Scandinavian folklore. Scandinavian folklore is the folklore of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, and the Faroe Islands. Collecting folklore began when Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden sent out instructions to all of the priests in all of the parishes to collect the folklore of their area in the 1630s. They collected customs, beliefs that were not sanctioned by the church, and other traditional material.
In Scandinavia, the term 'folklore' is not often used in academic circles; instead terms such as Folketro (folk belief; older Almuetro) or Folkesagn (folktales) have been coined. In common speech, it is simply referred to as den Gamle Tro (the old belief), or perhaps sæd skik og brug (customs, the way). It evolved from Norse paganism, and it is in technical terms labelled low-mythology, while the norse mythology is called high-mythology. High-mythology builds on low-mythology in its parts.
Gods and goddesses[edit] Beings of Scandinavian folklore[edit] Trolls[edit] Female creatures[edit] Huldra[edit] others[edit] Anatomy of Conflict. Okay, last week I promised that we would resume talking about antagonists today. Well, I lied. My blog, my rules :P. Actually, I want to teach you guys more about scene antagonists and how they ratchet up the tension and drive the story’s momentum. The thing is, however, a lot of new writers don’t understand the core of structure. Today we are going to have a quick overview of structure.
Why? Structure is one of those boring topics like finance or taxes. Story that connects to reader = lots of books sold Story that deviates so far from structure that readers get confused or bored = slush pile As an editor, I can tell in five minutes if an author understands narrative structure. Oh and I can hear the moaning and great gnashing of teeth. Learning narrative structure ranks right up there with…memorizing the Periodic Table. Location, location, location. See, the elements were a lot like the groups at high school. Novel structure can be very similar. Ah, but understand the basics? Like this: Using Flashback in Fiction. Using Flashback in Fiction Purpose Most of the time, I advise beginning writers to avoid using flashback in their fiction because they tend to rely on backstory too heavily early on. It is better to choose a point of entry into a story and write forward from there.
Handled improperly, backstory stalls the forward-moving narrative altogether, and yet skilful use of this tool adds historical and emotional context and controls pacing. What is a Flashback? Each story has a time frame—the amount of time the author has decided to cover in a particular narrative—and anything that happens before this time frame begins is called backstory. Backstory must be shown, however, not told. Flashback Examples Any time you interrupt the forward moving story, you risk losing reader interest, so dramatizing the interruption decreases that risk. He had spent the entire month of July in hospital, at his mother's bedside. Purpose is key. Techniques General Guidelines CLICK HERE to comment on the Flashback page. What “Finding Nemo” Can Teach Us About Story Action. Storytelling is in our blood, it binds us together as humans. On some intuitive level, everyone understands narrative structure, even little kids. All good stories have a clear beginning, middle and end.
Ever try to skip parts of a story with a toddler? Even they can sense on a gut level that something is wrong if we miss a fundamental part of the story. Thus, often when I am teaching new writers how to understand narrative structure, I use children’s movies. Frequently the narrative structure is far clearer, as well as the Jungian archetypes that are present in all great fiction.
Additionally, all fiction can be boiled down to cause, effect, cause, effect, cause, effect. So how do we know when to cut a scene? Gears cannot turn unless there is another key wheel turning the opposite direction. All scenes have action. Find Nemo. I love studying children’s movies because they make it very easy to see and understand fundamental story structure.
Great. Marlin wants to look for his son. Character Sketches - Writing a Romance Novel. A character sketch is the internal and external makeup of a character. While your main characters' sketches will obviously be more in-depth than those of secondary characters, it is wise to have character sketches for all your characters. That way, if you forget what color your heroine's mother's eyes are, you can simply pull up the character sketch, rather than skim through all the back chapters. Most character sketches include an extensive list of questions for you to answer before you begin to breathe life into your characters. Below are some of the more common things you'll find covered in character sketches: Place of birth/Where they grew upParents/Other close family membersChildhood traumasEducation/ProfessionHobbies/PassionsBad habits/AttributesFearsReligion/Moral compassMental/Physical characteristicsPast relationshipsCurrent lifestyleGoals/Desires/DreamsThings they would like to change about themselves and their lifestyleBiggest regret/Biggest embarrassment/Biggest secret.