomsvikings, who were a particular band of Vikings that had some irregularities to their brotherhood. Look 'em up one day. They're fascinating. For example, supposedly women were forbidden from inside their fortress walls. Heh.

Thank you for the feedback though.

Oh man, there is four plot lines right there.

Lord's wife dies in childbirth & he doesn't know as guards wouldn't let the midwife into the castle to tell him.

Lord is forced to put to death his lover/sister/mother/wife or one of his underlings for them entering the castle.

The story of a woman entering the castle on a trist.

A young woman dressing as a man to discover some warrior's rite. She could be discovered or escape & discredit the men.

So many deep characters could be built around that one fact.

Man, I might write a Viking novel...

Just got 8 more books on Rome to finish first!

one thing that I have considered is (damn it is difficult to explain)


ok, you all know Dr Who. In the old episodes where they are supposed to be in the future it is kinda flawed by the fact that all the high tech gadgets look really old fashioned (by todays standards)

The same type of flaw can arise in historical books... but in reverse (I hope this makes some sort of sense)

It isnt so much the things people had, I am thinking about peoples ideals and how they thought about stuff. For example, in a fishing community the men would be the fishermen, the women tended the Croft/farm (like I said before)

But... because of this it was better to have a strong wife, it was common for the woman to be older than her husband. The men didnt go out looking for a willowy skinny weak woman... So would beauty be viewed in the same way as we view it today? Why do most heroes in books fall for the 'beautiful' heroine (who is typically slim and petite?)

It is just an observation, but lives were different back then and what is important to us, might not have been important to them, and things that were vital, or obvious to their way of life would possibly seem alien to ours!?


ok, I have managed to confuse myself, but it is a topic that I consider while reading lots of this type of book.

^ Spoken like a true anthropologist. It's all relative, maan!

Lawrence

Watch the film "Kingpin".

The big Ahmish (sic?) dude is laughing at the hot chick as "she can't have more than 5 or 6 kids with those skinny hips".

I agree that the definition of beauty has changed. Up until 1930ish a pale woman was considered to be beautiful as she had not had the sun, proving she was a woman of leisure.

I still think a Viking woman would be beautiful, but not as petite as what is considered beautiful today. You certainly wouldn't see a waifish creature vomiting up her lunch to keep her figure!

Also, you don't have to describe her in terms of her height & weight. Just descibe her hair, mouth, the curve of her jaw, how her eyes sparkle, or her nose crinkles when she laughs. Your Hero has the hots for her, not the reader.

Kingpin is an amazing film :)