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This weekend there’s been a wonderful discussion about why so many Norwegians read English books, which undermines our own book industry here at home. Catalyst by @forfatterforeningen and author syntetisk ape (which Instagram account you should definitely follow if you’re writing or interested in a lively discussiona and thoughts about the working as an author. There have been many good insights in this discussion, and the catalyst was needed! Like me, many of the commenters on the original post at Forfatter read alot. We consume books. English and Norwegian. In a plethora of genres. Smut and satire. Reading for entertainment. Graphic novels, comics and illustrated books. (en til) And since my two years of writing studies was a Certificate and Diploma course from Cambridge, England, in Fiction and Fantasy writing, I guess I’m slightly () I gew up reading Tor Aage Bringsverd’s books in the fantasy genre (fabelprosa in Norwegian), and then graduated to Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman as a teenager, you could argue that() Siri Petterson and Tone Almhjel. veveboken. Sandy Toksvig. I love that this discussion came out humorous, witty and fairly well behaved, with so mange good arguments.

Let’s for the sake of the argument say that I’m a fantasy reader. (read here; Terry Pratchett on repeat for 20 years.)

The main thing for me when I keep adding English books to my tbr pile, both YA, smut, children’s books and it’s not because I don’t want to read in Norwegian. It’s because (chicken and egg question) Norwegian authors aren’t writing enough fantasy, OR, that Norwegian publishers aren’t taking on fantasy writers and publishing them, OR that for translations I prefer to read the authors own voice. Good Omens just didnt work in Norwegian. OR, that we just aren’t enough people here to produce enough writers that produce enough books in the rapid devouring that is subculture. And that I can read the same as my classmates and British friends and discuss books with them. So many reasons, but I also want more Norwegian fantasy, written about Norwegian culture or setting, so that we don’t end up with depictions that we who live here don’t recognise. Something unrecognisable about my culture and where I live. Who regularly builds snow caves on the west coast anyway. Build a snow cave of sleet.

One of the commenters (navn) said there just wasn’t enough books for her to read in Norwegian with her pace. Since I’ve been quietly typing away witch exactly this in mind I think it’s time I contribute. I wanted to wait until I had (hopefully had) an editor and a publishing house, but here is the first chapter of RUNA that I’ve been working on since 2019. Mistakes and all.

The chapter is by no means finished. But the first draft for RUNA is. Because of the discussion at Forfatter I was inspired to share what I’m working on, and hope to inspire more authors in Norway to send in their manuscripts this year, looks like the door is a tiny bit ajar to accept reading for entertainment. To accepting that fantasy readers are as diverse as the genre.

It’s scary to publish a first draft, since I’m hoping to work on this with an editor, but I also usually publish my sketches and I find inspiration in reading or watching the process with others, so I figured I’ll post some work in progress writing. And down the line also other texts that doesn’t necessarily needs to be published. So if you’re ready to attack on liberal use of POV (there is a reason for it) and other structural points, this is where I’m at. It’s just that, a draft:)

Illustration is storytelling, and

Many of you know I’ve been writing with this goal in mind since 2019, after staying writing reatreat wit sarah burton phil which gave me confidence after i showed them the outline of the story. It has changed since then, but the scary imagery is kept.

(Bilde: redigering av tekst)

(Bilde: foto av tekst garamond font)

(Bilde: opprevede ark skriblet på)

The idea of the suffering artist. I’m not sure I work like that. It’s when I’m in flow I cerate my best stuff. When I’m able to sit down for longer periods, be comfortable and in silence. When I can ensconce myself for hours in a project and not be disturbed. Which is a luxury.

This is the first draft from translating from English to Norwegian, so the text might come across as archaic some places when my brain was still tuned into fused to English sentence structure.

I had my first published story through the anthology “Fantasiboka” on Skald Publishing, which I also illustrated.

If you are unpatient and want to read right away, scroll to the end of this post.

It can be read underneath as a pasted story, or you can download it as a pdf here