The Importance of a Belt Buckle

I write this leading on somewhat from my earlier article “Bringing the Vikings to Life”, as I wish to talk about the experience I have had in injecting detail and description to my writings. Now, firstly my background as a writer is as a game designer, writing either fiction based on a world that I particularly liked or later on writing the script for the adventure itself, either as background lore, quest detail or interactions between the players and the denizens of the land.

Part of this has meant my developing style is very blunt and concise, with a heady amount of action driving the plot forward. Working in such a visual medium as this, it was usually better to leave the optical features to the artists, because as they say, a picture tells a thousand words. Now, that I am writing a book it has come about from frequent critiques that I need to add more detail and atmosphere to the text, as I can no longer rely on the visual feedback from the graphics.

My experiences of this have been widespread, ranging from finding certain aspects really interesting (the weather and environment in particular) and therefore easier to write about. For some reason I find it very easily to properly visualise and then put into words a description of weather and its effects, be it bright sunlight on a mid-summers eve to a blizzard in the middle of winter, however detail of the land is rather more difficult. This is part of the reason for my attempts to get as much visual feedback on the Greenlandic terrain, which led to my discovery of the real Hvalsey in the article mentioned above.

Then there is the part of descriptive text which I find near impossible, and this most likely stems from my own (very) casual attitude to the subject, and that is clothing. I realise that what people wear can be as important to their overall characterisation as their actions, but I find it nearly impossible to connect the two. Does it really matter if Gorran wears a blue tunic or a green one? What about Thorvald’s trousers today? Is it enough that I simply dress up the characters in personality and then let the reader imagine for themselves what exactly it is they wear. I hope so, because this is what I intend to do.

This leads very nicely on to my final point, the nature of novel writing is a very different beast to master compared with script or lore scribbling, and it requires different skills and techniques to pull off; but should I really mould my entire writing style to suit this, or would my book come out as stronger if I write along my strengths rather than weaknesses? Perhaps I should start to concentrate more on Leif’s voyage of discovery and worry less about the shape of Erik’s belt buckles...

Kai

“By Odin’s missing eye, who the Hel are you stranger?” Erik managed, still gasping.

“I am Kai Miklagardson, retired, of the Varangian Guard”

Background

This is rather refreshing to say; after all my complaints at how difficult certain characters are to write, Kai was a real pleasure and probably the most fun I have had in creating a new character for the Vinland stories.

When I originally wrote Erik, he had a completely different personality, however I soon realised this was unsuitable for how I envisaged Erik's development as a character. I liked the personality traits, however, and created another character that could embody these, the end result of that rewrite was Kai.

So many stories about the Vikings portray the warriors when they are in the full bloom of their youth, but what happens when these warriors reach old age? Not all of them die in battle, many of them certainly retire peacefully to a farm somewhere and live out their years telling stories of their former glory.

Random Ramblings : Inspiration

Sometimes inspiration can come from the strangest places, and it can happen anytime, anywhere.

For some writers, they need a muse, a person who reveals some insight or other into life’s little ironies, and this is then how they develop the storyline of their book. For others it comes from situations they encounter or strangers they happen to meet. In any case, you can tell a true writer because they carry a little notebook with them always, to jot these little things down. Collect enough of them, and of enough interest and you have the makings of a novel. The author of James Bond, Ian Fleming has some well known note books, and on the last page of the last one were the simple words “Quantum of Solace” with no description or thoughts to go with it. This clearly attracted the attention of the current Bond-film writer as it lent itself to the name of the last film released.

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;