Random Rambling : Research

 All my time at university has counted for something after all. I may not have ended up in political office, as a diplomat or the head of a major corporation as my initial aspirations had hoped, but I did learn about researching. Or more precisely, how to comb Wikipedia for good links to articles which are of interest. As such I have a whole document which lists all the things I’ve used as references (both for legal protection and for ease of finding in the future), plus one of my web pages is permanently open with the most useful articles outlining important things, for instance the two Saga’s which relate to the story, details on Erik and Viking Shipbuilding. My dissertation tutor would have been proud of its depth.

Not all research can be done online unfortunately, so I also maintain an impressive stack of books. Most of them are about the American Indians, I struggle far more with their culture than I do with the Vikings, but hopefully with the information gleaned I will be able to do them justice. A number of the books are children’s or war games orientated, mostly for the pictures. The graphics in those tend to highlight the important features of their society, from the fur cloaks worn by many Vikings, to the weapons and patterns of the Native Americans. 

I recently saw a program about police artists ( the people who come up with the rendering of suspects) and this showed that caricature artists were the best at that job, because they are able to massively overstate important features. They had a big chin? So they draw it dominating the whole face, people who see those images are then better able to pick out the suspect in a crowd. I can use a similar principle when describing the visual characteristics of my characters and their environment, which I hope makes the world in which they live far more vivid.

Some characteristics, for instance Jorvik’s blackened teeth are important to his personality so I make a big deal about them, the more subtle details, like whether he has a green or blue tunic on that day, I leave to the imagination of the reader.

Another venue for research has been television and film. I have a couple of historic documentaries saved which cover all kinds of aspects to Viking life, particularly towards the end of the era which is when my novel takes place. It was through this medium that I discovered that the Vikings were in Russia (Novgorod and Kiev were founded by Norse settlers for instance) and led to the development of the trader character, Edvin. I have also used film, some titles more seriously than others. I intend to claim Thor on expenses because... well it has Vikings in it, that they are actually aliens from another planet is immaterial (it's a bad film though, don’t see it) and also more recently Last of the Mohicans in order to get an idea of Native Americans, I’ve also just ordered Black Robe for the same reason.

Perhaps someday, a future author will use the film of Vinland to research the Vikings... until I go and mess with history and set them up in America of course. Yeah that would be pretty cool actually.

 

Do you have any ideas or suggestions for me to read / watch in order to increase my understanding and ability to create the Viking / Native American societies? Please state them in the comments and I will look them up!