76
Books / Re: why do editors and agents hate prologues
« on: June 13, 2011, 06:12:07 AM »
Yeah, the clunky nature is why we picked something else.
News:
Max is a Shadowblade, a supernatural--and supernaturally competent--warrior bound to protect her witch Giselle. As a Shadowblade, Max doesn't age. She is better, faster, stronger than any ordinary human being. And she hates it. Giselle betrayed her trust to make Max what she is, and though she is magically compelled to protect Giselle and follow orders, Max works against her witch in every way she can. Continue reading Bitter Night
Review by Silk
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77
Writing Group / Re: Best. Word. Ever.
« on: June 11, 2011, 10:49:14 PM »
I tried to play senesce in Words with Friends the other day and it wouldn't take it. Made me mad.
78
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Correcting Brandon (and Howard and Dan) (or, why they are SO wrong ;p)
« on: June 10, 2011, 05:42:05 PM »
Sigh. You're missing the point. Of course Brandon is not Tolkien. He nevertheless has a valid point about him from the point of view of a novelist.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Correcting Brandon (and Howard and Dan) (or, why they are SO wrong ;p)
« on: June 09, 2011, 09:12:57 PM »
Because to some fantasy writers the Lord of the Rings is still their favorite fantasy novel, so they think that to be a successful novelist they should emulate Tolkien. So it's extremely relevant to the discussion.
Worldbuilding is not just about backstory. It's about exactly what the word seems to mean, building a world. There can be many reasons to build a world. You could spend a long time building a world in order to make a good RPG setting, as was done for Forgotten Realms. You could build a world to make a setting for your conlang (constructed language) if you are a conlanger. You could do it simply as a thought experiment. Or you could build a world simply to build a world because worlds are interesting.
Tolkien said he wanted to construct a mythology for England. But I think the mythology he constructed had very little to do with England and was just concerned with its own world. There are some vague parallels in there and I assume a Tolkien scholar could point out a lot more, but as far as the layman is concerned it's just a world unto itself.
The worldbuilding in the Silmarillion was not just a list of facts and dates. Tolkien built the world through poems and stories about events in the world. But worldbuilding is certainly what Tolkien was doing, constructing a mythology about a place and time that never existed. He wasn't just writing individual poems and stories; by setting them all in the same fictional time and place he was worldbuilding, giving a picture of the whole through its parts.
I have Brandon's worldbuilding document for the Stormlight Archive, and parts of it are written as historical-sounding stories. He could have gone the route of just writing the history of Roshar and releasing it to the public. But that's not what he wanted to do, because he's a novelist.
Worldbuilding is not just about backstory. It's about exactly what the word seems to mean, building a world. There can be many reasons to build a world. You could spend a long time building a world in order to make a good RPG setting, as was done for Forgotten Realms. You could build a world to make a setting for your conlang (constructed language) if you are a conlanger. You could do it simply as a thought experiment. Or you could build a world simply to build a world because worlds are interesting.
Tolkien said he wanted to construct a mythology for England. But I think the mythology he constructed had very little to do with England and was just concerned with its own world. There are some vague parallels in there and I assume a Tolkien scholar could point out a lot more, but as far as the layman is concerned it's just a world unto itself.
The worldbuilding in the Silmarillion was not just a list of facts and dates. Tolkien built the world through poems and stories about events in the world. But worldbuilding is certainly what Tolkien was doing, constructing a mythology about a place and time that never existed. He wasn't just writing individual poems and stories; by setting them all in the same fictional time and place he was worldbuilding, giving a picture of the whole through its parts.
I have Brandon's worldbuilding document for the Stormlight Archive, and parts of it are written as historical-sounding stories. He could have gone the route of just writing the history of Roshar and releasing it to the public. But that's not what he wanted to do, because he's a novelist.
80
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Correcting Brandon (and Howard and Dan) (or, why they are SO wrong ;p)
« on: June 09, 2011, 04:26:02 PM »
It's a matter of perspective, what the end intent is. From the point of view of a novelist, what Brandon said IS the case. Writing Excuses is advice for people who want to be commercially successful novelists. If you do what Tolkien did but want to be a novelist, you are wasting your time.
If you want to do what Tolkien did, but for the same reason as Tolkien, then you are not wasting your time, since for you the worldbuilding is an end in and of itself. Which is fine but irrelevant to Writing Excuses' purpose.
If you want to do what Tolkien did, but for the same reason as Tolkien, then you are not wasting your time, since for you the worldbuilding is an end in and of itself. Which is fine but irrelevant to Writing Excuses' purpose.
81
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: June 08, 2011, 09:12:43 PM »
I quite enjoyed Fuzzy Nation. Karen is a fan of the original and also liked this reboot.
It's a short and not complicated novel. And the main character is the same snarky guy as most of Scalzi's main characters. But reading it was entertainment time well spent.
It's a short and not complicated novel. And the main character is the same snarky guy as most of Scalzi's main characters. But reading it was entertainment time well spent.
82
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Correcting Brandon (and Howard and Dan) (or, why they are SO wrong ;p)
« on: June 08, 2011, 09:03:46 PM »
Tolkien wanted to develop his own set of mythology. He didn't have any intention to write a novel. When he did eventually write the novels, he used that mythology as the backstory for the novels. Backstory doesn't have to be something you come up with only after getting the idea for a novel.
I think Brandon has a very valid point (except that I haven't listened to the episode recently to be sure that's actually what he's saying). From the point of view of a novelist, a collection of mythological stories is useful only as a backstory. It's not a marketable work in and of itself. I highly doubt that Tolkien would have become the phenomenon that he became, spawning his own Tolkien scholars, were it not for the commercially viable novels that he eventually wrote. The Silmarillion or the stuff in the Book of Lost Tales collections, if he had put them out without writing the Lord of the Rings, would have soon been pulped by any bookstores that risked taking them on, and no one today would be talking about Tolkien.
I think Brandon has a very valid point (except that I haven't listened to the episode recently to be sure that's actually what he's saying). From the point of view of a novelist, a collection of mythological stories is useful only as a backstory. It's not a marketable work in and of itself. I highly doubt that Tolkien would have become the phenomenon that he became, spawning his own Tolkien scholars, were it not for the commercially viable novels that he eventually wrote. The Silmarillion or the stuff in the Book of Lost Tales collections, if he had put them out without writing the Lord of the Rings, would have soon been pulped by any bookstores that risked taking them on, and no one today would be talking about Tolkien.
83
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« on: June 08, 2011, 08:53:08 PM »
Well, there are 10 months, with 10 weeks per month, and the year is 500 days, so that makes 5 days per week. 
84
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Timespan for Stormlight Archives? (Spoilers)
« on: June 08, 2011, 05:14:36 AM »
I write the dates as Month#-Week#-Day#, XX-XX-X where the two pairs are from 1 to 10 and the last number is from 1 to 5.
85
Movies and TV / Re: What are you watching?
« on: June 08, 2011, 05:11:54 AM »
Last night we saw the season 2 finale of Babylon 5. I loved it the first time I saw it and it's still good. I remarked this time that the WWII parallels are entirely unsubtle.
86
Brandon Sanderson / Re: WoT release date
« on: June 07, 2011, 06:44:36 PM »
The Rithmatist comes in 2012 and Brandon does need to do a solid rewrite.
87
Writing Group / Re: Seeking a SciFi and Fantasy Writing Group with active members, firm deadlines
« on: June 03, 2011, 05:04:20 PM »
Our writing group almost always does finished or close to finished novels. (And with Brandon that can mean over 300,00 words.) The writer is usually working on a different book at the time. But if deadlines are looming we speed things up and do more than one chapter per week.
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Howard Tayler / Re: How do you read Schlock?
« on: June 02, 2011, 11:34:37 PM »
I really like the iPad app, except for the fact that it's 3 hours behind the website when a new comic gets released. =\
89
Writing Group / Re: Seeking a SciFi and Fantasy Writing Group with active members, firm deadlines
« on: June 02, 2011, 05:41:51 PM »
Our writing group (Brandon's writing group) has up to 12 people, but a max of four submissions per week. Some are only readers, and some writers alternate weeks, and some submit only occasionally.
A writing group is difficult to start. Writing Excuses has done some podcasts on it.
A writing group is difficult to start. Writing Excuses has done some podcasts on it.
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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Mistborn: Alloy of Law
« on: May 31, 2011, 11:19:29 PM »
I think I should mention that Hoid's presence in this book is the most subdued yet. Don't anticipate something like Way of Kings, and don't keep expecting him to show up as you're reading. It will be especially obvious to certain readers, but if you miss it, don't let a search for Hoid distract you from the story.