11-13-2018, 07:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-13-2018, 07:29 AM by Mattias Westlund.)
(11-12-2018, 10:15 PM)bigcat1969 Wrote: It reminds me of the D&D Dragons series by Hicks and Weisman? which I really enjoyed. Shoot now i want to read that again.
If you're referring to the Dragonlance Chronicles, then well spotted! Those were definitely an inspiration even though it's been like 25 years since I read them. I have very fond memories of those books, in particular the parts that were outright based on role playing sessions. Fantasy novels often have a tendendcy towards the formulaic, so having situations that unfold in completely unexpected and sometimes even weird ways is really refreshing IMO. I wanted to convey the same feeling, that these are actually people and not just constructs designed to forward the plot. And people say and do stupid things and make odd choices.
You also mentioned that the fantasy world feels generic, and it is in many ways. This is probably going to sound like an excuse for laziness and lack of imagination, but that is actually intentional. As mentioned early in this thread I'm going for something with an oldschool vibe, something reminiscent of the role playing campaigns and gamebooks of my teens. Also, it is my highly subjective opinion that fantasy is a genre that benefits from a healthy dose of clichés, and shying away from them often feels forced. No matter how good and honest the author's intentions and how well s/he builds the world, radically changing longstanding conventions is going to feel like "oh now you're just trying to be different". But again, that's just my opinion and I know many fans of the genre will likely disagree with me.
(11-12-2018, 10:15 PM)bigcat1969 Wrote: Thoughts on rating. It feels basically G rated with about ten words thrown in to make it R.
I haven't really thought about it in terms of 'rating', and I suppose the F and C words could more or less easily be replaced with less offensive expletives. But while I don't want the book to read like a Tarantino script, I also feel that foul language is actually motivated sometimes as it tells you something about the characters in question. Especially if you keep the cursing somewhat limited and just add it in here and there to drive home the point that s/he is really upset right now. Or maybe it just looks out of place, I don't know.
(11-12-2018, 10:15 PM)bigcat1969 Wrote: You have a unique style that in this faster world of shorter ebooks and other things might work very well indeed. I tend to think of long classic fantasy works that are likely overwritten. This is maybe a bit under written and jumps a bit, but that might actually be better in the modern and future world of writing.
The thing is, I could go into more detail in many situations, but that would also entail having to be consistent across the board. And right now I want to keep the momentum going--both in terms of the story itself and the actual process of writing it--so I've stuck to keeping things short and sweet. Because it's much easier to go back to elaborate on things that feel to brief or too sketchy than thinning out tons of overly verbose text.
(11-13-2018, 01:15 AM)Nayrb Wrote: I'm sure I've said it before, but one of Tad's many, many strengths is that he is simply one of the best character writers in all fantasy-dom (and beyond, really). He gives us a lot of his world through his character's eyes which is one way an author can appeal and connect to the reader, by simultaneously developing his characters, showing us the world in which they live, and finding ways to (hopefully) link them all to the reader's own sensibilities.
That is very true even though I think he has a tendency of overdoing it sometimes, with these long internal monologues and characters taking time to reflect on things even though doing so doesn't (IMO) make sense in the situation they're in. Admittedly it was more of a problem in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn than in his later books.