Siri Pettersen's Blog, page 3

Signing in Stockholm 22. Maj!

🔥😍 SWEDEEEEN! Gods. I missed you so much that I’m bringing gifts! On May 22nd I would LOVE to see you at the insanely cool Science Fiction Bokhandeln in Stockholm! Come! I’m bringing a stack of sleek, black Raven Rings notebooks as free gifts because you’re awesome, so be early (17:00) if you MUST have one of those! (They are out of stock, so you wont get them elsewhere else) You bring old books, new books, anything you want signed (I have even signed boobs, true story) or bring yourself or your friends just to say hello! And if you’re a writer, come flash your own book, I really want to see what you’re up to, I was born curious. Who’s coming?! 😍🙌🇸🇪

Swedish release of Silver Throat!

🇸🇪SWEDEN, it’s happening! Your heart knows what’s coming. 14. Maj is the release date for SILVERSTRUPEN, book 2 in the Vardari trilogy, and YES, I’ll be signing in Stockholm 22. Maj, at Science Fiction Bokhandeln, more on that later. My wonderful publisher, B. Wahlströms is super ready, and the book is translated by the dedicated Ylva Kempe, as always! Thank you so much to all of you for continuing to invite me over. I really love you for it! Will I see you at SF-bokhandeln? ❤️🙏

Brain FOMO, and finding lost stories or something…

Hi, I’m Siri, and I have Brain FOMO 🧠😨 Fear of missing out on reality is bad enough, but imagine having a constant fomo on thoughts! Things that will only ever happen in your head. There are infinite narratives, radiating from an abandoned car, from tracks abruptly stopping in the bogs, or a glimmer on the ocean floor… Growing up, It didn’t take much to snare me. Dreams were especially relentless. I would wake up fumbling for a notebook, desperate to capture them before they disappeared forever. I usually failed.

Somehow, they were all important. As if they were fragments of a greater story, all trying to tell me something. And I let them seize me like they were secrets of the gods. (Hence, the notebook fetish) Do you remember how easily magic came to you as a child? There was one thing in particular that I’ll never forget. A postcard, of all things, but that’s a long story. I shared it in today’s newsletter, so go join the inner circle if you’re into the deeper dives, I’ll be very happy to see you there.)

But I do think we need to reclaim that unfiltered mind in order to start a story. Open the gates we closed years ago. Rekindle fires we put out. Find our sense of awe. Everyone has a story, and it’s often been with us for a long time. A faint glow from the cracks of everyday life. Maybe today is the day you blow on the embers?

Fanart: Blindból is burning…

This is just one third of a gorgeous panorama that you can see full sized in this Instagram reel.  Look at that light! Glowing between the finger-like mountains. This really made me miss Rime. Beautiful work by photographer Daniel Neraasen Heimstad from Norway 🙏❤️

Blindból is burning…

This is just one third of a gorgeous panorama that you can see full sized in this Instagram reel.  Look at that light! Glowing between the finger-like mountains. This really made me miss Rime. Beautiful work by photographer Daniel Neraasen Heimstad from Norway 🙏❤️

Fanart: Hirka & Rime

Oh, I know these two…🥰 This beautiful drawing of Hirka and Rime is actually seven years old, rediscovered by the artist, @ingridhholte, who created it when she first read The Raven Rings. Thank you so much, Ingrid, I’m really glad you found it ❤️

Are your ideas bleeding?

My latest newsletter was about self-help for ghosts, thermodynamics and something to do with wasps, I dunno. But mostly, it was about worldbuilding. I admitted that I’m a lazy worldbuilder, but it gets worse: I think you can be, too, and reap the benefits. I call it «the bleed» and it’s my favourite way of framing it. I’ll compress the gist of it, but if you crave the deep dives, sign up for the newsletter, I’ll be happy to welcome you there!

Building a world is daunting. It’s not that you can’t think of anything, it’s that there’s too much to think of. And if you pick at random, your world will seem just that: random. In the real world, things have a funny way of affecting each other. So should your ideas.

Your greatest ideas will have impact. Power to create massive dents in your story. They will have causes and consequences. The good news: That’s why you don’t need many of them! You need ONE thing that matters. One idea that can bleed out into your world, creating a rich, interconnected tapestry.

Pick anything, let’s say you want to write a ghost story. Afterlife would have massive impact, so go nuts with the implications. If ghosts are possible, there could be millions. They would quarrel, we’d need rules and regulations for the dead. Structures. Institutions. And they’d be bored as F, you’d need ghost employment offices, scare-the-living-competions, medals made from the bones of your enemies. Bones would disappear at an alarming rate, affecting police investigations. There would be self-help books for the newly departed, («That’s the spirit!») Language would change («Do I look like I died yesterday?») Support groups for the religiously disappointed, and on and on.

Your greatest ideas aren’t necessarily spectacular or unique, they just bleed well! Not revolutionary in any way, but a very powerful mindset. All it takes is one thing. Find it, squeeze it to a pulp, and let the juices soak into the very fabric of your universe, flooding the streets, dripping into everyday life, affecting everything it touches. One drop - the lifeblood of your story.

The floor plans to the Sansseyr House.

These are the floor plans of the Sannseyr House in Vardari. I’ve never shared them before, they were never meant for sharing, they were just for me, to help my writing. To make the place real.

Some fictional places seem real, while others feel hollow like paper houses. Why? I dug into that in a newsletter, with thoughts on how to make sure that magical realness happens. (The newsletters are longer format than blogs or social media, so if you’re into that, please sign up here, I’ll be very happy to see you!)

Making a place real requires at least two things: Caring and making choices. I know it’s easy to let everything hover up there in an endless sky of will-never-be-published possibilities, but you have to land some of that sh*t eventually. Force yourself to make choices that define your world. That’s why maps are so vital.

Maps and lists are proof that the place is real. Not just to your readers but to yourself as you are writing. They liberate you from the burden of juggling every detail in your head. I know Náklav better than the city I live in and I know Juva’s house by heart, because I drew it. That house is a key location, a mystery in itself. Clearly, I had to know the place intimately.

Sometimes maps evolve as I write. Sometimes they are fixed and actually determine what I write. But they are always there from the beginning. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t believe it. Nor would you. Maps impact your writing in subtle ways. If you don’t know your world, you’ll avoid being specific when you write. You’ll generalize, simply because you haven’t decided yet. «She walked down the street» is vastly different from «The spicy scent lingered as she passed the tea shop, brazing against the ocean wind that would be coming around the corner» Where would you rather be?

I’m lazy, I avoid doing more worldbuilding than necessary. But once I’ve made a decision, it’s a gift that keeps giving. That tea shop is real now. I can tap into it in delicious ways. She can take refuge in there when followed or the tea drawers can hide drugs. It expands quickly when you just make a decision. Maps are goldmines! Make them!

Fanart: The norse word for magic…

Now this is really special! This diary belongs to Oda from Norway. It says «TAUFR» in runes, and in ancient norse, it’s as close as you can get to «magic». I have that word around my wrist every day, on a beaded bracelet. And it’s engraved in the Raven Rings Prize ring. To be a bit cheezy, it’s my purpose. An aspiration to bring magic to people’s lives, with something resembling «What comes around goes around» (I’ll probably be writing at length about it in my newsletter)

Oda knows this, because the diary was a gift to everyone who attended the event when Catharina Wandrup won The Raven Rings Prize. If you look closely, you can see the logo embossed on the cover.

So not only did Oda create raven fanart, she created it on a gift from me, with the word I passionately encouraged people to embrace in their life and writing. It’s incredibly touching, and deeply appreciated. There is only one word for it: Taufr. Thank you, Oda 🙏❤️

Sign up and get Hirka’s Herbal Guide!

I made a thing for you! A brand new NEWSLETTER and HIRKA’S HERBAL GUIDE! A while back I asked you on Insta what you’d like as a gift when signing up for a newsletter. You were super sweet to say «you had me at newsletter» But still, Hirka’s plants did come up… (Plants are funny that way)

🌿 So I put together a pdf of HIRKA’S HERBAL GUIDE, with all the plants she uses in The Raven Rings, complete with descriptions and my own drawings, and it’s all yours when you sign up for «Fantastic news», right here on the site.

The herbs of Ymslanda has only ever been available in the Norwegian Collector’s Box, which was limited to 999 copies, so I’m thrilled to share it with you! 😍 And yes, I’m thrilled about the newsletter, too! It’s totally old school, and not dependant on social media, which I think will allow me to be more personal and talk about the actual writing. But we’ll see where it takes us!

Thank you for making me do this, and for signing up! I absolutely love you for it and hope to be of great value to you❤️ Or at least to shut up if I’m not 😬