William
Franklin
Hager
My Story
Born in Madison, WI, and raised in the Midwest, William Hager moved to Southern California with his family in 1992, where he earned a B.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Irvine. After college, he began his first forays into the world of creative writing, but it wasn’t until after he received his M.A. in English Literature, with an emphasis on Medieval and Renaissance Language and Literature, from California State University, Long Beach, in 2009 that he dreamed of writing novels full time.
When not glued to his writing desk, William enjoys numerous outdoor pursuits, especially trail running, mountain biking, skiing, hiking, and flyfishing. William, his wife, Ricia, and their two dogs, Hunter and Otis, live in Southern California.
Coming Soon
Editing
"Will is a brilliant editor - he made my work sing! I can't imagine working with anyone else."
Jody Pike,
Author of Montaperti
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Services Offered:
Every writer is at their own unique stage in the pursuit of craft, whether just beginning, finishing a third decade, or maybe returning after a hiatus. Every voice is unique. I strive to make that voice stronger.
In my time as a writer of creative fiction, I’ve participated in a weekly critique group for nine years, during which I developed and honed skills editing draft manuscripts for novels and screenplays. Additionally, I hold a Bachelor of the Arts in English Literature from the University of California, Irvine, and a Master of the Arts in English Literature from California State University, Long Beach, which provided experience writing, revising, and editing. During my Masters, I was an instructor in Cal State Long Beach’s undergraduate rhetoric and composition program, which provided invaluable experience teaching the mechanics of writing to new college students.
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I offer the following editing services for novels, novellas, short stories, and screenplays (episodic television or feature film):
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Story edit;
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Editorial overview;
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Line edit;
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Character evaluations;
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Historical detail / reference.
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I'd love to work with you. If you are interested, please contact me.
Reading List
Viking-Norman History:​
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Primary Sources
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Dudo of St. Quentin. De Moribus et actis primorum Normanniae Ducum auctore Dudone Sancti Quintini Decano, ed. Jules Lair. Caen: Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, 1865. trans. Eric Christiansen, History of the Normans. Woodbridge: 1998).
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Flodoard of Reims. Annals. ed. and trans. Bachrach and Fanning. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011.
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The ‘Gesta Normannorum Ducum’ of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, ed. E. M. C. van Houts, 2 vols. (Oxford, OMT, 1992-5).
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Sturlason, Snorre. Heimskringla or the Lives of the Norse Kings. ed. Monson and trans. Smith. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1990.
Bates, David. “Rouen from 900 to 1204: From Scandinavian Settlement to Angevin ‘Capital.’ Medieval Art, Architecture, and Archaeology at Rouen. Ed. J. Stratford. Leeds: W. S. Maney and Son Limited, 1993.
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Secondary Sources
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Normandy Before 1066. London and New York: Longman, Group Limited, 1982.
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The Normans and Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
“The Rise and Fall of Normandy, c. 911-1204.” England and Normandy in the Middle Ages. ed. David Bates and Anne Curry. London; The Hambledon Press, 1994.
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Breese, Lauren Wood. “The Persistence of Scandinavian Connections in Normandy in the Tenth and Early Eleventh Centuries.” Viator 8 (1977).
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Butt, John J. Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002.
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Chibnall, Marjorie. The Normans. Maldon: Blackwell Publishing, 2000.
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Christiansen, Eric. The Norsemen in the Viking Age. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2002.
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Clark, Helen and Björn Ambrosiani. Towns in the Viking Age. Leicester: Leister University Press, 1991.
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Davis, R. H. C. The Normans and their Myth. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
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Douglas, David C. “The Earliest Norman Counts.” English Historical Review 61 (1946).
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“Rollo of Normandy.” English Historical Review 57 (1942). Reprint: Time and the Hour. London: Eyre Methuen, 1977.
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William the Conqueror. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1964; Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966.
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Ewing, Thor. Viking Clothing. Stroud: The History Press, 2012.
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Ferguson, Robert. The Vikings: A History. New York: Viking, 2009.
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Franks, Northmen, and Slavs: Identities and State Formation
in Early Medieval Europe. ed. Ildar Garipzanov, Patrick Geary,
and Przemyslaw Urbanczyk. Turnhout: Brepols, 2008.
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From the Vikings to the Normans 800-1100. ed. Wendy Davies.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Griffith, Paddy. The Viking Art of War. London: Greenhill Books, 1995.
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Gordon, E. V. An Introduction to Old Norse. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1957.
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I Altet, Xavier Barral. Taschen’s World Architecture:
The Early Middle Ages from Late Antiquity to A.D. 1000. Köln:
Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH, 1997.
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Jesch, Judith. Women in the Viking Age. Woodbridge:
The Boydell Press, 2001.
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Kibler, William W. An Introduction to Old French. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1984.
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Le Patourel, John. The Norman Empire. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1976.
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McKitterick, Rosamund. The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751-987. London: Longman Group Limited, 1983.
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Nelson, Janet L. “The Frankish Empire.” The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings.
Ed. P. Sawyer. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
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The Normans in Europe. trans and ed. E. van Houts. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2000.
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Potts, Cassandra. “Normandy, 911-1144.” A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World. ed. E. van Houts and C. Harper-Bill. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2002.
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Riché, Pierre. The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe. Trans. Allen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
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Searle, Eleanor. Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1988.
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Shippey, Tom. Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings. London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2018.
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Short, William R. Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques. Yardley: Westholme Publishing, LLC, 2014.
Sprague, Martina. Norse Warfare. New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 2007.
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Stalley, Roger. Early Medieval Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
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Webber, Nick. The Evolution of Norman Identity. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005.
Wolf, Kirsten. Daily Life of the Vikings. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2004.
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