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A Worrywort Checking In

Hello! I’m Amelia, from US currently coming home from being stationed in Europe. (It’s been a very /interesting/ nine months in Eastern Europe)


I write mostly fantasy, though have been having a blast with sci fi recently. Have about four projects right now that have four chapters each; I’ve found that rotating between projects is hugely helpful in keeping the momentum up in my daily word count and writing discipline.


As for what I have to offer, I know a fair bit about everyday life for women in a variety of “fantasy-source” settings; Roman, medieval, Renaissance, etc.. In particular, I like to understand the everyday lives of small rural environments, villages and hamlets etc., and love to worldbuild or to help others worldbuild the little details that are often forgotten: what is the primary function of a tavern vs. an inn, what does the farm boy MC do every day in the winter vs. the summer, does the farmer breed his own farm horses or buy them elsewhere, how many skilled craftsmen and craftswomen can a small town support, and what businesses are usually run by men, and which by women.


In any case, thank you for reading this far, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Hail and well-met LaughingCatDog
Good to have you here
This is a good place to learn and share and is one of the nicest places on the interweb.
I will admit to being a world builder to the point of no return.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Howdy Amelia, laughing catdog, welcome here.

now i have the catdog intro in my head.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
As for what I have to offer, I know a fair bit about everyday life for women in a variety of “fantasy-source” settings; Roman, medieval, Renaissance, etc.. In particular, I like to understand the everyday lives of small rural environments, villages and hamlets etc., and love to worldbuild or to help others worldbuild the little details that are often forgotten: what is the primary function of a tavern vs. an inn, what does the farm boy MC do every day in the winter vs. the summer, does the farmer breed his own farm horses or buy them elsewhere, how many skilled craftsmen and craftswomen can a small town support, and what businesses are usually run by men, and which by women

all of this would be helpful. I tend to world build on the fly or in my own head. My current setting is like greenland and desolate. I kind of wonder how anyone would survive at all. Recently saw the northman and that land look alien. No trees anywhere. Howd the build their shelters. Just saw one on greenland and it looks worse.
 
all of this would be helpful. I tend to world build on the fly or in my own head. My current setting is like greenland and desolate. I kind of wonder how anyone would survive at all. Recently saw the northman and that land look alien. No trees anywhere. Howd the build their shelters. Just saw one on greenland and it looks worse.

that sounds really cool! My first thought is that a huge amount of calories would come from the ocean. If your landmass is very far from others, it is likely a beaching ground for seals/walrus/fantasy creature. If these beaching animals are very large, then the leather from their hides could be used for shelters both nomadic and fixed, as well as boats. Walrus-leather shelters would probably be VERY warm.

is your setting like the Greenland coast, or like the ice sheet? Because the ice sheet might take some extra fantasy elements to survive
 
Also if there is any vegetation at all, there is likely an herbivore of some size, even if they are scarce. If this herbivore is caribou-like, yak-like or oxen-like, they can also be domesticated and herded for milk, fiber and meat (some African tribes can survive a very long time off a mixture of milk and blood drained from their cattle, done in such a way that the cow survives and can be bled again later, assuming there are enough cows to rotate the process between them)

All of this said, though, any region like this would have a LOW population, with plenty of space between different social groups. A culture that relies more on the ocean could probably be settled, but a culture that relies on herding animals would almost certainly be nomadic.

depending on how Greenland-like your setting is, I would suggest researching traditional Inuit methods of living — they comprise a majority of Greenland’s population, mixed with some Northern European ethnic groups.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
'Against the Ice' was the Greenland one.

I appreciate the help. The method by which people live is not deeply delved into, so its not important to really hammer it out. I just think on it sometimes as the author, kind of in the same way I think about hygiene and supplies. Sure, supplies run out and hygiene must happen, but its not really what the story is about. I have been basing the climate on Norway and Finland actually. Just, I was struck that Iceland seemed to have no trees and Greenland looked worse. Greenland is closer to the arctic circle, and....as it happens, my characters have moved closer to their arctic circle as well. Greenland might become the model, in which case, seems only polar bears and seals can live there. Does not seem like a good place to plop down a village and call it a new home.

The indigenous cultures are transplanted. Not many Eskimo's in this region, but I may add them. Story is running out, so there is not a lot of space left.
 
As for what I have to offer, I know a fair bit about everyday life for women in a variety of “fantasy-source” settings; Roman, medieval, Renaissance, etc.. In particular, I like to understand the everyday lives of small rural environments, villages and hamlets etc., and love to worldbuild or to help others worldbuild the little details that are often forgotten: what is the primary function of a tavern vs. an inn, what does the farm boy MC do every day in the winter vs. the summer, does the farmer breed his own farm horses or buy them elsewhere, how many skilled craftsmen and craftswomen can a small town support, and what businesses are usually run by men, and which by women.

Wonderful! Those are exactly the kind of details I tend to look for, since I'm working on worldbuilding in that kind of setting. I give myself permission to go outside the real world parameters to some extent - for example, which gender predominantly runs which kind of business is sometimes different in my fiction than in actual history - but it's good to know what the parameters are, so I can either work within them or come up with a plausible reason why it would be different.

Hope to see you around the boards!
 
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