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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Alloy of Law Excerpt (Updated with Ch2)
« on: July 02, 2011, 01:24:29 AM »
There is not a redshift. It would have had too many other implications. Instead, you should probably think of a realmatic explanation.
"Magic is what makes fantasy fantastic," someone says, "you can't apply rules to them or else it loses wonder!" I respond, "Sure, but if you want to write them you will certainly want to know how they work." Writing is all about execution, and I find applying some basic laws of physics to magic systems make them more understandable and realistic. Here, I'm going to outline my basic method for developing a magic system.
Column by Chaos2651
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If their ultimate plot is to sell more Miles Vorkosigan books by giving the first one away free, it worked... I'm hooked.Maybe I shouldn't say this (if it discourages you from buying), but you can actually download almost every Vorkosigan book for free. Baen puts out a CD with many hardcovers that has previous ebooks on it, and they encourage this CD to be shared. Search for Baen CD the fifth imperium.
Very good introduction to the story. Some things I noticed in the prologue:FMJ bullets with steel jackets do exist in our world, and it's usually a lead core, according to what our gun expert said and according to everything I can find. But yes, it's hard on a barrel. You can consider the description of the jacket a simplified one; there's probably more going on in its construction.
Steel jacketed bullets seem like a bad idea. The hard metal quickly degrades the gun's barrel, which is why steel cored bullets (jacketed with copper, and possibly lead) are used instead.
When going down the hole, Wax drops a bullet to support his weight. This should probably be a cartridge (bullet, case, powder, and primer all together) unless he carried loose bullets to be used in the same way Mistborn used coins.To the average person, even the average soldier who shoots guns all the time (and I asked one this specific question; he's served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan), the whole thing is colloquially called a bullet. Generally only gun enthusiasts refuse to call it a bullet. So sometimes in the book when it says bullet it's referring to the whole thing, even sometimes from Wax's POV.
Wax cocks his gun twice inside of the mine, without him uncocking it (that we are told of). Once was just before seeing the first display, then again at the end.Ah, that's probably my screwup and I'll see if I can fix it.
When I read Will Power it comes across to me as the kind of 'fantasy book for the masses'. It pokes fun at the high fantasy genre, and doesn't make the magic so in the reader's face that literary snobs won't necessarily put it down because it has magic in it.
If that makes any sense. It seems to me that's what he's trying to do. As a result the books will have a broader base than if he'd taken the magic and worldbuilding and etc seriously. Kind of like Wicked (McGuire), where the magic/worldbuilding is a second-thought kind of thing to the character interactions, and as a result it reaches a wider audience than 'regular' fantasy. Or am I mistaken?