Eight years after the publication of my first novel « Úlfarsaga – A wolf age », and three years after the last publication on this blog, I am finally taking up my pen again, not only to announce the publication of a new and improved version of this book, but also to translate it and start new literary projects.
I grew up surrounded by books. For as long as I can remember there have always been books in our house, and there was even a library in my room. Encyclopaedias, novels, comics, I read everything. My mother even wrote little fantasy tales for my sister and me based on our real life. Stories to read before going to sleep.
Perhaps it was this love of reading and writing shared by my mother at a very early age that led me to start writing at the age of 15. At the time, it was poetry, then short texts that I turned to. At the time I typed them on the typewriter we had at home. It was the democratisation of the Internet a few years later that pushed me to write more and more, and to create my own website to share my texts with the whole world.
In 2008, I started doing medieval historical re-enactments, and I quickly turned to the Viking period. I then created a character of a Viking woman, and I wrote the main lines of her story, in order to play this character in a credible way during historical reenactments, like an actress playing a role.
Passionate about history, and reading a lot of books on this period to be as historical as possible, I am then very disappointed by the films and series on the Vikings, including those that claim to be « historical », and which contain so many errors that it will disgust me for several years.
When I spoke with other people, the answer was always the same: « Making a really 100% historical film/series would be boring/not exciting/not interesting ». In 2010, I started reading the Icelandic sagas, and in 2011 I went to Iceland several times, where I discovered a short film adapting part of one of these sagas: the Njáls saga.
Filmed in Iceland, in Icelandic (which is very similar to the Viking language), with historical costumes, and scenes shot in reconstructed houses, this short film was both historical and exciting. It proved that it was possible to make a historical film, based on a medieval story, that was not « boring ».
Not being a film writer, but now having some experience of writing, I decided to embark on what seemed a crazy project: to write a historical novel about the Vikings, describing their daily life, sourced, and which would be gripping and interesting to read.
I then bought many books on the Vikings, but also copies of archaeological studies, in order to be able to verify and source each historical point of the story I was going to tell. I decided to use my reenactment character as a basis, and for a year I took handwritten notes of my readings, listing where to find the source of each piece of information. These notes will fill an entire notebook.
After a year, and while I was working full time, I started writing, which also took a year. Chapter by chapter, I write as soon as I can by hand in a large notebook, on the train on my way home from work, in the evening at home, or at the weekend. Once a chapter is finished, I type it on the computer, and add explanatory notes.
In November 2013, the novel was ready. The novel is a synthesis of all genres: historical, romance, adventure, drama, comedy, action. For professional reasons, I chose to publish it under a pseudonym. « Úlfarsaga – A wolf age » was then published in French, as a self-publication.
You can buy « Úlfarsaga – A wolf age » online, or in your bookshop with the ISBN : 978-1-7947-7814-6
Paper format
E-book format
Three years later, I became a war reporter in the Donbass, and left literary writing for the more prosaic task of writing news articles. In 2020, I attended the « Stars over Donbass » fantasy literature festival in Donetsk for the first time, and met the young author from Lugansk, Faina Savenkova. It was this meeting that inspired me to take up my pen again.
When we meet again in 2021, during the third edition of the festival, we talk at length and I tell her about my novel, published eight years ago. Faina, with all the simplicity of childhood, asks me if I intend to translate it into Russian, because she would like to read it. The idea is launched, and I decide not to limit myself to Russian. But the best way to do all this is to republish the novel under my real name, the one under which I am now known as a journalist. So I decided to correct it, improve its formatting, add photos and a map, and have the cover redone.
After several weeks of work, the new version of my novel is finally published, allowing me to move on to the translation phase. And after a good month of additional work, the English version has finally been published as well. Both versions are available in print and e-book format.
Now it’s time to start the translation into Russian, as well as a new literary project, this time related to the Donbass. But that’s another story…
Christelle Néant
