Gone Viking III

Tena Laing talks to Vancouver author Bill Arnott, about the newest addition to the Viking travelogue series Gone Viking III: The Holy Grail (Rocky Mountain Books, 2023)

10 minutes read time.

Tena Laing:  Congratulations on volume three of your Gone Viking travel memoirs, Gone Viking III: The Holy Grail. Seeing as this book is the third in a series – this one chronicling your extensive travels around Europe in search of the Holy Grail – can you tell us what compelled you to write it, how the process of researching, travelling, and writing, differed from the previous two iterations, and if it is important for readers to read the first two before embarking on the third.

Bill Arnott: Thanks for welcoming me back to discuss my nonfiction travelogue. I’ve been extremely privileged to travel much of the world in researching and writing these Gone Viking excursions, and overwhelmed by the enthusiasm from readers, the media, and what we now warmly refer to as our #GoneVikingCommunity. To answer your question, each of these travel memoirs is a standalone book and can be read anytime, in any order. Having said that, many people have enjoyed reading the Gone Viking books in the order in which they were written and published. But again, it’s by no means essential. Each book accompanies me on a different expedition, all covering a range of geography: from Scandinavia, across Europe, the Arctic, and around a good swath of the globe, following not only “classical” Vikings, but some of the world’s most famous voyagers, spanning history as well as mythology.

For authors who want greater detail, there is a slight shift in the style of each book in the trilogy. Specifically, Gone Viking: A Travel Saga, the first book in the series, is shared in real-time, a present-tense trek. Gone Viking II: Beyond Boundaries, is written in past tense, as its content was developed during travel restrictions and the global pandemic, with numerous passages taken from journals. While Gone Viking III: The Holy Grail returns to the present, as readers accompany me once again to experience a pilgrimage quest across Europe in real-time while delving on occasion into legends and myth.

Tena Laing:  Your writing is richly detailed with anecdotes, personal vignettes, and vivid imagery. Lines with concrete sensory details such as “fingers smelling of sea brine and shoreline,” abound. It also weaves in – as you say – “our ambiguous blend of history and legend.” How did you approach keeping notes and deciding what to include in a travel story with so many competing elements?

Bill Arnott: Thanks, and good question. Truth is, I keep records by various means, particularly when documenting my travels for books. Good old paper and pen, or a pencil, are my favourite tools, as well as my vintage camera phone. Keyboarding or typing is frequent, and lately, I’ve been using voice memos, transcribing as I go, which I find an effective streamlining of narration and narrative.

If I’m doing a formal interview, I record conversations. But if a casual visit is taking place, I never want to break that spontaneous, natural flow, so I simply remember as much as I can and file it away like a mental checklist, the way one might learn lines from a script or a play. I rarely retain it all flawlessly, but I tend to be able to recall 75-80% with accuracy. And like to believe that if I do forget something, it likely wasn’t worth holding onto.

Tena Laing:  In addition to detailed explanations of history and legend, you have a clear love of language, wordplay, and witty parentheticals. How important was it for you to balance the more serious information with the lighter aspects?

Bill Arnott: This is a style and manner of storytelling I not only love hearing and reading but writing as well. Irrespective of genre or medium, I feel it’s imperative to discuss some of the weightiest subjects with both gravitas and with humour. These sentiments need not be separate. We’ve all been to lighthearted events in which something serious packs extra clout. Or a funeral service, perhaps, that includes levity and a laugh. Like the best types of cuisine – incorporating sweet, sour, salty, bitter, savoury – contrast heightens experience. In other words, a blend makes it better.

Tena Laing:  You have expressed yourself in poetry a number of times throughout the book. Can you describe how your process of writing poetry compares and contrasts with your process of writing prose? Were these poems written as you travelled, or were they composed later as part of the drafting of your book?

Bill Arnott: A little of both. Much like utilizing mixed media – photos and words – I enjoy recording events with a cross-section of poems and prose. Songwriting too. Like watching a well-scored film, cinematography paired with music deepens engagement, making experiences extrasensory, the result invariably richer and more lasting. I also felt that a nod was in order to the very first travelogues. Homer, for instance, despite that work being fiction or the classic Scandinavian Sagas. All great tales were originally shared in a format to incorporate poems or lyrical prose. The same meter and tempo as long-distance marches, that “sense of being” contained in a trek. What I refer to as the “I am” in the iamb, is the cadence of footsteps inherent in creating and sharing great stories.

Tena Laing:  How did you conceive your first book, and in pushing your work beyond your first title what were you most conscious of? What were/are you trying to achieve?

Bill Arnott: My first Gone Viking book happened organically. The notion of creating a book documenting my travels occurred to me as I followed an actual Viking trail across Scandinavia. I was looking at a map of the northern hemisphere, tracking Norse voyagers, when I realized that I was on the same path, spanning coastlines and historical touchstones around the northern part of the planet. With that in mind, it was just a matter of a few more years of focused travel, research and writing to compile it all into a narrative. One I feel is not only engaging and adventurous but fun, where readers share in each expedition, learn a bit and share a few laughs.

The critical and commercial success of the first Gone Viking book was a pleasant surprise, and my publisher’s eagerness for me to write a sequel prompted me to push the manner in which the next expeditions were undertaken and shared. The title of that second book, Gone Viking II: Beyond Boundaries indicates that progression, each personal adventure more extreme, further afield and yes, funnier too. That follow-up book won a number of awards, for literary content and travel – which was not only flattering but confirmed that we achieved what we hoped to.

Tena Laing:  What writers (or artists in other forms/media) have been formative in shaping how you write? How?

Bill Arnott: The list is long, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll just name a few. Mentors and role models whose nonfiction work has not only inspired me but continues to raise my bar as an author. Robert Macfarlane. Nick Hunt. Anna Badkhen. Freya Stark. Michael Palin. Bruce Chatwin. Wilfred Thesiger. Patrick Leigh Fermor. Jan Morris. Paul Theroux. Barry Lopez. Bill Bryson. William Fiennes. Ian Frazier. Tim Winton, although famous for his novels, pens brilliant nonfiction too. And to round out the authors, I’d add Colin Hay, a storytelling songwriter whose onstage banter is as engaging as any novella.

Tena Laing:  What was the most satisfying aspect of your recently completed work?

Bill Arnott: Hearing from readers around the world has been remarkably flattering, and humbling. Knowing that the Gone Viking books continue to not only be purchased and enjoyed, but savoured, re-read, and given as gifts is a delight, and leaves me eternally grateful.

Tena Laing:  If you had to choose one book that has influenced your writing life, what would that book be and how did it influence you?

Bill Arnott: Tim Winton’s Land’s Edge. The book itself is a touchstone and memento, which I found in a tiny bookstore in Sydney’s neighbourhood known as The Rocks. Indigenous land of the Gadi People, part of the Eora Nation. Winton’s memoir epitomizes brevity yet the prose is rich and engaging. His imagery is tattooed in my psyche, the sights and the sounds he conveys. Years later, we had a visit at a Literary Festival, where I was able to tell him what that book meant to me, and how it shifted my life in the most positive manner. One of those rare instances in which meeting one’s hero can be a very good thing.

Tena Laing:  What is the most valuable piece of writing advice you have ever been given? 

Bill Arnott: The advice I received from my friend, poet Evelyn Lau, who challenged me to push myself as a writer. To push what I wrote and how I wrote it. Explaining that it was okay, now and then, to be seemingly obtuse, so long as communication is authentic and sincere.

Tena Laing:  What are some of the ethical challenges you face as a writer?

Bill Arnott: Another excellent question. One I’m aware of every time I write. Not unlike the array of mentors I have, the list of challenges could go on forever. In no particular order, ethical issues I’m acutely aware of include the fact that I’m a white male. Which, in most of the world, has put me in a position of privilege, and advantage. This is something I never forget, nor take for granted. Exploring the world is something I’ve radically shifted since I began these figurative and literal journeys. Travelling damages the planet. Simple as that. It could be the footprint of fossil-fuelled transport, or popularizing parts of the globe that were previously peaceful, content, being well off the grid. As well as relaying a visit with someone. If you share someone’s story, even those that they want you to share, how you share it becomes a new narrative, which is not necessarily yours. Recounting words is political. Perception and perspective will skew. We listen, we see, and we speak with filters we aren’t always aware of. Prejudice is part of vocabulary. Writing perpetuates this. And so we as writers, I believe, do our best to mitigate misalignment. Which is like trying to balance an egg on a string. These are a few of the issues I don’t always write of yet are present in every sentence I build. The process is a privilege, a burden, and an obligation. Not necessarily getting it right, but ensuring you keep making it better.

About the Author

When not trekking with a small pack and journal or showing off cooking skills as a culinary school dropout, Bill can be found on Canada’s west coast, where he lives near the sea on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh land.