A Pantser Writes a Book 1. - F for Impulse Control
"Asgeir survived the Serpent's rise. He heard the thundering sound of Gjallarhorn, he saw the moon and starts devoured by wolves of the night, yet somehow he kept on living among the broken remains of what was once the kingdom of Midgard.
Scavenging weapons for those who still wish to fight, Asgeir is almost killed in a chance encounter and the only thing saving him is a perculiar spear etched with runes and harboring some great power - Gungnir, the spear of the Allfather himself. Together with a cursed halfbreed and a malicious witch, the young warrior sets out to use Gungnir's power against the Nameless God and the new rulers of Aesgard, taking revenge for the devastation Ragnarök caused."
Hey there, travelers!
First of all, I should apologize for the thinning number of posts here. I assure you this is not a trend, we'll catch up with ourselves, but there's a couple of things going on right now. First, school started again, so I'm back to uni learning about diseases and horrible things. Second, we sent SotS to a professional editor (Hurray!), and while we have a draft 1.5 of the sequel (I'll keep its name a mystery for now), we have yet to recieve beta feedback on that, so we're kind of in the eye of the storm considering writing.
BUT! What can be better to do in such a stituation than start another WIP? Nothing, that can. Absolutely nothing. The story of this WIP is rather interesting, so I thought I'd make it a series within a series, because it's sooo pantser it's almost a charicature.
"A Pantser Writes a Book" is that exact series. It's about my Wednesdays (my day-off mid week) where I'll write as much as I can stomach about an entirely new WIP and comment on exactly how the ideas came to mind. What I hope is for this to be as chaotic and interesting as possible, so fellow pantsers can relate, while plotters get a glimpse into how our mind works. Ready? Let's go then!
One day (to be precise, the day before yesterday) I was walking home, reading news on my phone and somehow my mind kept throwing Nanowar (of Steel)'s Valhalleluja at me like a really persistent youtube ad. If you haven't heard it, here's a link, just so you know the context. The crutch lines were "Hear our prayer philantropic Odin / Viking-friendly, slayer of the giants." That set me onto a really norse-mythology centered train of thought that after a few steps formed into a story idea.
What if a mortal uses Odin's spear, Gungnir to slay giants? That was the core idea, to which a lot of questions instantly arose.
First, why would Odin let go of his spear? Well, how about if he's not alive because Ragnarök happened? What if it's a nordic inspired post-apocalyptic world where the land is slowly sinking under the sea like it's said in the Edda, everything is filled with the remains of battle between the gods, the warriors of Valhalla and the jötnar invaders?
Let's say our MC is a young norse warrior who tries to make a living during the apocalypse scavenging usable weapons and selling them for food in the few shelters where humanity holed up. And by sheer chance, he happens upon the place where Fenrir devoured Odin, and finds his spear.
That sounded so good I already had the first scene in my head, so when I arrived home, I sat down and started writing. I wrote around 900 words in an hour, then another 600 or so today, ending up with 1,5k for an intro sequence. More than that, my impulse control lacked so badly I ended up creating a spaceholder cover for it, and I even put it up to Wattpad.
If you're interested in the end result, here's a link to it: https://www.wattpad.com/story/241168064-after-the-gods
Before you cry "crucify him", this is not a promo for my Wattpad account (that would be really shitty). This is just commentary about the process and I find it much more practical to show you the end result this way (also, I feel way more safe with Wattpad's copyright stuff so I can freely throw this at you without having to go the extra mile).
So, don't hesitate to tell me what you think about the story, about this whole idea, about my writing style, whatever comes to your mind. I'll try to keep the series semi-spoilery, so I'll only comment things you can read in that week's segment. Go read it if you'd like, then come back and read my overly energetic chipmunk styled notes.
See you next week, travelers!
Cheers,
Dar
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