Christopher Lucas

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Story Statement.

In the late Viking age, Norse settler Erik Fenris and his son Einar must overcome trials of love, loss, war and their Viking destiny, to locate and reunite three hidden shards of an ancient, magical talisman, to break the curse of a power-hungry witch, and free their enslaved kinsmen from her burgeoning wolf-skin warrior army.

 

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: in 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. 

Skara, the Volva (witch):

Skara is the physical counterpart, “dark sister” to the elemental, spiritual manifestation of the Forest Spirit Skovsraet. Together they are like heaven and earth or good and evil. Skovsraet represents calm, order, light and positivity, while Skara seeks to create chaos from order and embodies the sins of lust, pride, and greed. If Skovsraet’s power creates life and makes the forests grow, Skara’s strength is destruction. Skara has used her magic to interfere with the Skovsraet’s (spiritual world) treaty that had temporarily restored peace between the three realms of man, wolf and nature. She has convinced the wolf tribe that she will steal the world back from Man in the name of their tribe, so that they may regain their lands lost to the ever-encroaching human settlements and be safe from being hunted and killed. Skara convinces the wolves to entertain her dark magic, she takes their skins to transform her enslaved army into Ulfhednr (wild, violent assassin/warrior) clad in their wolf-skins. Skara instigates and indulges the dark spirits and in exchange for their powers, for her desires she eventually agrees to raise an army of monstrous, barbaric varulven (werewolves), and is now searching for the lost strands in order to make herself invincible and unstoppable. However, she must get to them first, but she is not the only one looking for them.

 

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Create a breakout title.

1.    Nordskov

2.    The Legend of Nordskov: A Viking Tale

3.    Wolflore: The Legend of Nordskov

4.    Wolven

 

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: Develop two smart comparables for your novel.

Comps (from Amazon 4/27/2021):

Bernard Cornwell - War of the Wolf: A Novel (Saxon Tales)

James L. Nelson - Night Wolf: A Novel of Viking Age Ireland (The Norsemen Saga)

Duncan M Hamilton - The Wolf of the North (Book 1, Volume 1)

A. E. Rayne - Eye of the Wolf: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Lords of Alekka Book 1)

Comp Categories: Historical Norse Fiction, Norse and Viking Myth & Legend, Action & Adventure Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

 

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: write your own hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound.

A Viking Age family is torn apart by a witch’s curse, they must overcome individual trials and the witch’s ambitions for power to find one another again and free their kinsmen from her wolf-skin warrior army.

A Viking Age family must overcome personal tragedy and embark upon an epic quest to stop an evil witch from her campaign for domination, defeat her werewolf army and free their enslaved, cursed kinfolk to restore peace.

 

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out the conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have. Next, likewise sketch a hypothetical scenario for the "secondary conflict" involving the social environment.

a. Erik: The overwhelming nature of being part of a Viking settlement, having to prove your survival skills, your strength, manliness, and that you deserve to be there by the value of your contributions

He feels inadequate to marry the Jarl’s daughter and must obtain more stature and wealth to be considered worthy

He has to overcome his friends/neighbor’s doubt in him when bad things start happening, that he isn’t the one causing them himself

He eventually gives in and also blames himself for the tragedies that have befallen his family, and begins to exhibit schizophrenic behavior, no longer determine what is real and what isn’t. (This is when the “protagonist” title shifts to his son Einar who picks up the quest.)

b. Einar: Guilt that his twin brother’s disappearance/death is his fault, that it should have been him instead Not knowing whether your father is responsible for the tragedies befalling your family as people say

Not knowing who to trust, or knowing that you cannot trust anyone, that you are all alone Feeling like he doesn’t have all the facts, that there is more to the story than he knows

Trusting that his inexperienced survival skills will be enough to undertake a solitary journey through the endless, treacherous woods

Doubt in himself and his abilities—fear of the witch’s skill with seidr and her army of ‘werewolf’ warriors, how can one boy stand up to a witch and her mighty fighters? Not knowing what will become of him after the war is over?

 

SEVENTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out your setting in detail. 

The story takes place towards the end of the Viking age, deep in the mystical, reverent, snow-covered forests of northern Norway, with its Norwegian-blue sky being pierced daily by sharp, striking mountains running with glacial rivulets and its frothy seas interrupted by drifting polar ice and the occasional Viking ship. The lands here are still ruled over by ancient, powerful forces of nature and the divine that interact daily with the inhabitants of these lands they sowed. But even here, inside the arctic ring, between the ancient pines at the very edge of the north woods, the frozen tundra is swarming with soldiers engaged in battle over reign and religion, but a far older war—still raging—exists here too. The wolves of Norway are disappearing, and a new age has begun. The tribe of wolf ignores the Forest Spirit’s benevolent treaty of peace between the realms of man, beast and tree, and forges an unholy alliance with the volva (witch) Skara to bring about an end to the encroachment of humanity on their lands.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Story Statement.

In the late Viking age, Norse settler Erik Fenris and his son Einar must overcome trials of love, loss, war and their Viking destiny, to locate and reunite three hidden shards of an ancient, magical talisman, to break the curse of a power-hungry witch, and free their enslaved kinsmen from her burgeoning wolf-skin warrior army.

 

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: in 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. 

Skara, the Volva (witch):

Skara is the physical counterpart, “dark sister” to the elemental, spiritual manifestation of the Forest Spirit Skovsraet. Together they are like heaven and earth or good and evil. Skovsraet represents calm, order, light and positivity, while Skara seeks to create chaos from order and embodies the sins of lust, pride, and greed. If Skovsraet’s power creates life and makes the forests grow, Skara’s strength is destruction. Skara has used her magic to interfere with the Skovsraet’s (spiritual world) treaty that had temporarily restored peace between the three realms of man, wolf and nature. She has convinced the wolf tribe that she will steal the world back from Man in the name of their tribe, so that they may regain their lands lost to the ever-encroaching human settlements and be safe from being hunted and killed. Skara convinces the wolves to entertain her dark magic, she takes their skins to transform her enslaved army into Ulfhednr (wild, violent assassin/warrior) clad in their wolf-skins. Skara instigates and indulges the dark spirits and in exchange for their powers, for her desires she eventually agrees to raise an army of monstrous, barbaric varulven (werewolves), and is now searching for the lost strands in order to make herself invincible and unstoppable. However, she must get to them first, but she is not the only one looking for them.

 

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Create a breakout title.

1.    Nordskov

2.    The Legend of Nordskov: A Viking Tale

3.    Wolflore: The Legend of Nordskov

4.    Wolven

 

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: Develop two smart comparables for your novel.

Comps (from Amazon 4/27/2021):

Bernard Cornwell - War of the Wolf: A Novel (Saxon Tales)

James L. Nelson - Night Wolf: A Novel of Viking Age Ireland (The Norsemen Saga)

Duncan M Hamilton - The Wolf of the North (Book 1, Volume 1)

A. E. Rayne - Eye of the Wolf: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Lords of Alekka Book 1)

Comp Categories: Historical Norse Fiction, Norse and Viking Myth & Legend, Action & Adventure Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

 

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: write your own hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound.

A Viking Age family is torn apart by a witch’s curse, they must overcome individual trials and the witch’s ambitions for power to find one another again and free their kinsmen from her wolf-skin warrior army.

A Viking Age family must overcome personal tragedy and embark upon an epic quest to stop an evil witch from her campaign for domination, defeat her werewolf army and free their enslaved, cursed kinfolk to restore peace.

 

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out the conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have. Next, likewise sketch a hypothetical scenario for the "secondary conflict" involving the social environment.

a. Erik: The overwhelming nature of being part of a Viking settlement, having to prove your survival skills, your strength, manliness, and that you deserve to be there by the value of your contributions

He feels inadequate to marry the Jarl’s daughter and must obtain more stature and wealth to be considered worthy

He has to overcome his friends/neighbor’s doubt in him when bad things start happening, that he isn’t the one causing them himself

He eventually gives in and also blames himself for the tragedies that have befallen his family, and begins to exhibit schizophrenic behavior, no longer determine what is real and what isn’t. (This is when the “protagonist” title shifts to his son Einar who picks up the quest.)

b. Einar: Guilt that his twin brother’s disappearance/death is his fault, that it should have been him instead Not knowing whether your father is responsible for the tragedies befalling your family as people say

Not knowing who to trust, or knowing that you cannot trust anyone, that you are all alone Feeling like he doesn’t have all the facts, that there is more to the story than he knows

Trusting that his inexperienced survival skills will be enough to undertake a solitary journey through the endless, treacherous woods

Doubt in himself and his abilities—fear of the witch’s skill with seidr and her army of ‘werewolf’ warriors, how can one boy stand up to a witch and her mighty fighters? Not knowing what will become of him after the war is over?

 

SEVENTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out your setting in detail. 

The story takes place towards the end of the Viking age, deep in the mystical, reverent, snow-covered forests of northern Norway, with its Norwegian-blue sky being pierced daily by sharp, striking mountains running with glacial rivulets and its frothy seas interrupted by drifting polar ice and the occasional Viking ship. The lands here are still ruled over by ancient, powerful forces of nature and the divine that interact daily with the inhabitants of these lands they sowed. But even here, inside the arctic ring, between the ancient pines at the very edge of the north woods, the frozen tundra is swarming with soldiers engaged in battle over reign and religion, but a far older war—still raging—exists here too. The wolves of Norway are disappearing, and a new age has begun. The tribe of wolf ignores the Forest Spirit’s benevolent treaty of peace between the realms of man, beast and tree, and forges an unholy alliance with the volva (witch) Skara to bring about an end to the encroachment of humanity on their lands.