/lit/ - Literature

it said historical fiction, so here's the first chapter of a historical fiction novel i'm writing loosely based on Harald Hardrada

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lzYKhkIa5SHgu64oJUtn1WOndBDVbkU_/view?usp=sharing

lmk if it's got any potential, still a rough draft so it needs editing, re-writing parts, punching up dialogue, emphasizing character traits, etc.

thank you anon

So yeah, posting this here is pretty much begging to get shit on by most of the board, but anyway here it goes...

Here is the first half of the first chapter of a historical fiction novel I've been developing over the last year or so, and just recently began writing. It's loosely based on the life and accomplishments of Harald Hardrada, which if you're not familiar with, was basically the last Viking King over a Norse Sea Empire that spanned from Sweden to England and down into norther Germany. His half brother and king was killed (by his own family, no less) when he was 15, he was then exiled to Keivan Rus where he caught the eye of the Byzantine Emperor on a visit to recruit the Rus for the Varangian Guard. The Emperor was amazed at the size and strength of the young man and offered to pay him handsomely to join the Varangians, which Harald saw as a way to build up the funds needed to raise an army and retake the throne that rightfully should have passed to him. He spent the next decade fighting Arab pirates, played bodyguard for the Emperor himself on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, converted to Christianity after witnessing the Churches there, along w those of Eastern Rome, Anatolia and the Levant as well as the Cathedrals Lombard/Holy Roman Empire, Italy, southern France and others. He was promised the hand of the Emperor's daugher after his illustrious career, but was denied this and imprisoned, only to escape the first night there due to the fact most of the prison guards were Varangians who served under him directly. He managed to leave with so much Byzantine treasure he needed to capture a second ship because the first was starting to capsize under the weight of the loot. He then decided to say "you know what, fuck this guy", turned around in the middle of the black sea, went back to Constantinople, went to take the hot princess hostage but instead she said "no way you're hot, tall and badass, no need to kidnap me i just want to be with you, fuck my dad" to which Harald said OK, went upstairs, killed the kings guards, then went into his chambers and stabbed his eyes out to blind him (a customary byzantine punishment) He then went back to Keivan Rus to organize his attack plans, but after arriving in Norway found the usurper dead and he was warmly welcomed to the throne. He needed to do something with his army however, so he set about consolidating all of scandinavia under his rule over the next decade, then launched an invasion of England where he went into battle bare-ass naked with a giant two-handed hammer and smashed in a bunch of skulls before taking an arrow to the throat

So yeah, the dude is kind of a bad ass and the story deserves to be told

>https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lzYKhkIa5SHgu64oJUtn1WOndBDVbkU_/view?usp=sharing

Here's the first 10 pages

it's a ROUGH DRAFT so try to keep the criticism constructive, just looking for feedback on character and structure so far

to anyone who takes the time to check it out, thank you