Throughout this unit I have solved many practical/technical problems, along with theoretical problem-solving. I have already explained how I have solved the practical problems (On my Practical Problem post) but I have never talked about how I solved the theoretical.
I mentioned in my theoretical problem blog post about how historically accurate I can make my book and how I can move away from this idea and base it loosely on the Vikings. However, I stated several times throughout the course of my time in this unit that I want to make a book that moves peoples’ opinion away from this barbaric view the media has – though true, to an extent, the Vikings were very clever in how they carried out their tactics. But as I cannot get historically accurate information as the information that was gathered from the time is complete propaganda, I had to deal with it. The Prose Edda is definitely the most reliable source as that was a book created by Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic historian from the 13th century. This saga talks about the range of different beliefs the Vikings had, even mentioning some Elves and Dwarves that were useful for when I was adding the fantasy aspect to my book. He went into extraordinary detail about the fantasy beings, me then being able to describe them as the Vikings believed; it was a nice touch adding Viking Mythology to my book to make people who are not aware of their culture get a brief understanding.
Now the other information I got was complete speculation – though accounts in which they talked about clothing was accurate as clothes from that time were still perfectly preserved. Another way I could have avoided this problem was going to the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, but as I mentioned in a previous post I simply did not have the funds to make the journey; I completely regret that decision.
The audience was quite easy to determine as I already had a brief understanding at the start of the project of who my audience was, but I needed to know more. What about if gender was somehow linked to my book? Will the sales of my book decline or would they rise? Women are more likely to read historical fiction, according to a poll, men who read 50% – 75% of historical fiction novels, only 29.15% do so, while women overtake with 38.44% doing so (A Writer Of History, 2014). Yet, the more you look at the poll and see the questions that are asked to men about their favourite time periods 42% said they enjoyed historical fiction books ranging from 3000 B.C – 1000 A.D, which the Vikings were very prominent. However, I would like to think gender has no alteration with how popular my book is, though it is typically men who enjoy books to do with war and our Viking ancestors.
Now the creation of the book was quite a tricky one to decide. Due to the ever evolving technology, it seems people would prefer to read an e-book as they can access any book they want with a click of a button. Yet, when I searched for polls to decide whether my initial idea was true, it seemed it was the complete opposite (Good Reads, 2017). More individuals prefer the comfort of a printed book than an electronic book. Maybe this is the case because printed books do not cause eye-strain, unlike their technological cousin. But I wanted to have more evidence. I decided to ask my friends and family on Facebook which they preferred out of printed books or e-book; the results were the exact same. More people, when reading, prefer the company of a book than an electronic device to hold their book – this is the same to me. It is a completely different experience when you are turning the page, almost adding to the immersion of the story, unlike its electronic counterpart that requires a swipe of a finger. These results determined the fate of how I will present my book.
Bibliography:
Snorri Sturluson (1220) The Prose Edda. Scandinavia: Unknown. p21-25.
A Writer Of History (2014) Reading Historical Fiction Varies Gender [Online] Available from: https://awriterofhistory.com/2014/11/20/reading-historical-fiction-varies-by-gender/ (Accessed: 28/05/2017)
Good Reads (2017) Which do you prefer – e-books or paper books? [Online] Available from: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/41218-which-do-you-prefer—e-books-or-paper-books?order=d&page=1 (Accessed: 29/03/2017)
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