A personal challenge

Well things have slowed a little this month at Zatobo, with the programmer having other commitments for several weeks, and the business guy out of the country, the decision was taken to halt development work for two months.

Of course I am sad not to be hurtling forward with our new project(s), but the big upside is that I can get back to working on the book full time for that period. My plan is basically to undertake the National Novel Writing Month (but in September), and challenge myself to write 50,000 words, and hopefully bring Vinland to a conclusion in the process.

Things have been fairly slow so far (but then for me, the beginning always is) as I try to dive back into the fascinating world of the Vikings. Thankfully my reams of notes have served me well in reminding me just what was happening, and what is to be occur in the future. The book is currently in two parts, the early stuff in Greenland and then their sailing to Vinland without anything really connecting the two events. My ambition therefore is to fill this in, introducing another character or two and filling those who already exist in.

Throughout work on Vinland, there has always been one major antagonist, but without spoiling too much, they are at some distance to events directly going on with the people in Vinland. I have therefore created another character (or rather re-written one) to full fill a more direct conflict with Leif and his crew who I hope will spice things up rather more. It’s been a while since I have shown things off, so here is a little slip that I have recently been working on. Please bear in mind that this is still very much a part of the manuscript and as such has not been treated with the spit and polish of a published work;

“Citizens of Hvalsey!” Thorstein began, a warm smile on his face which Iva immediately hated.

“I come here before you today, not to complain about injuries received during my duties as an enforcer of peace in the town, but rather to ensure that this man is never again allowed to perpetrate such violence. I am a fighter, a man well used to taking blows from my foes, but next time we may not be so lucky. Imagine, if then it was your wife, or your son, or even gods be so cruel, your daughter.” As he said this, Iva noticed her father sitting on the other side of the room, watching the proceedings with a frown on his face. He was so intent on the words of the young noble, that she was sure he had no idea that she was present.

“My mother and I were doing our rounds of the town, but hearing a commotion in Gorran’s home decided to investigate. On arrival, we encountered a brawl going on between two strangers to the town. We managed to stop this in short order, and determined that the cause had been women, not just any women but a mere thrall and a wayward girl.”Again Iva looked over to her father, and saw that now his fists were balled up, and a vein was throbbing in his neck. Clearly he had understood whom Thorstein was talking about.

“I am sorry to inform you all that this girl, a daughter of Hvalsey no less, was the spark that caused an argument to descend into violence, with her misguided attack on our guest...” Iva tried to shrink further into the shadows, but it seemed that still no one had noticed her, all were intent on Thorstein’s words. She observed however that Thjodhilde threw her another glance from her place at the table, but she made no indication that she had recognised the young woman. While she was watching Thjodhilde, she felt another pair of eyes on her, and looking up the table saw Gorran was also watching at her, and as their eyes met, his widened in recognition. Meanwhile Thorstein had continued his speech.

“Perhaps we are wrong to lament so about her actions however. How can we hope to protect the young when there are all these foreign interferences coming to Greenland, there seem to be more strangers in town at the moment than citizens, and this my friends worries me greatly.” Thorstein said, beginning to pace in front of the table, using his hands to articulate his points. He had dressed this up in such a way that the audience failed to realise that he was of the same age as the girl he was chastising. At these words, the massive thrall lifted his head to regard his accuser, moving for the first time.

“It is not on this lady’s misdeeds however, that we are here in deliberation about, but rather on the aftermath of her actions. I was busily restraining her, prepared to make her put things right like a good citizen of this fair settlement should, when this barbarian launched himself from the shadows and went at me like a savage animal.” Thorstein observed, watching as the captive began to struggle against his bonds, clearly becoming more agitated. From the audience there were a number of jeers, which only incensed the thrall more, much to Thorstein’s obvious satisfaction.

“With such influences as this, how can we expect better from our children? It is clear that this creature here before us has no morals, no conception of good or evil. He is an animal and deserves to be treated as such. When a dog bites its owner, we put it down, and so it should be here. Put this mad beast down!”Thorstein instructed.

The thrall began making moaning sounds, his jaw working furiously but unable to make any comprehensible sound. The attempt just made the calls from the crowd worse, a sentiment that Thorstein was quick to seize upon.

“Rruf! Down boy!” he called out, making a growling noise and snapping his teeth together like the jaws of a dog. The crowd responded wildly, many barking at the thrall, making him twist and bend with fury.

“And what if you kicked the dog, and it bit you then?” Leif interjected, rising from his place. Thorstein turned to face him, but said nothing. The thrall seemed to calm a little, but continued to make whimpering noises.

“On whom would the fault fall? Surely then, the dog has been provoked, and is only then acting in a manner that is natural. Are we so different? Many fights begin because one party feels threatened, can they then be held accountable for the attack? On whom does the blame lie?” he continued, rounding the table to join his brother. Iva raised her head on hearing this, pleased that the man was putting up such an eloquent defence.

“The blame brother, lies with the one to strikes first. Words are bandied around like ale, men like banter it keeps their minds sharp, but only rarely does it descend into violence as we are describing here.” Thorstein responded, clearly warming to the intellectual cut and thrust. Iva felt sickened, it was clear he was doing this for the sheer pleasure of watching his victim writhe. The difference between the brothers could not be more pronounced.

“You ask many questions brother, but answer few questions. Riddle me this; what separates us from the animals?” Thorstein continued, his smile still fixed, but the warmth in it was gone. When Leif did not immediately reply, he answered for himself.

“The difference, lies in that we can separate words and actions. You accuse me of being a liar...” Thorstein began, then seeing Leif was finally about to rally continued, purposefully cutting him off, holding his palms up to his brother.

“...yet here I stand, my hands are empty of weapons, neither have they formed a fist with which to strike you. You come before us to defend this animal, why? Can he not defend himself? Father said we were both to speak our parts, yet instead he struggles against his bonds. Is that the mark of a civilised person, or a beast? ” Thorstein exclaimed, his argument hammering home, his smile had faded, replaced by a look of expectation, smugness even. Leif remained silent, his face stony.

“Your arguments seem to claim that he was provoked to violence, why then did he not call out a warning first? Viking law states, does it not, that the difference between a sanctioned killing and that of murder is that a killing requires both parties to be willing combatants, on an equal footing when neither man’s back is turned. Otherwise, it is murder. Could we not apply the same logic to assault?” Thorstein continued to press his advantage. Turning, he had addressed Rhuntyr directly, as if to get confirmation. The lawspeaker was quiet for a while, considering the implications, and Iva watched the man closely, trying to read some kind of emotion from his flat face.

The room fell silent, waiting for the decision.

After a pause, he gave a nod. Iva felt her chest seize up at the judgement, knowing in her heart that the priest had just issued the brave thrall’s death warrant. The room erupted in shouts, men calling to their neighbours about the outcome, while others yelled for the slave’s head.

Leif, his face still like rock, walked down to the thrall and the voices in the room fell quiet, waiting to see what the heir would do. He crouched down in front of the German, and the slave raised his head to regard his defender. Iva could only imagine the anguish on the poor man’s face, and was touched to see Leif’s own cool exterior shed some of its ice at what he must have seen in the thrall’s eyes.

“Can you understand me?” he asked softly. The big man was still for a moment, then slowly inclined his head.

“I know you have a secret, it may save your life. Can I share it?” Leif continued, his voice still gentle.

Image courtesy of; http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-4122434587

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...

Bringing the Vikings to life!

Location of "Hvalsey" the capital of Viking Greenland

Ok, maybe not quite to life, but I am writing this literally jumping with excitement at the wonders of technology. Now, my friends are well aware that I have been utilising a little trick to write about the wonders of the land in which my Vikings lived, namely in the section on Norway I used Google Street View to jump on the Norwegian roads and actually wander around what I was trying to talk about, getting some really nice descriptions going about the landscape through which they wandered, and the obstacles they had to face. Had I not been able to do this I would have had to splash out several hundred pounds to travel to Bergen and Trondheim proper in order to get a real feel of the land, the Norwegian landscape being so exotic and different to anything I have myself experienced.

Having found this little treasure trove I began to try the same technique on Greenland, but much to my annoyance the people at Google have not yet mapped out the roads there, and as such there is no Street View; the entire map in fact feels decidedly empty (take a look yourself, Greenland is just a white shape on the map). I then began to look up flights to Greenland, planning to do a little research and was shocked at the price (the cheapest was something like £1300). Despairing I began to search all over the place for pictures of the region and found several good ones, but they tended to focus on one thing in particular (most often being Thjodhilde’s little church) and lacked any real details of what the land looked like, and the impact of the background. Now, a good photographer would never just take a picture of a grassy meadow, or of a rocky beach (unless they happen to live in Brighton, in which case those stone seem to be a focal point!), simply because they are boring. To an author however, who lives on the little detail this was a massive setback, as I simply couldn’t envision the settlement of Hvalsey in my mind.

All this changed with a little more exploration, on a whim I decided to pinpoint the exact location of Hvalsey in Greenland, so that I could at least say the size of the fjord on the slopes of which their settlement was built when I had a major breakthrough. Just because Street View didn’t work, did not mean that Google Earth failed entirely, we still have the satellite images. Now I am not one of those people who perused the service at its inception trying to find conspiracy buildings arranged to look like a swastika, nor did I try to find area 51, in fact the only thing I did look at was the massive bomber graveyard in America just because that sounded so cool. I didn’t realise you could zoom, and it would actually zoom in and give you highly detailed shots, I had been expecting just increasingly pixelated shots in which the sea began to look like the mountains which rose of out it.

Eiriksfjord, on the banks of which Erik built his home.

With some searching I found the Inuit (and as such modern Greenlandic) names of the various settlements, eventually discovering that “Qassiarsuk” was the nearest modern settlement to Hvalsey. A little more searching and I found it on Google maps. Great, I had the basic details of the land now, it was a relatively green patch of the normally icy Greenland, with a massive fjord feeding into it through a series of islands. So far so good, this was pretty much what I had expected.

I zoomed in; is that a path? It was. I went in closer, are those ruins? No, they were just sheep. Disappointing, still this was pretty cool so I followed the road, they tend to go somewhere right?

Then, suddenly like a flash I noticed something I recognised from the photo’s I had found earlier, it was a stone wall with what looked to be a grass roof. Could it possibly be? Perhaps.

Then I saw next to it a smaller structure housed within a small wooden fence. I had found it, there was Brattahlid, the home of Erik the Red staring right up at me from the computer screen. Oh the wonders of modern technology!

The circular structure is the wooden fence, at the centre of which is Thjodhilde's church. Right above that is Brattahlid, home of Erik the Red!

 With many, many thanks to the enterprising people at Google!

The end of the beginning

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” is one of my most cherished Churchill quotes, and rings very true of the status of Vinland at the moment. Following my foray into the countryside of Dorset last week, I have been surprisingly industrious in working on my novel.

As you know, I met with the editor, Leila Dewji some time ago now, and have since then been refining the plot of the story to be rather more dramatic and less epic in scale. This process is thankfully nearly done, and I will soon be returning to what I enjoy the most anyway – actually writing the book!

I am sure you are getting rather curious about how I actually go about writing the book, I have given many hints over the months of my blogging here, but have never actually gone over the process. To start with, I have my notebook (a tool most good writers will have on their person at any one time) which is filled to the brim with ideas, people that i’ve met, strange situations. Anything really that crosses my overactive mind every single day. I then go through this notebook and take out anything which could be suitable to the plot, and note them all down in another, bigger notebook. This I entitle “Stuff to happen”. 

Example;

• Discover America
• Game of Hnetafel
• Warrior arrives
• Sit in hall eating meal ignoring enfolding drama
• Merchant thrown overboard
• Find prince
• Find natives

As you can see this is pretty basic, just an overview of things that could happen. The next step are the characters, and very unlike the plot these are remarkably organic, beyond some general traits and noting down major events I do not plan them overly much. Instead I go through the “stuff to happen” and apply those events to the characters, or if something especially good needs to happen, I create a suitable character for it to happen to.

Example;

• Erik the Red
• Central character. The reason Vinland succeeds
• Thorvald
• The voice of the warrior spirit
• Leif
• The voice of intelligence and reason

See, even the character overviews I have posted on this blog are more in depth than the notes I followed initially. Now we have the rough story and the characters, we need to turn this into a plot. Therefore I cut the events up into “sections” and arrange these sections into a chronological order. This is what we are left with;

I

• Bjarni finds America
• Bring out the superstitious element
• Make Bjarni appear a coward to his crew

II

• Leif loses to Erik at Hnetafel (Viking chess)
• It is a very close match. Mock anger from Erik to display his pride in the skills of his son.

IV

• Kai arrives
• Sits in hall eating meal ignoring enfolding drama

VI

• Edvin, Rorik and Anneliese arrive
• Edvin thrown overboard by Rorik

Addendum

• Find prince
• Dropped, terrible idea and horrifically cliche.
• Find natives
• ?

But how does this contribute to the finished script? Find out on Thursday!

Edvin

“Nyet, I am not captain” the man said in a good attempt at Norse. He had a wide Slavic face, but oddly bright blond hair. He cast another look back then fixed his attention back on the burly mayor.

“I am Edvin, merchant from Novgorod, which you may know as Holmgard” he said, hand snaking out.

Background

Edvin was one of the first benefactors of the rewrite. Initially he was a minor character, watching the development of the story from the side lines, but now he is far more important to the plot than before. When Leif decides to find Vinland, as described by Bjarni, he needs to raise money to pay for the voyage, and Erik refuses to foot the full bill himself.

The solution appears in the form of a bedraggled and thoroughly soaked Edvin (On arrival to Greenland he is pushed overboard by one of his more boisterous comrades), he is a merchant from Russia, which at the time was being colonised by the Swedes. Several of the most famous Russian cities today were founded by the Vikings as part of their domination of the Russian river-based trade routes, the biggest of which are Novgorod (known at the time as Holmgard) and Kiev.

These trading towns have a history of bringing much wealth and producing crafty merchants, a heritage I wanted to bring alive in Edvin. By the time that the Vinland tales comes about, the golden age of the Vikings is coming to an end. No-one really knows why the Vikings disappeared from prominence, particularly considering their widespread influence and power at the time, however some historians attribute this to a cataclysmic civil war between the warrior and mercantile classes. The merchants had consolidated all the power which the warriors had fought so hard to build up, and over time the warriors had simply become obsolete, there being no powers to stand up against them. The warriors, refused to slip from existence and returned to doing what they did best – raiding. This time the targets were their own merchants.

I have tried to include this in the story as the personal conflicts between Edvin and the Frisian warrior, Rorik (the man who actually shoved him overboard).

Traits

Edvin is something of a hybrid of two different types of character. Firstly he has the natural cunning of a successful businessman. He has significant wealth and is savvy in which trade routes are profitable, however his choice of profession is not down to his love for money, it is instead his interest in exploration that drew him to it. At the time most merchants did not stay in one place and run a market, but rather they sailed with their goods from port to port, buying and selling whatever commodities that they could find. Some would settle into established trade routes, taking goods from towns where supply was high, to towns with a high demand.

However, there would always be those who simply travelled, stocking up in what they could and taking it to where they believed it would sell, relying as much on intuition as on sound business logic. These endeavours were high risk, but also high reward. For this kind of adventuring spirit, like Edvin, the lure of new and unexplored markets would be irresistible and so he signs a deal with Leif and joins him on this journey in the unknown.

Loves and hates

Edvin is interested in anything that is new and adventurous... even better if there is a potential for profit. Although he doesn’t hate the warrior classes, he dislikes their apparent disregard for anyone who doesn’t fight and raid like they do.

Eureka!

So yesterday I had something of a Eureka moment. Thanks to the changes proposed last week, I have been in deep thought on how to make these take effect, especially in the way I flesh the characters out and add depth to their personality.

When the book was more epic in scope, I spent far more time concerned with the politics between factions, the overview of their ambitions, and basically giving a blow by blow account of the tale, much like a reporter does for news coverage of major events. Now that the story is following more of an adventure template rather than the epic, I am free to devote more to the people who populate the world of Vinland rather than the events, as such it becomes more personalised and dramatic.

As a part of this, I began to create an in-depth overview of each of the characters, noting down little details like scars, personal foibles and habits. Things like Jorvik’s black teeth and Gorran’s exclamations of optimism will become far more widespread, and hopefully will truly give life to the people there. Everyone has these little niggling things, but it is only once you get to know that person well enough that you become noticeable. Now, imagine being stuck on a small boat for several weeks, every single habit would become well known to you.

Along with the built up personalities there becomes more scope for conflict, we now have personality traits that are incompatible with others. Leif, for example, plays a prank on Jorvik which leaves him humiliated. How will Jorvik, and his prickly pride respond to this? Friendships grow over time, and are tested by the many trials and tribulations of being an explorer. Religion and faith come in to play, these are the early years of Christianity coming to the Norse, how will the followers of the old gods react to the imposition of an aggressively missionary church?

The Vikings are also a highly superstitious race, how will certain sightings and activities impact on them? Will it drive them apart through fear, or bind them together through overcoming these problems together. What about power? Wealth? Money? Romance? Ambition? All men and women are driven by these emotions, which can make even the most logical and reasonable act entirely out of character, everyone has their own agenda, each with wide ranging and important consequences.

Now a little background before I get onto the Eureka moment proper. I had expressed concern previously about adding in a massive detour which takes much of the cast to Norway in order to develop Norway as the big, evil antagonist, but the time spent doing this would seriously detract from the rest of the story. It was a weak element but needed to be in, in order to tie together everything else, from the vigour that Erik would show in his determination to colonise Vinland to the schism that will form between the Americas and Europe.

As part of the character overhaul I got thinking about Kai’s actual background as it was completely un-developed other than he was a retired Varangian. Why did he leave Byzantium? What caused him to go there in the first place? Perhaps there is something about his past that we do not know...

This led to him becoming a rather more important character to the story. Just why does the King of Norway show such an interest in Kai? Why does Gostav (the bard) begin to take such an interest in the legends of “Greycloak”?

What role will his supposedly magical weapon “Bloodaxe” have for the future of Vinland?

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.

Leif

(Note he has red hair in the books!)

“You would of course perceive the additional significance of the tree from Saxon lore, the tree representing Wotan.  Just because we are Vikings and follow Christ... or the other Norse gods, does not mean that we won’t look for a little helping hand from other deities.”

Background

Leif is rather different to the other characters, being almost as un-Viking as Gorran, of course Viking society is stereotyped by the big, burly chaps with a very large axe and a grudge against the world, but then who were the brains behind all this brawn?

The Norse were gifted with the ability to be highly adaptable and pragmatic, and it is this element of their psyche which Leif represents. He is a learned man, with a different upbringing to his younger brother Thorvald. Thorvald spent his youth raiding in the best Viking tradition, Leif spent time with other Jarls and Chieftains, and even some kings as part of his training as heir to Erik.

It was in these foreign courts that Leif picked up most of his knowledge and character, and developed his interest in books and reading. Unfortunately for Erik Leif has shown far more interest in the theories of leadership rather than their execution, which has disrupted Erik's plans for his heir. Since the discovery of Vinland however, the adventurer in the blood of Erik’s progeny has awoken, and the book is as much about the maturing of a famous leader as it is about the discovery of a new world.

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.

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. 

Progress Report : 6th May 2011

It has been a slow week, with ups and downs. It turns out that bank holidays really mess up the schedules of those who work from home as well as our office inhabiting brethren. When everyone is out having a good time it gets very difficult to stay in churning away at the laptop.

The fault for this lies not only with external distractions but also technical issues. I would get sections of the story done only to backtrack realising what I had just put on paper was trash. One part in particular has been causing some real headaches; this was a section in which one of the characters enters Erik’s great hall incognito. It turns out that writing about a character while hiding everything about them (their name, physique and gender) is pretty much impossible. My objective is to create something of a “who dunnit” in the story.

Thorvald

“These ships are built to take the wrath of storms, have we Vikings not built a legend on them? See how the planks beneath us flex like the muscles of Thor? They are built of the same stuff, as hard and enduring as he is.” 

Background

Thorvald has gone through a number of renditions during the process of creating him as a character. He is the middle son of Erik, a year younger than Leif. While Leif might not be all that typical a Viking, being happier with his nose buried in books while trying to learn Latin, Thorvald is most at home at the prow of a Viking long-ship heading into the jaws of danger. Early on, while writing him, he was rather unlikable due to being horrifically arrogant, but with subsequent re-writes that arrogance has mellowed into a ready confidence in his own abilities. This was one of the challenges of creating Thorvald, that although he is the younger brother of Leif, he often comes across as older. Hopefully, I have managed to reflect this in the story. Leif starts off quite innocent and naive but events in the book cause him to grow up and accept his role as Erik’s heir.

Thorvald has treated the discovery of Vinland as a great opportunity, not for wealth and prosperity like most of the others, but rather for the potential for glory. Part of the reason for the Viking success was their nose for adventure and Thorvald comes to epitomise this. He is forever on the lookout for opportunities to explore the world and leave his stamp on destiny.

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.

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.