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NaNoWriMo Project: Ulfur Saga
5 years ago
General
My carrd: https://zarpaulus.carrd.co/
So, as some of you may know, in 2013 I came within 3,000 words of completing National Novel Writing Month's standard goal of 50,000 words in one month, which led to my premiere novel "The Pride of Parahumans". However since then I've been preoccupied to varying degrees every November and have been unable to even come close to hitting 50K.
This year I had an idea and thought I'd run with something a bit different. You see, I've had some success with the "snowflake method" where instead of outlining you write iteratively longer and longer summaries of your story until the final product is a full story, and I've been reading a few Icelandic Sagas lately and wanted to do fantasy for a while...
So this year I'm writing a furry story formatted like an Icelandic Family Saga with canines as the "human" characters. Those stories are more sparse on detail, like fairy tales, as they were passed down orally rather than written down for a long time. After it's done I might publish it as is or rework it into a novel with more detail.
It's not intended to be historical fiction with a furry slant, but there are similarities to certain historical figures and factions. Notably the villain is a white-furred wolf who declares himself king of the northern countries after serving in the foreign bodyguard corps of an empire to the south (a conflation of Harald Fairhair and Harald Sigurdsson), and the protagonists are a family who fled to a volcanic ice-covered island after resisting him.
**Excerpt Below**
There was a wolf, his name was Gisli, when he was a youth of seventeen he voyaged south to fight in the North Guard of the Constantin Empire. He fought there for five years, slaying the enemies of the Emperor and taking their treasure for his own. One day his cohort came upon a village suspected of aiding the rebellion, but when the Northern wolves arrived in town they were greeted with open arms and offered plentiful wine and meat. While feasting Gisli caught the eye of a shepherd’s daughter, by the name of Theodora, and they spent a passionate evening together. In the middle of the night Gisli was awoken by Theodora, who confessed that the villagers planned to slaughter the Northern wolves in their sleep. But, she had no intent to carry out the cowardly act. Snarling Gisli took up his axe and cut down a dozen cowards as he and his surviving companions escaped. They reached the other units of the North Guard and informed them of the trap, and so the rebel village was burned to the ground.
When they returned to the capital city Gisli withdrew his treasure and announced his intent to return to the North. Theodora followed him, for she was no longer welcome among her people. Gisli bought a longship and a farm with his gold, and he and Theodora wed as soon as the house was erected. Soon after their son Thorarin was born, as they were becoming established they had a daughter, Ingibja. When his pups were weaned Gisli decided to go a-viking, he gathered a cohort and pillaged a farming village, then traded the wheat he plundered for iron and brought it back home. The profits from these voyages enabled him to expand his lands and eventually be named a minor jarl, with many karls and thralls working his lands. Among this success Gisli and Theodora had their third pup, named Ref for his ruddy fur. As he grew older Gisli went on fewer and fewer voyages himself, focusing on managing his farm and training his pups.
Haladr was a wolf, his fur was pale as new-fallen snow, and thus he was called Snowfur. He joined the North Guard with Gisli but remained in the Empire for twenty years. As he spent time in the Constantin Court Haladr became accustomed to the riches, wine, and women available to the patricians of the Empire. He only left when his Emperor died to the poisons of his fourth wife. Then Haladr spoke to the North Guard, for he had been named captain by the late Emperor, and told them thus: “Our employment may be at an end, but why should we return to a life of farming and sowing when we come home? We have arms, treasure, and wolves, why not use them to build our own empire and all live like jarls?” And the Guard agreed with him, for it had been a long time since they had been North and they remembered hard lives herding cattle in the cold.
**Excerpt end**
See what I mean by "saga-format"?
This year I had an idea and thought I'd run with something a bit different. You see, I've had some success with the "snowflake method" where instead of outlining you write iteratively longer and longer summaries of your story until the final product is a full story, and I've been reading a few Icelandic Sagas lately and wanted to do fantasy for a while...
So this year I'm writing a furry story formatted like an Icelandic Family Saga with canines as the "human" characters. Those stories are more sparse on detail, like fairy tales, as they were passed down orally rather than written down for a long time. After it's done I might publish it as is or rework it into a novel with more detail.
It's not intended to be historical fiction with a furry slant, but there are similarities to certain historical figures and factions. Notably the villain is a white-furred wolf who declares himself king of the northern countries after serving in the foreign bodyguard corps of an empire to the south (a conflation of Harald Fairhair and Harald Sigurdsson), and the protagonists are a family who fled to a volcanic ice-covered island after resisting him.
**Excerpt Below**
There was a wolf, his name was Gisli, when he was a youth of seventeen he voyaged south to fight in the North Guard of the Constantin Empire. He fought there for five years, slaying the enemies of the Emperor and taking their treasure for his own. One day his cohort came upon a village suspected of aiding the rebellion, but when the Northern wolves arrived in town they were greeted with open arms and offered plentiful wine and meat. While feasting Gisli caught the eye of a shepherd’s daughter, by the name of Theodora, and they spent a passionate evening together. In the middle of the night Gisli was awoken by Theodora, who confessed that the villagers planned to slaughter the Northern wolves in their sleep. But, she had no intent to carry out the cowardly act. Snarling Gisli took up his axe and cut down a dozen cowards as he and his surviving companions escaped. They reached the other units of the North Guard and informed them of the trap, and so the rebel village was burned to the ground.
When they returned to the capital city Gisli withdrew his treasure and announced his intent to return to the North. Theodora followed him, for she was no longer welcome among her people. Gisli bought a longship and a farm with his gold, and he and Theodora wed as soon as the house was erected. Soon after their son Thorarin was born, as they were becoming established they had a daughter, Ingibja. When his pups were weaned Gisli decided to go a-viking, he gathered a cohort and pillaged a farming village, then traded the wheat he plundered for iron and brought it back home. The profits from these voyages enabled him to expand his lands and eventually be named a minor jarl, with many karls and thralls working his lands. Among this success Gisli and Theodora had their third pup, named Ref for his ruddy fur. As he grew older Gisli went on fewer and fewer voyages himself, focusing on managing his farm and training his pups.
Haladr was a wolf, his fur was pale as new-fallen snow, and thus he was called Snowfur. He joined the North Guard with Gisli but remained in the Empire for twenty years. As he spent time in the Constantin Court Haladr became accustomed to the riches, wine, and women available to the patricians of the Empire. He only left when his Emperor died to the poisons of his fourth wife. Then Haladr spoke to the North Guard, for he had been named captain by the late Emperor, and told them thus: “Our employment may be at an end, but why should we return to a life of farming and sowing when we come home? We have arms, treasure, and wolves, why not use them to build our own empire and all live like jarls?” And the Guard agreed with him, for it had been a long time since they had been North and they remembered hard lives herding cattle in the cold.
**Excerpt end**
See what I mean by "saga-format"?
