CASUAL READ
Novel Update #1:
Two novels, countless stories, one uninspired author. Let’s do this.
FOREWORD
This was originally a message sent out to some close friends and family, regarding a few save files containing my current work-in-progress novels.
I’ve read countless tidbits telling me that working on multiple pieces at once is unproductive, but I’ve also heard countless tidbits telling me that abortion is a sin and blah blah blah. Mitch McConnell is run by the mole people and I can’t be convinced otherwise.
Everyone is different and has their own way of doing things. Let bygones be bygones. You do you, homie. I certainly will do me. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Anyways, here’s the email I sent them, verbatim.
Hey guys, no need to open these files. I’m sending them so that I’ll have a backup of my uncompleted projects in case my hard-drive gets damaged somehow (God forbid).
Both run on the program Scrivener, which was created by and for writers. If you are dedicated, then you could download the program and check out the files. Otherwise, as I said before, don’t worry about it. This is just for my sake.
Both titles are very likely to change, and are really only there as placeholders. I wrote a brief synopsis of each story in case you are interested (and also for myself).
One is titled ‘Hansford County’, a fictional story of racism and revenge set in the rural areas of Northern Texas and Southern Colorado. This has reached 10k words, and is my first creative piece. I’m about 20% of the way through (why didn’t anyone tell me writing a book would be so hard??). Taking place in a fictionalized version of a real place, two men and one woman (all in their mid-twenties) suffer through the reverberating effects of a lynching that occurred nearly twenty years prior. A brutal raid on several klansmen led by the town’s Sheriff and his three deputies pushes the Klan to forcibly take power over the community through religious rule.
The other is ‘Eadric’s Prophecy’, my newest creative piece. This piece is by far my most ambitious creative attempt. I am trying to make it as historically accurate as possible, save for some mysticism (as there was LOTS of that stuff in Vikingr society & lore). I’m consuming every bit of NatGeo and History Channel information on Viking society that I can find. Every little niche bit of information helps (especially on things such as romance and hierarchy — I find it fascinating that women were more-or-less equal to men, and were even encouraged and even expected to divorce their husbands if they were being mistreated).
Anyways, Eadric’s Prophecy is still in its infancy. I have yet to write the first chapter. There’s so much I still have yet to learn about their society that I’m finding myself spending hours at a time researching the Vikings. I know that there are three basic ‘levels’ to the Viking hierarchy: the jarl, the karl, and the thrall. The jarl were the dudes (and dudettes) in charge, the karl were the workers (who, by-the-way, received a huge amount of respect in Viking society — similar to that of Soviet society), and the thrall, who were essentially war-slaves and were viewed similar to how we view ISIS. You really didn’t want to be a thrall.
There’s also the King (singular, of course), but that was just one dude presiding over everyone else. It’s hard to have a class of one person. And yet, everyone wants this position.
This novel will involve political negotiations, classical Viking traditions, Viking love and romance, holiday events, and of course, true Vikingr battles.
I’m quickly learning that one of the best parts of being a writer is all of the reading and learning that is involved. I now have an excuse to spend an entire day ‘productively’ consuming all-things Viking!
Anyways, I just wanted to keep you guys updated. I hope all is well. Cheers!
