Time to do some research! I love research. I just like getting to know about my subject, finding things I like and put it into my own work. It's interesting, it makes any project feel more genuine and it saves me a ton of time later on. TRUST me.
Luckily for me, I am quite familiar with everything about the history of Traena and the geography, people and culture there, because I grew up there. I know the stories, and even better, I knew the stories when I was at the age of my target audience. Which is definitely going to come in handy. Still, I need to figure out what will be more important for this project specifically. First, I have to make a plan of what I'll plan. Not just go and research anything about Traena, but be specific.
What do we know of the story? We know that the setting is going to be the island Sanna, and that the narrative will be taking place around the 18th or 19th century (This seems to be the time where all of the folk-tales are taking place, pretty much). The story will be aimed towards children in elementary school.
I have to know more about Sanna around the 18th century. What did the houses look like, and the people, what did the people do and talk about? What superstitions were there? What did children do? What was the wildlife like? It will also be worth it to look at the situation in the rest of Norway.
Setting: In children's books, one of the most important things is to make an engaging world, which is both familiar and interestingly different. Sanna is a very small, isolated island, surrounded with thousands of smaller islands and then miles of sea in all directions. The polar circle cuts right through Traena, which means the winters are long, dark and cold, and summer is brief, but sunny both day and night.
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| The midnight sun over Traena, 33 miles off the mainland. |
Culture and people: Northern Norway was very different if we go back 100 years or more. It was quite poor, and the people worked as farmers, fishermen or miners. Communities were small and isolated, making societies intimate and the outside world very alien. The classic scandinavian myths of trolls and goblins are present, but people on the coast are especially concerned with the sea, boats and marine wildlife. This can be a very useful point of interest for this book - bringing forward the lesser known mythology of Norway.
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| From my sketchbook - Houses are buildt from wood on rocky terrain, often sheltered from the north/western wind behind a hill, quite close to the shore. The landscape is quite barren, trees and gardens are pretty much nonexistant. |
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| Mythological beasts are often humanoid with a touch of sealife. Here's a few of drawings of Draugr, earthdwellers and the huldra, based on descriptions in folklore. |
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| Animals was an important part of life on Træna as nearly all work people did was based on keeping animals or hunting and fishing. Marit, who I am working with, has also mentioned that she would like the human characters to be able to talk to animals - which is excellent for a children's story. |
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| Some animals the characters are sure to meet are dogs and cats - there are few norwegian breeds but here I have drawed a Norwegian forest cat and a Norwegian Elk Hound - and a few chickens! |
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| Otters are the largest land mammal in Træna, although there are huge seals and whales at sea. There's an extremely rich birdlife, and the white-tailed eagle (sea-eagle in Norwegian) is symbolic for Traena. It's worth noting that otters and predatory birds were considered pest-animals at the time the narrative will (probably) be taking place. |
Since the client has not yet decided on what we will be doing for the narrative, it's tricky to say exactly what I should research. As I get news I will keep sketching, to make a convincing setting.
sources:
I have contacted a few people in Træna asking for old photos, and have found an archive that is chuck full of useful images. This has been very useful in researching people, clothes and architecture, and I must keep using the page as we sort out the narrative.
For myths and creatures, I found this website(norwegian) to be very helpful, it has a big amount of folklore written down in different versions.
While I am waiting for the script, I shall be looking at style choices. This is a tricky one, as the book needs to appeal to children, but also fit the setting and story style, and look cool, of course!
<---part 2 "numbers and details"
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