Bottlenose Dolphins Photgraphed By (click Pic) vitaly Sokol, Francois Gohier, Gerald Lacz and Craig

Interacting with Medieval Iceland

Just made a new Instagram account for the Hall (@Fjorn_the_Skald over there). I know it’s not the best digital map of Iceland around, but here’s the first post, which promotes my interactive map of medieval Iceland for a general audience.

It needs a lot of work, so if anyone has suggestions for improvements, please do let me know! I haven’t had much time to work on it, with the chaos of my Master’s program and all, but I hope to improve it soon!

And the sea rushes in to take away your grief. The salt burns but it is clean, and you ache but you are whole, and the dawn– it glistens on the horizon. You stumble to the shore, and the ocean kisses your heels. You will carry your pain with you, but you can still hear the waves in your ears. 

(via The Last Point of View Cheat Sheet You’ll Ever Need - DIY MFA : DIY MFA)

Step 1: Where Do They Come From?

Find a general biome that fits what you envision for this culture. If appropriate, make up your own. You want to focus on how plentiful the water is and where it is, what food sources there are, and what natural resources (wood, iron, reeds, etc.) are available. You’ll also want to look into natural structures like caves or cliffs, and common weather phenomenon like hurricanes or droughts.

If you’re writing a premodern culture with few outside influences, you could stop here, since location pretty much gives you everything you could want. The local vegetation and weather patterns will dictate how they build houses. The natural phenomenon will be explained by religion. The availability of water and food/arable soil/animals that could be domesticated will determine if they are nomadic or not. Their natural resources will determine how quickly technology progresses.

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It’s really great to have someone’s support before you accomplish something big because that’s when you need it the most, so here’s some friendly ghost support for the times before people recognize your greatness!

Yeah, that sums it up nicely.

The two keys to recovery.

twenty years across the sea

“Aw shit, I am a woman, friendless, hopeless!”

Henry VIII,  Act 3, Scene 1  

Shakespeare, but every instance of “alas” has been replaced with “aw shit”

 “Aw shit, poor Yorick!”

-Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 1

“Aw shit, that love, so gentle in his view,

Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!“

-Romeo & Juliet, Act 1 Scene 1

“O, no! Aw shit, I rather hate myself

For hateful deeds committed by myself.”

-Richard III, Act 5 Scene 3

“Aw shit, poor country, almost afraid to know itself! It cannot be called our mother, but our grave.”

Macbeth, Act 4 Scene 3

by Sharon Crosby

It often seems that there are not enough online resources for writers. There are a lot of good books on the subject, but they cost a lot of money because the writing community is a relatively small niche. Here are 7 resources you can use whether you are a...