Update on The Book of Nordland
Second update from author Stef Penney - The Book of Nordland
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Despite going through lots of personal issues recently (my mother died in October after a long illness) things with the book are starting to progress again.
It has been wonderful to get responses from people who have very kindly offered their names for characters in the book. I will incorporate all of them in some form. Of course, I don’t know anything about the individuals the names belong to, which is as it should be – not all characters can be equally admirable, so… you’ll have to wait and see!
I’ve had a lot more female names than male – so if there are more men out there willing to put their names on the line, please let me know via the web form! Not every character is ‘classically Norwegian’ – the story is contemporary and I want it to reflect modern Norway, with, say, Kurdish, Pakistani, Polish names, and so on. Much of the story revolves around a high school at Russ time. So far, there is a teenage boy of Kurdish Syrian origin, and another character of Pakistani heritage.
One of the notes I want to draw out in the story is how there are refugees who have very recent experiences with war, but there are also older Norwegians who have lived with war trauma of decades, either first hand, or as the children of those who suffered through the evacuation and burning of the north. Svea Øvergaard, Elin’s grandmother, is one of these.
I have decided on some places as the setting. I am very drawn to the village of Sulitjelma, as it is so different from the more famous dramatic coastal landscapes. I’m inspired by its mining history, the Blåmannsisen, and nearby Jacobsbakken – industrial heritage turned tourist resort. It would be interesting to get an idea how residents feel about tourists – it can be a complex relationship. There are characters who live in Sulitjelma, and characters who live in (a town rather like) Fauske. And possibly some in a town like Bodø as well…
In the past – as in the Canadian settings for The Tenderness of Wolves – I’ve lightly fictionalised places when I haven’t been there. At the moment I’m not sure how to handle this, as stories tend to dictate their own geography and distances end up being compressed for the sake of plot – basically, I’m saying that sticking slavishly to reality is not my thing, but I think that’s true for most fiction writers. You take what works and let go of the rest.
I think that’s all for now. The threads of the story are coming together, but I’m not going to give too much away - not yet…
Stef Penney