Gorran

“And that is my point” continued Gorran, sitting straighter in his seat. “I suspect you are planning for your whole family to go on this venture. It is a great opportunity naturally, but I fear the rest of Greenland will suffer for it.”

Gorran, love him or hate him, is one of the most complex characters that I have developed. He has caused me more writer blocks, nervous breakdowns and problems than pretty much the rest of the cast put together.

Background

Gorran was one of the first settlers to arrive in Greenland, landing with Erik, his superior. Although physically Gorran has become rather fat, he has an indomitable energy that keeps him interacting with almost all who visit Greenland. Over time he has built up considerable influence and wealth in Hvalsey (the capital), enough so that he has declared himself mayor – and Erik has not disputed this claim.

Gorran stands for the greater good, he cares deeply for the settlement he helped establish and treats all of its many citizens in a fatherly manner. He is worried however at the impact that Vinland will have on Greenland. Although wealthy thanks to the resources available, it has a small population, and Erik's expedition is attracting many Greenlanders to follow him to Vinland. Gorran has complete respect for Erik but believes deeply that Greenland will not continue to flourish should the enigmatic founder leave for greener pastures.

Greenland is a prosperous but fragile settlement. Gorran stands as the sole sentinel for its continued existence, but how can one man stand against the call of destiny? How far will his conscience allow him to go?

Snippet from Vinland : Thorvald

I have been ill for the last few days so took some time off writing to recover. As such I have not been able to prepare anything for the blog (and will likely not do one for tomorrow either). However, this does give me an excellent chance to let you read just what it is that I am working on. Please note that this piece is still in the rough, it has not been checked for spelling / grammar.

A quick overview as this is not from the very beginning. This piece comes right after Erik announces the discovery of new lands to the people of Greenland. Thorvald, on whom this centers is the middle son of Erik the Red, he was not at the feast, but rather in one of the back rooms of the Great Hall. Kai is a legendary warrior who joined Leif's band. Berend is a berserker who recently joined Erik's band. Adalwolf, you should know by now!

Bjarni was the original man who discovered Vinland, he sold the knowledge to Leif and was branded a coward (nithling) for not having explored himself. In Viking culture, being called a coward was as good as being a leper, you were completely exiled so Thorvald's actions here are rather unusual in that end.

So without further ado, I present to you an except from Vinland;

What's in a name?

Ok, so for me, one of the most interesting parts of writing a story is the names of the characters, and the amount of power they can have in defining them. If a character is badly named, then that can negatively impact an entire story; likewise, a good name can make a mediocre story better. The same process also occurs in reality.  There are certain kinds of people that we associate with certain names. When you meet someone for the first time, reflect on their name and your first impressions of them. Does the name help in defining them? In most cases, I’ll bet it does. Get good enough at it, and you can probably begin to guess names before you are even introduced.

I do not know how other authors do it but, for me, the names have to reflect the characters themselves in some way. One web page that I always have open is for naming babies.  Yes, I get bombarded with adverts about pregnancy because of this, but it is a vital resource to really get the right name for the right person. If the character I have in mind has a certain personality or trait, I need to find a name with the right type of meaning.

Progress Report : 15 April 2011

Ok, so it has been a very busy week for me; first, the London Book Fair, and then the attempted catch up of yesterday and today. I will not go in to more detail on the LBF; that has been amply covered in the three reports I produced on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Now, this being the first progress update, I should inform you just how I am going about writing this novel. My initial plan was to write at least 2000 words per day, five days a week. For those of you mathematically disinclined that makes 10,000 words a week. Unfortunately, a more realistic number is 6,000-7,000. If you also consider the amount of time I spend on research and editing (which is a lot), I think that is about fair. Bear in mind that when writing my dissertation I managed 10,000 words in roughly a month. So basically, I am writing just less than 1 dissertation a week... and probably doing about as much research too. Oh, to be a student again!

Adalwolf

“I should leave that where it is” intoned a voice from the darkness. This man, waxed black hair glittering from the light from the fireplace, stepped into view, sword held casually. The thug removed his hand from the knife handle, instantly sober to the threat, and stepped back with his hands raised.

Background

Adalwolf was one of the first fictional characters to inhabit the world of Erik and Leif that I created. He has a long history of raiding with Leif’s brother, Thorvald, and the two men have a very strong bond with one another, for to fight alongside someone creates the kind of camaraderie that only warriors will ever know. 

Although Adalwolf is originally from Norway, he found himself without employment during the political upheavals which gripped the country. When Thorvald began to recruit his first crew to raid the coast of England, Adalwolf was one of the first eager men to join the raiders. Adalwolf is several years older and was at first something of a mentor to the younger man. In time, Thorvald’s abilities developed, and with experience he evolved to become a great raid leader. Adalwolf was quite happy to remain in his best friend’s shadow. He is himself one of those people who have exceptional ability but have no wish to be in a position of power. The two men train together often, and Adalwolf has become almost an adopted member of Erik’s family, treating Thorvald’s brothers and sister as though they were his own.

The London Book Fair : Day 3

Ok, so the final day of the London Book Fair, the day I had been most looking forward to; but turned out to be a regular emotional rollercoaster. 

I did not get off to a good start, my train running an hour late meant that I missed the first seminar that I wanted to attend, which was a shame. It got worse when I was turned away from the door of the second. Any guesses why? Because I was wearing my trademark T-shirt and cargoes? Nope. Because I was a writer in a publishers world? Nope. Because it was massively oversubscribed? Naturally. 

This, I freely admit ticked me off more than a little, it is abundantly clear that the organisers have learnt absolutely nothing over the last few days. To make this worse, I got talking to some of the staff on duty (the ones turning us away) and they said it is the exactly same thing every year. The moral of this story – is if you want to go to a seminar, turn up half an hour early minimum. If you have back to back seminars as I tended to, then you can pretty much forget the second. Sorry, that was a little over stated, they did actually learn something; that having people standing in oversubscribed venues can have a negative impact on health. Their solution, a larger room? More chairs? Nope, just ban people from standing thereby reducing capacity even more.

The London Book Fair : Day 2

Ok, so The Plan is all but out the window this week. I will adhere to it next week for sure. I intend to post up a blog on the events of the London Book Fair while they are fresh in my memory. Things seem to change a lot from day to day, plus we cover quite a bit of material so I will post up a blog for today (content to follow) and one for tomorrow. The character introduction will be moved to Thursday, so you still have time to vote on whom you would like to hear more about.

Today, I am pleased to report was somewhat better than yesterday. The organisation was still terrible, but the content was impressive. The first lecture was all about publishing work through multiple platforms. The lecturer was a chic-lit author.  She first produced a book. She then set up twitter feeds and an email for some of her main characters and started to interact with fans from their points of view. Then came a fake magazine which these characters worked for,  and you can see this all snowballing to create a virtual world in which her characters lived, breathed and interacted with their audience. Obviously, giving my characters an email address would be rather odd (though amusing, LeifErikson@VinlandFirst.com), but she did give me a number of other ideas I intend to make good use of. Prepare for the Vinland series to get a little technocratic!

The London Book Fair

The London Book Fair

First of all, let me apologise for going back on my word. When I created The Plan, I had entirely forgotten that I would be at the London Book Fair this week, therefore the post on “Character Names” will need to wait until next Monday. This one will focus on the fair so far, with another update on Friday. Wednesday will be about Vinland as promised. I am still deciding on whether to introduce one of Erik’s sons; Leif, the wise explorer, or Thorvald, the younger son in pursuit of glory? Or would you prefer the deeply loyal warrior Adalwolf? Please make suggestions in the comments below, or via twitter on the right --->

This was my first outing as an author, and the first time I have ever been to a convention, so I quite honestly had no idea of what to expect. A publisher friend of mine (You can find him here, at Acorn Independent Press) suggested that I attend the fair if I was serious about writing. I arrived at Earls Court at an hour far too early for me (9:30am) and found a massive, bustling crowd with an almost anarchic feel to it. Everywhere were stands for the various publishing companies, racks of books and lots of people in suits.

The Plan

At first I was planning to release blog posts basically whenever I felt ready to launch one, however I have taken a reality check and decided to be rather more organised about how I deal with this. I know, those of you who know me will be shocked. Gareth? Organised? Don’t make me laugh!

The truth is, I am here to write a book, and these blogs can get rather distracting. I would rather have my mind focused on the next great plot twist and unique new characters, rather than the witticisms of these blog posts.

As such, I intend to release 3 meaty blog posts a week, plus I have now signed up to the infernal Twitter where I intend to post small bits, like when a particularly good idea hits and I get really excited. Please feel free to follow me on that.

So here is the timetable (All times in GMT);

Monday : 5.30pm – Musing and Rambling

Wednesday : 5.30pm – Major Update

Friday : 5.30pm – Progress Update

Erik the Red

“Burn them. They were cowards and liars, they will never see the doors of Valhalla. Place their heads on pikes at the harbour entrance as a reminder of who rules here.”- Erik the Red

Historical Background;

Erik is an interesting figure, there is much that is known about him, but there is also a lot that is pure conjecture. The “the Red” appellation, for instance, some believe it to refer to his bright red hair, while others think it is due to his infamous bad temper, while others attribute it to the blood on his hands. Erik is himself a Norwegian, but was exiled from that country for “killings” (murder), and then moved to Iceland, from whence he was again exiled. This time he went to the rumoured lands west of Iceland.

Erik spent the three years of his exile there, exploring the land and setting out a place for a settlement. Once his exile time was up, he headed back to Iceland and began to recruit colonists to accompany him back to “Greenland”. The name was created by Erik himself in an attempt to make the country appear more fertile and fruitful and so attract more people.

Skipping ahead about 25 years, to the discovery of America, his son Leif tried to persuade him to accompany him to Vinland. At first Erik was reluctant but gave in eventually. However on the way to the ships, he fell from his horse and took this to be a sign from the gods, and the final nail in the coffin for his doubts, and decided to leave this new phase of exploration to the younger generation and so decided that ultimately he would not go.

Two years later he died while Leif was still in America.

Testing the waters.

What if these were just the vanguard for more settlers?

Well this is my first post in the blogosphere. I am an aspiring author and I know many writers are quite reclusive and secretive about their creations. They will hide in their study until they have finished the entire book and emerge only to speak to their publisher and collect their cheque. However I strongly believe in connecting with the audience who I hope will one day be reading my books. As such I will be posting progress reports, character introductions, and perhaps even some snippets.

My background is primarily in Politics and Management; however I have always had an interest in writing and historic occasions, particularly those which hinged on a particular event. Something which as always fascinated me are “what if” scenarios. What if Wellington had lost the battle of Waterloo? What if the Roman Empire had never fallen? What if the Vikings had succeeded in America?

The book I am working on at the moment is called “Vinland” and it centres around the discovery and settlement of America by the Norsemen. True to my love of what-ifs, this will be taking the view that Erik the Red had made it to Vinland with his son Leif. Would his forceful personality and proven track record at colonisation have made a difference to Viking ambitions in the New World?

Join me, and let’s find out.