Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Peter Ahlstrom on May 09, 2006, 12:07:51 PM
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So...what is it? Sequel to anything? New non-YA project?
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ummm....I'll take a shot at the dark and say a new book title.
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I never would have guessed.
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ya, Brandon is tricky like that.
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More like insane! :o How's he going to write three Alcatraz sequels, polish Hero of Ages, not to mention Alcatraz, and start a new series? yeesh. Color me impressed (and jealous) if this is the case!
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All in a day's work.
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Stand-Alone fantasy book. I'd like a solo book to go between Tor series. I'm just prewriting right now--I'm not certain if it will make it to officially "Being Written" status or not.
For those of you up on your unpublished Brandon books, this one will steal the Siri story concept from the failed book MYTHWALKER. (The young girl who gets married to the harsh emperor in the early chapters.)
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Didn't you already steal that concept for Way of Kings?
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You can't really steal from yourself, I think.
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Tage,
I was going to, then things went very differently in Way of Kings. There is a marriage in that, but the coolest parts of the Mythwalker plot never got used.
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Tage,
I was going to, then things went very differently in Way of Kings. There is a marriage in that, but the coolest parts of the Mythwalker plot never got used.
Which was a shame, really. Now if we can just get him to do something with that sci-fi novel, we'll be all set
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Which one of the two?
But yeah, Mythwalker magic system wants to be used someday. Pretty much everything else has been cannibalized now...
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This one won't steal the magic system, however. I want to keep thinking about it more before I do that--I don't think I got that magic down very well in that book.
With this book, the part I'm stealing the role reversal of the two sisters. (They were cousins in Mythwalker, but this will work better.) The firebrand younger sister who gets sent off to be married to the emperor--sent instead of her older, more-refined sister because the king knows war against the emperor is inevitable, and can't bare to part with the sister who is supposed to go. The older sister, upon discovering this, runs off to attempt a rescue--but, of course, she has no experience with such things.
Fuzzy: A PANDORA rewrite is far, far off, I'm afraid. But, I haven't forgotten how much you (and a couple of others) are pulling for that book. Perhaps you should keep working on me!
Both MYTHWALKER and PANDORA, by the way, are available for anyone who wants electronic copies of them. Be warned, however, that MYTHWALKER was never finished, and PANDORA is rather rough. (I wrote it before ELANTRIS.)
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You might want to read/be aware of Gail Carson Levine's Two Princesses of Bamarra, which sounds like it has a very similar setup. However, the firebrand sister runs off to save their father, rather than marry an enemy king.
Of course, Two Princesses didn't do very well, and I haven't seen a book from her since besides the Princess Tales. (This is the author of Ella Enchanted, one of my favorite books of all time.
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Sounds a little like Tiaga, or how ever it's spelled, the only book I've read where you are rooting for the evil emperor and loath the hero (in this case the girl's brother).
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This one won't steal the magic system, however. I want to keep thinking about it more before I do that--I don't think I got that magic down very well in that book.
You know I remember thinking this. I can't remember exactly *what* the problems were, but there were some logistical problems with some of the magic. The healing powers, especially, as I recall.
Don't worry; I'll keep pushing for Pandora. And everything else. ;D Actually, one of my coworkers from last year dug up my email out of who-knows-where and asked me what that book I lent to them was, (Elantris). So he went and bought a copy and said he'd stop by Walden to have it signed.
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You might want to read/be aware of Gail Carson Levine's Two Princesses of Bamarra, which sounds like it has a very similar setup. However, the firebrand sister runs off to save their father, rather than marry an enemy king.
Of course, Two Princesses didn't do very well, and I haven't seen a book from her since besides the Princess Tales. (This is the author of Ella Enchanted, one of my favorite books of all time.
I have that one, if you want to see it, EUOL. I like it much better than Ella Enchanted, actually.
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I actually rooted for the bad guys and loathed the heroes in every Shannara book I ever read. I don't think that's what the author intended, though.
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I have that one... I like it much better than Ella Enchanted, actually.
I kept looking at it in bookstores when it first came out, but never had the money for it. Now, I've never gotten back to it, so I've never had the chance to read it. I should check it out from the library sometime. So pretty much all I know about it is that it didn't sell as well as Ella Enchanted (which was a Newbery Honor, so no surprise there) and a basic idea of the plot.
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I don't think EUOL needs to worry though. Two Princesses really isn't his style, so I wouldn't worry about likenesses.
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I don't think EUOL needs to worry though. Two Princesses really isn't his style, so I wouldn't worry about likenesses.
Wait, isn't that a song by the Spin Doctors?
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that's Two Princes, not Two Princesses ;D
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Since some of you seemed interested in this, I'll post some sample chapters as I have them, to let you see what I'm working on.
These will be rough, first drafts. Those of you familiar with my process will know that I often rewrite beginning chapters quite extensively. The events generally remain the same, but the visuals, motivations, setting elements, and character themes often go through a lot of refinement.
Regardless, feel free to post thoughts and criticisms, if you wish.
www.brandonsanderson.com/graphics/WarbreakerCh1.doc
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And, chapter two, double posted because I feel like it.
Note that the names in this are not static. The spellings will change a bit until I settle on ones I like.
www.brandonsanderson.com/graphics/WarbreakerCh2.doc
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Just in case you downloaded the earlier version of Chapter 2, I just revised it significantly, doubling it in size. I decided that since Siri was going to be a main--if not the main--character of the book, I really wanted to focus more on her viewpoint than her father's. So, I added a ten page section at the beginning of Ch2. Then, I revised the father's viewpoint to match the personality and things I'd fleshed out for Siri.
Right now, my biggest area of interest is Siri's character. I'm a lot less worried about it now than I was earlier, but I'd still like to know what--if anything--is working for people in this story.
EDIT--just went back and revised Chapter One too, making it more readable.
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I am saving these to my computer at work, but don't have a good way to get them to my home computer at the moment, as we just moved and haven't got internet set up yet. (Being able to walk to work now trumps any temporary inconvenience...)
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No prob, Ookla. As I said, I'm mostly just posting these because people expressed curiosity about the project. I'll take feedback if it comes, but that's no the main purpose here.
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And, Chapter 3
www.brandonsanderson.com/graphics/WarbreakerCh3.doc
I'll probably post one more of these. After that, you can ask for them by mail, if you want.
Right here, I'm worried that the story isn't weighty enough. I'm reacting against MISTBORN, I think, shooting for something more lighthearted. But, is it too light? I have some deep things I want to get into in this book, and I don't want an early start that seems too fluffy to undermine me.
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I printed out the first 2 chapters, and it didn't seem very light to me. Chapter 1 guy was pretty evil, and the magic system is pretty brutal.
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Chapter three is the one I worried about, I guess. Maybe needlessly. The thing is, I've been in the MISTBORN world for so long that ANYTHING seems light to me by comparison.
Thanks for the reassurance.
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I like light!
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Wow, I still have 'Aether of Night" in my Brandon folder.
Well I didn't think Ch. 3 is a problem as far as being too light, except for the fact that Siri is coming across as ADD. I liked Siri a lot in Mythwalker, now she seems to have dropped about 20 IQ points.
I thought the setup seemed sufficiently dark, especially as I'm not sure I like how "Runelords" the magic system seems to have become. (sucking life force from other people)
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I'll look at the ADD thing, Fuzzy--though, I think I dropped her in age a few years, and that has changed her personality in my mind. What was your opinion of her in Ch2, as opposed to Ch3?
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Well perhaps that's the problem then, though I didn't think of that. It makes sense that since Siri is the youngest of four, if Vivena is only 20, Siri must be what - 15 or 16 at the most?
In chapter 2, I wouldn't guess 16. I would guess closer to 14 probably. She doesn't seem to have any respect for anything, her father, her siblings, even her religion (which I don't blame her for, crazy Vulcan religion if you ask me). I would feel better if there were one thing pointed out that she respected in her life. Like, just to throw something out, she's 14, so maybe she loves horses, right? Maybe the calmness of being with a well-trained horse helps her center the emotions she can't control the rest of the time. She doesn't even seem to feel particularly bad for "flaunting" her emotions the way she does, or "drawing attention to herself" which is fine, but I feel like she ought to have one stable thing that she does conform to, or the rest is just meaningless. Her "rebellions" aren't even particularly exciting, she just doesn't want to sit in the house staring at grey walls all day. (Again, don't blame her,) but she could be throwing eggs at the stableboys or pouring hot wax on the stairs.
In chapter 3, I don't have any sense of how she's supposed to act because I don't know her at all... and yet I feel her reactions are off. Does she have an unmentioned dead mother to miss? (Or did I miss her dead mother?) What is she going to miss about home? Who is she going to miss? If she's 15, there's NO way she's likely to be ready to get married, (Unless they marry kids off younger, which is admittedly possible in the pastoral society, but none of her elder siblings is married yet), she should be terrified at being forced to grow up more than anything else, given her former behavior. She brings up that Vivena was better educated, but how much was Siri educated? If she's 15, shouldn't she still be in some kind of schooling? (Even remedial religion, something like that, especially for her.)