Author Topic: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10  (Read 1491 times)

swaindaddy

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 94
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • christopherswain.net
June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« on: June 15, 2009, 08:10:32 PM »
This is the second half of chapter 10. Please let me know what you think. May need to re-read last weeks to know where this picks up. Let me know if you need it.

As usual - first draft - ignore grammar blah blah blah...
"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything."

Wizard's First Rule —Chapter 36, p.397, U.S. hardcover edition

SomeHackWriter

  • Level 3
  • ***
  • Posts: 31
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • Join Hack on MySpace!
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2009, 08:57:06 PM »
Any chance of getting the whole thing?  I was not around when you started.  [email protected]

RavenstarRHJF

  • Level 9
  • *
  • Posts: 339
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2009, 12:21:07 AM »
Very nice!  Either your tale is inherently more action-filled than mine (not really a surprise), or you're just good at making everything feel like action. :)

A couple things I noticed:
When he first wakes up, you casually mention that it's nighttime, and then move on with your description, but none of the ensuing description plays up the fact that it's dark.  As a result, even though you said it was night, the scene I saw in my head was more of a twilight than a full-on dark.

Also, when Dren criticizes Garrik for not keeping his voice down, it feels hypocritical.  As far as the reader knows, no one else was making any effort to keep their voices down.  You emphasize it after that point, but not before.

After you've established the guttural language as the Drakkin's native tongue, it's not necessary to keep referring to it as "Drakkin tongue."  We'll understand from context whether you mean the actual people or the language.

Why wouldn't Karrys have warned Garrik about Tul being in the tree before?  Obviously she knew he was there, or assumed it from what little noise he made- why not warn him directly, before she has to tell him not to draw attention?

The fight scene seems to flow very well, moving smoothly from Gartren to Tul and back again.

Point of continuity:  You describe Garten putting the tip of the sword beneath his chin (how exactly?  pointing up or across?) but then, when he dies, the sword goes through his heart.  I... don't think that's how it works. ;)

You've done very well here, establishing the Drakkin as a formidable foe and worthy of fighting. ;D  It definitely no longer feels like they should be the good guys, like it did when we saw the theives' meeting.

About the only thing I would suggest, other than the above issues, is to polish the descriptions.  I know, I know... pot calling kettle, but still. :)  They're not too bad as they are, just clunky.

Oh, and I liked the map.  Definitely gives a good sense of history and back story that I now want to know!
A crown does not a King make, nor the lack of one a commoner.

swaindaddy

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 94
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • christopherswain.net
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2009, 12:50:44 AM »
All very good points! Not much I can argue (not that that's the point) as it is all valid insight. This is the kind of feedback I need. I really think my second draft will be far better as a result of all the input.

Thansk for working it!
"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything."

Wizard's First Rule —Chapter 36, p.397, U.S. hardcover edition

swaindaddy

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 94
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • christopherswain.net
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2009, 02:15:43 AM »
This is the place for the chpater ten input BTW. Thanks all who are reading!
"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything."

Wizard's First Rule —Chapter 36, p.397, U.S. hardcover edition

Flo_the_G

  • Level 6
  • *
  • Posts: 173
  • Fell Points: 0
  • Wait, what?
    • View Profile
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2009, 06:05:36 PM »
Did read it, made no notes, but if no-one else seems to be volunteering, I'll try and remember the issues I had - keep in mind that the good bits usually go unnoticed, while the not-so-good sticks.

For me, the chapter did have a a fairly dark feel to it, lighting-wise, I mean, apart from that I think I'd sign everything Ravenstar said.

What really needs fixing is the ending, with respect to the Drakkin's retreat. Him taking one of the soldiers hostage felt like a cop-out on your part most of the time, as if you simply didn't want to kill anyone important. Then, when he did die, it screamed "redshirt", as if you had only taken him along to off him at a convenient time. The main problem here, I think, are the Drakkin's motives. He apparently has the power to manipulate people and whatnot, so what, exactly, is keeping him from having the soldiers slaughter each other until only Garrik is left? There might be a limit to his powers, but it's not clear to the reader.

Cutting his arm off was somewhat strange, too. I'd have expected Tul to give him another hearty stab to make sure he didn't get up again, especially because he didn't exactly seem troubled by the wound later on. Having the arm regrow when he got up would have been awesome, by the way. ^^

The other drakkin also went down a tad fast, considering how you introduced them earlier. Stormtroopers against Ewoks come to mind. ;D

But, you know, swordfights, babes, magic... I'm sold.

swaindaddy

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 94
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • christopherswain.net
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2009, 07:43:18 PM »
All very good points.
In the next draft I will have Tul fight them off as they move toward the woods edge. Due to the Plates concept their magic is territorial to a degree (more on that later).

I will have Gartren die in the fight with the Drakkin and Tul will be the one stuck hovering over his sword. He won't die but take a serious wound. All this among other changes will make the scene more realistic.

The strength of the Drakkin will be shown better this way and the magic will be weaker here and explained better.

Thanks for the help!
« Last Edit: June 19, 2009, 07:47:16 PM by swaindaddy »
"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything."

Wizard's First Rule —Chapter 36, p.397, U.S. hardcover edition

Silk

  • Staff
  • Level 31
  • *
  • Posts: 1798
  • Fell Points: 0
  • ...no room for someone in second place...
    • View Profile
    • Beyond Impossibility
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2009, 07:29:14 AM »
I'm afraid the action scene here is not quite doing it for me; it doesn't have the sense of urgency it needs. I think part of it is the fact that you're describing things in big long paragraphs, which makes the whole thing seem a bit more ponderous. And then, you're giving us basically a blow-by-blow of Gartren and Tul, but we know nothing of what the prisoners are doing and nothing of what our POV is thinking.

Page eight, you write, "Tul spun and drew his weapon", but of course Tul's weapon should already be drawn: he was just using it to hack at the ropes. Also, why did such a presumably experienced soldier like Tul miss the fact that one of his opponents was still standing?

I also wondered about the limits to the Drakkin's power, and why he bothered manipulating Tul and Gartren into a fight instead of just going for whatever it was he really wanted (presumably either Garrick or Karrys). The wait-half-an-hour thing didn't really work for me either; I had the same initial feeling, that you were just hesitant to kill him off, and it didn't make sense to me that the Drakkin would bother making them wait half an hour before killing Gartren anyway. (Now that I'm no longer reading it, I suppose I can make some reasonable speculations, but it was pretty jarring at the time.) I would have preferred that the Drakkin just killed Gartren outright. Tell everyone not to move or the boy dies, and once it's clear they're going to comply, kill him outright.

The descriptions here are good, though. Again, could definitely use some smoothing out, but they certainly did the trick.

swaindaddy

  • Level 4
  • *
  • Posts: 94
  • Fell Points: 0
    • View Profile
    • christopherswain.net
Re: June 15 - Blade of the Fallen - Chapter 10
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2009, 02:41:14 PM »
See my post above yours - answers all of those questions. Except for the pulling out of the sword which is a great catch - will fix.

also - I think you're right, I need to make the whole scene longer and describe much more than just the blow by blow.

Working on it.
"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything."

Wizard's First Rule —Chapter 36, p.397, U.S. hardcover edition