My head is full of stories I'm struggling to get out on paper (or into the computer). English is my second language, but since I use the traditions from all around the Polar circle for my work, much of the world building and character development is done in English. Looking forward to exchanging words with all of you.
Hi gaja, Welcome. I used to have a bellows with the character in your avatar. He was carved into the wood. Is that a Norwegian icon? Bill
When the Norwegian fairy tales (bit of a misnomer there, few pretty fairies in the Norwegian folk tales) were collected, Theodor Kittelsen illustrated them. This is one of his nicer pictures, of an old Troll that is trying to figure out how old it is. He also has some nightmare inducing ones, like this of the Nykk fishing: http://kodebergen.no/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/kittelsen_n%C3%B8kken_2.jpg?itok=WVrem6SP By using shapes that you can easily see in nature, but giving them eyes and sharp teeth, he has made generations of Norwegian children afraid to go swimming in the lakes. That is part of the problem; they have several very different ones, from the Scandinavian ones that are quite similar to English, to Finnish with their love of consonants and complex grammar, to the different Inuit languages where one word can be long enough to cover a couple of pages. And then there is Russia. The biggest problem is of course trying to interview the bears, as they will rather eat you than talk to you. The same problems are true for the people living along the polar circle. (Couldn't open the attachment, BTW).
Hi gaja, and welcome to WF! Nice to see more Nordic folk on the boards. I don't live near the Arctic Circle myself, but I've got enough snow and darkness to worry about here on the south coast of Finland, too, thank you very much. Do you write fantasy where you use Norwegian fairy tales for inspiration similar to how e.g. Andrzej Sapkowski uses Polish/Slavic mythology in his Witcher books? Here's our New Member Quick Start to get you started. See you around! -Kat
Thank you for the welcome and useful link. Compared to the rest of the world, we both live relatively close to the Arctic Circle. I'm a climate refugee in the south during the winter months, but try to travel north as soon as the sun rises above the horizon. I use fairy tales, the Sagas, Edda, and historical sources to build a world where the trolls, fair folk, selkies, werewolves, etc, live side by side with us in the modern world. But I'm also working on retelling the old tales for children and YA books. My main source are the old songs, especially the Faroese kvædi tradition. These stories are less known than the fairy tales we know from the children's books. The movie Troll Hunter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollhunter) is closer to my world than the stories by Sapkowski appear to be. In my grandmother's tales there were plenty of grey zones, no clear cut good and evil or real monsters. She was convinced her great grandmother's aunt had been a selkie (a nice lady, very pretty, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer), that the people living in the stones and hills could be reasoned with as long as you treated them decently, etc. She once said she preferred the modern life, because it was exhausting trying to remember and adhere to all the rules that came with the traditional beliefs.
Sounds very interesting. Specially if you can find a way to bring the long forgotten legends of ol and breath new life into them.
Oh, I so look forward to seeing what you're writing. I LOVE these kinds of stories. My house is full of books containing folktales from various corners of the world, but my favourites are definitely the ones from northern Europe. And of course that also includes Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark AND Siberia and Russia as well.
Welcome, I guess it's cold up there all the time. (Brrrr) Hot coffee and a nice fireplace at night sounds like a good writing environment. Have fun!!