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Messages - Ari54

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256
Brandon Sanderson / Re: The Gathering Storm Chapter One
« on: September 08, 2009, 04:08:32 AM »
The description of the wind is something that only happens in first chapters of Wheel of Time books. The rest of the chapters will be more character-focused.

But:
Quote
Even when we finally do see the characters, they're barely there for a paragraph before it launches off into more melodramatic scenery.
Surely you're exaggerating.

Erm, no...? There was perhaps the equivalent of a single paragraph of dialogue, then more shoveling in of unnecessary details, then another small bit of dialogue, then still more shoveling. If you want to count characters' inner voice, then the amount of non-descriptive text in the chapter increases by only a miniscule amount. Like I said, I love description and detail in books--I myself have quite a bit of it in the novel I'm editing--but at some point it starts getting ridiculous.

That really depends how you define "unnecessary". Things like the level of body contact between characters, their reactions and feelings to the unfolding of a conversation, etc... are all rightly intertwined with dialogue in any reasonably descriptive book. Brandon's style in previous books was light on this and conveyed these details in other ways. It's fine if you like that, but all of these details relate to character development in a series as long-spanning as Wheel of Time. We also come in on a pretty introspective chapter so it's not as if this is entirely normal- we're just being reminded about all the psychological baggage the central character has picked up recently.

257
Brandon Sanderson / Re: The Gathering Storm Chapter One
« on: September 07, 2009, 10:13:54 AM »
Go figure I skip by a new thread to post in the old thread...

But yeah, nice scene setting, it sounds epic, it sounds Wheel of Time, and while it's different, it still seems to belong.

I can totally see what all those "Brandon got a lot more descriptive to write the WoT" quotes come from. It's almost like reading a totally new author.

258
Brandon Sanderson / Re: brandon similar style to RJ in mistborn
« on: September 07, 2009, 10:02:55 AM »
Just a note- there's a preview of chapter 1 on Tor.com now for those of you who want to judge for yourselves.

It certainly feels both like Brandon and Wheel of Time to me. :)

259
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Favourite book
« on: September 04, 2009, 01:20:43 AM »
Come on people. HoA was fantastic but would it have been so good had not FE been amazing first. I mean I've re-read that book twice and I find myself not wanting to skip a word and that's rare for me.

Alright so I will respect opinion here and just say that FE was eye opening for me. The drastically different magic systems and the amazingly interesting characters just threw me for a loop. I will always think of that as one of my favorite books of all time.

I dunno. I think paying off the development of several of his characters in HoA was what made it my favourite Mistborn book. The only characters that really develop in FE are Vin, and Kelsier if we count us finding out about his previous character growth. (and I think we should) In HoA, Vin, Spook, Elend, TenSoon, and Sazed all have very significant character development, and I think this "ensemble cast" style makes the story stronger, even if it required some setup from previous books.

You're certainly right that HoA could not have been so good without the setup from FE. But of course, we experience the payoff of that setup in HoA and not FE, so of course this flavours our perception.

260
Brandon Sanderson / Re: COVER ART
« on: September 04, 2009, 01:14:49 AM »
why are all of the cover art for brandons books so girly. there good books, but as a boy i feel weird/ akward bying a book with a picture of a girl breathing a rainbow.

Because girly covers are awesome, duh. :D

And seriously, we as men need to get over our insecurities about being too interested in anything "girly". It's pretty hilarious how averse to pink many men are today given the fact that the gender associations of pink and blue actually swapped in the past- blue used to be considered a passive, feminine colour because it is a "cool" colour, while pink is "warm" and bright which led to its perception as a manly and virile colour. Funny how the more things change the more they stay the same, right?

Besides, she's breathing out a fragment of someone else's soul in order to give commands to an inanimate object. That's like being a magical hacker. It's so cool it shouldn't matter even if there's a unicorn jumping a rainbow in the background. :P

261
Brandon Sanderson / Re: brandon similar style to RJ in mistborn
« on: September 04, 2009, 12:57:13 AM »
Hmm. I'm not sure about them being similar to be honest, but that could be because I find it very difficult to see around the difference in descriptiveness between Robert Jordan's books and Brandon's. I don't doubt he'll be able to pull off the style of Wheel of Time, so maybe you're right. :)

As for RJ picking Brandon- I don't believe he lined anyone up. From what I've read, it was Harriet who decided on Brandon after RJ died.

262
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Favourite book
« on: August 27, 2009, 04:24:34 AM »
Mistborn wins for me.  Honestly, Kelsier was my favorite character of the whole series.  He was complex, thoughtful, funny, and extremely intelligent.  He stood before the Dark Lord and stuck up his little finger (figuratively speaking of course).  The other books were quite good, but some of the magic was lost after Kel left the picture.

That quote about says it all for me.


I dunno, it may be the writer in me talking, but I don't think Kelsier would have been anywhere near as cool if he had stayed around for the next two novels.

263
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Vin Twittering
« on: August 26, 2009, 04:58:36 AM »
I was also highly amused by the fact that it was always seeking approval for what it did. XD

264
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Favourite book
« on: August 26, 2009, 04:57:11 AM »
I liked the plot payoffs and the big battle and the Spook scenes from HoA, so it got my vote. I was kinda tempted to vote Warbreaker though, and if HoA were a standalone book, Warbreaker would probably have been a lot better. Apples and oranges, I think. :)

265
Personally i think that him realising it online for free was a bad idea that probabally hurt sales. he should of put sample chapters up

I've yet to hear from a single person who's read it online, enjoyed it, and not bought the book. Maybe I talk to incredibly honest people or something, but that's my experience. I'll be joining them once it finds its way into a bookstore here.

266
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Vin Twittering
« on: August 24, 2009, 02:38:36 AM »
Heh. I'm glad that my flippant comment was so well-received. ;)

267
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Great concept
« on: August 16, 2009, 09:17:17 PM »
What about Fell points?

You have to do something cool to get them, like eat a baby.

As far as Warbreaker went, as far as I have heard it went really well and sales were quite high.


I was going for that whole "Soylent Green" thing. :)

Glad to hear Warbreaker's doing well. Still keeping an eye out for it at retailers over here. :)

268
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Great concept
« on: August 14, 2009, 05:17:29 AM »
... they taste good  :P

ARGH Fel Points are people!

;)

269
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Hoid??
« on: August 12, 2009, 04:00:17 AM »
Thanks Ookla. :) Out of curiosity, is Dragonsteel or Liar the elder book in that series?

270
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Gathering Storm Release Date Moved Up
« on: August 12, 2009, 03:47:07 AM »
Sweeet! Hopefully this means we'll get it in New Zealand by early November.

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