Today I’m at Odd shots talking about research.
Funny – recently I received an email that very seriously explained to me that our myths, as portrayed in the books, deviate from canon. The author was very concerned that we didn’t get things quite right.
The books are works of fiction, hee. We use myths as a base, but if we didn’t deviate and twisted the base, the readers would be bored pretty fast.
Disclaimer: I know you guys would like to help. Thank you so much! But I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the references yesterday and chances are, anything that you can Google up, I’ve probably seen several times from several sources. 
As a passionate fan of Katharine Briggs, the Kalevala and the Eddas, I can say I truly love what you have done with your characters and their history. So many mythologies are just a new twist on the same concepts. Your takeaway is just as valid as any other author’s. And loads of fun to read, too.
It’s fun hearing about your creative process! Don’t know if this helps, but the website I linked to has this to say about the Norse god Odin:
There is another bird associated with Odin, the eagle. The god often transformed himself into this canny raptor, both to view the workings of the world and to intervene when an avian form was better suited to his ends.
I spent three hours yesterday scouring every website and reference book on Norse mythology. If you found it on a cursory Google search, I’ve seen it.
LOL, I figured as much but quickly responded before I had my morning coffee. Can’t wait to see what you come up with. So sad Kate 5 doesn’t hit the shelves until next year!
Thank you anyway! I appreciate the help
I recently had a discussion with someone who hated Twighlight and all recent vampire fiction because they were not true to vampire canon.
I smiled and nodded and squashed my inner evil, who wanted to come out and have all sorts of fun with the poor guy.
Another friend, more tongue-in-cheek, confided that he hates most modern zombie flicks because they innacurately portray zombie movement. Apparently any director who portrays zombies moving at anything faster than a shamble is a horrific poser who should burn under the heat of a thousand suns. Or something like that.
People get very passionate about their mythology.
I respect Stephanie Meyers, but I am not behind the sparkly vampires.
Just no.
I have to say, I only flipped through the first book (not bad — I have read worse YA novels!) and have not watched the movies so I have no idea what the sparly reference means. But everyone has been mentioning it so much I have become insatiably curious. Now I am going to have to rent the movies dammit!
Gah, I think if I were an author, I would have to be the hermit, lock myself away from the world, type because “corrective” emails would drive me insane.
How do you explain fiction and imagination and story-telling to a person who has gotten to the stage in life where they have the capacity and (over)confidence to write an email like this to an author yet still do not understand these concepts? Come to think about it, what the hell do they make of piloting vampires???
This makes me mad
However, all that being said, if it were sent ‘tongue in cheek’ by a friend it would be pretty funny
It’s not that bad. I’m flattered people take time to write at all.
I know people mean well, or maybe “hope” is the better word, but do you find it a bit strange that they find it necessary to correct you on a world for which you created the rules?
By the way, did you ever find your bird thing?
Sometimes people become very involved with the world. It’s kind of awesome.
Have you ever researched a subject, thing, creature, etc., especially the slightly to more unusual on the internet only to find quite a few of the sites “borrowing off” each other, verbatim or almost so?
Happens a lot at this point, doesn’t it?!! All that can be said is to deeper into the net or look at some books or other research.
Funny. This phenomenon is true with many fairy tales, too. People get really wrapped up in the accurate interpretation of the “orginal” fairy tale, yet they were oral stories that spread through many countries with different traditions, over hundreds of years. We have no freaking idea what the original was…or it’s intent, if anything other than entertainment.
That’s not to say I don’t like hearing interpretations of them. I read a feminist interpretation of a version of Cinderella as the tale is told in Eastern Europe (I think). Brutal but interesting. The stepsisters wanted to get married to the prince bad enough they cut off their toes to fit in the shoe.
I love you guy’s take on things….even if your vamps can go out with slathered on sunscreen…and everyone KNOWS that can’t be!
“The stepsisters wanted to get married to the prince bad enough they cut off their toes to fit in the shoe. ”
That’s what the German (European?) version of Aschenputtel (=Cinderella) is like.
That`s what the birds (doves) a calling when the prince comes to get the wrong bride:
“Ruke di gu, Blut ist im Schuh” – “Ruke di gu (dove language), there is blood in the shoe.”
It’s brutal, but most of the older “more original” versions are quite bloody and cruel.
Sorry for the spelling mistakes and the terrible English. *blush*
it’s not “just” the German version, it’s the version the Brothers Grimm collected. In terms of (academical) reseach, their stories are one of the oldes and most reliable sources, not many written accounts of these fairy tales from earlier than that. So if you want to be particular (earlier comments), in a way these are the original stories, since all variations we know today are based on the Grimm stories or stories that were based on the Grimm stories… yes, I love research, too
I love research. I love internet research, but I love poking around in old library stacks even more. I was the geek kid in highschool who adored research papers. When I was in college, I found an old book from the late 1800s that described medical oddities. It was fascinating!
I love that, too. In college I had a class where my part of a project was to design a differential. I didn’t tell the guys I had no idea what that was…so I found an old automotive handbook from the early 1900′s at the library and everything was spelled out so simply it was great.
*coughs*
I think I should have checked this blog and the disclaimer you added before sending that e-mail, huh? sorry.
That post was hilarious, and I’ve so been there. I think, just to tweak my own hubby (who isn’t precisely a co-writer, but who definitely has had input on my stories), I’m now going to start every book-related conversation with him by saying, “I need a thing.” ROTFL
I talked to my husband about this thread and how funny it was, and now I am being emailed suggestions about small Norse flittery things. Heh. He missed the point where the author said not to send suggestions.
i have books i need to send you. they are not suggestions. :::grins::
oooooo the rare scandanavian helmed hummingbird! it has a six foot wide horned helmet and a beak that can pierce armour!
When I think of Viking birds my mind goes through all different paths and lands on Norwegian Lundehunds. They’re not Viking birds. They’re not birds, but they are ancient and they did hunt birds by crawling around on cliffs. It’s a fascinating dog breed that has interested me for years, but not enough to get me away from my terriers.
The idea of scandinavian helmed hummingbirds sounds interesting, but according to an article I read in Slate, vikings probably never wore either winged or horned helmets except perhaps in some special religious ceremony or something like that. Doesn’t mean you can’t use it though.
Wait til you see the comment I left. I don’t want to repeat it here because writing it once made me think you might shoot me:)
I’ve always been a fan of useless trivia, my step-father probably still won’t eat tomatoes because I wanted to know why they were considered fruit…but all I gotta say is I love wikipedia. And for some funny/huh trivia the uncle john’s bathroom readers…
The deviations are what make things fun (and no, I’m not talking deviant… :OP)… if we dont’ deviate, who is to say our books won’t start sounding the same? O.o The deviations are our imaginations, our voices taking things and spinning them around until we take stuff and make them our own.
Bring on the deviations… and the deviants, even.
Completely random observation, but I always found that it seemed that either Norse mythic figures had really easy names (like Loki and Thor and Odin) or really complicated names with WAY too many letters going on – either too many vowels or too many consonants – like alphabet soup.
But I actually LIKE it when author deviate – I find it really takes the myths and makes it the author’s own. I mean, if I wanted to read the myth exactly as its meant to be, then I’d read THE myth, dur.
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And I know, I know – you don’t want help, but I did a research paper a couple months ago for school comparing how gods in Greek/Roman mythology used animals in comparison to Norse and Egyptian myths (don’t ask). When it came to birds and Norse gods, the figures of Luonnotar, Njord, Sigurd, and Thiassi stood out. Just thought I’d mention it, s’all. Sorry. (FYI: This is where a blushing emoticon would go if I knew how to get one here.)
When its done well, I like it when author’s tweak mythological creatures, and you do it so very, very well.
*frown* Is the Fjalarr (rooster) part of Viking mythology?
Okay..they don’t flit, but they look totally creepy. And they can try to flit.
Vampire Cannon !! LMAO….. Vampires aren’t really so if you want them to wear pink and black pocka dot bunny slippers on their heads it all good to me.
Just had to google define ‘canon.’ haha. Don’t see it used in that context much.
I loved this whole post- including the replies. Can’t wait to see what finally ends up flitting in a tree.
It’s interesting, when I saw the question about research I thought about the physics of this magic world, rather then mythology. I am not sure you are interested at all, but this post provoked these thoughts, so here they are: after some thinking I concluded that fundamental laws of physics still work – the effect follows the cause, so theory of relativity stands, the basics of life are still there – things fall down, not up, etc. So the only thing that is different is that except 2 laws – the law of matter conservation and the law of energy conservation, there is one merged one (something like E1+kM1=2+kM2), which is actually cool, since electrons are considered to be beings of energy and matter in the same time. But there may be interesting environmental consequences of magical transformation, like cooling, heating, electro-magnetic fields etc, so that something like prickling of the skin next to magic user is very logical indeed. I wander what happened to global warming…
That was so beautifully Russian, I don’t even know what to say. It’s not as exciting as, let’s say, the regulation of osteoclasts, but I like to speculate and read when other people spoeculate about the magic “science” and I’ve enjoyed this immensely, thank you.