October 1, 2005

I have become frustrated with the modern fantasy genre for the moment and have begun reading Lord Jim. I went looking through my brother's books and he's always raving about Joseph Conrad. It is so refreshing to read something by somebody who can really write. The writing style is fantastic. He has molded the English language into a work of art. And to think the man didn't even begin to learn the language until he was in his early twenties. I've decided I really love the old style of writing and I want to learn to emulate it. I'll have to read more by authors from the first half of the twentieth century. Those were days when writing was an art form and publishing was different. My reading of Lord Jim is going very slowly, but it doesn't matter because I hang on every word and it's music to my ears. I may make my way through a number of my brother's books.

September 17, 2005

Fortress Draconis has lost my interest. Another story -- another trilogy -- down. There were two or three storylines going on at once that didn't seem to have anything to do with one another, one involving a perfect warrior-princess and her warrior-princess sister which I barely skimmed. Maybe if the author hadn't kept mentioning "her white-gold hair" it might have been halfway tolerable. Or if he hadn't tried to make her name sound cool. "Alyx" just sounds stupid. The characters, while not the worst I've seen, don't seem all that well developed and very little time is spent getting to know the more interesting ones. I also don't like the way Stackpole changed "elves" to "Vorquelves." Elves was just fine, and sometimes they are referred to as such. If it's not broken, don't try to fix it. It also seemed as if very little was happening in the story. They killed a few orcs - I mean gibberers. Other than that, nothing much. I was about 230 pages in and he could have made it a hundred. Less, if he eliminated the side-story. We don't need to know every detail of their travels. And the big wizard is a whiny fat kid. I've noticed all the females are pretty, and none of them are fat. I'd hate to have to switch to another genre, but I might have to if I keep finding books like this. I think it's time to go to young adult fantasy and see if what they have is any better.
For my stories I want to keep point of view limited to a few or, if possible, one character. Many of my favorite narratives stay with one character for most or all of the duration of the story. Rowling writes like this; the majority of the narrative is with Harry. Four chapters have been otherwise. Eddings wrote his Elenium trilogy never leaving Sparhawk's mind, though I don't recall much insight to his thoughts. The issue I have with Salvatore is that he changes narratives constantly, often leaving them with minor characters and, almost always, the bad guys. I had thought of doing that, but now it seems like it would rob some of the element of surprise from the story. The main characters don't know everything that's going to happen, and I don't think the reader needs to either. That was one thing I admired about McKiernan's writing (one of the few things) -- point of view didn't change. Or maybe it did and I don't remember, but it never strayed very far. Most of the writing guides I've come across discourage using point of view for minor characters, and I have to agree. If something happens elsewhere that the readers need to know about, telling it through another character's exposition is a better way to do it. That's basically what happened in the Council of Elrond chapter. It was hard to get through, sure, but in my opinion it beats jumping all over the place and getting inside the heads of characters we'll never see again.

September 16, 2005

I picked up Fortress Draconis again and started where I left off. Since I last read any of it in April, it's no wonder I forgot most of the seventy pages I read before. So far the only vice I've come across is the warrior princess that every fantasy author thinks they need to have these days. I don't necessarily have anything against a woman in war, as long as it's pulled off believably, which doesn't happen very often. It just doesn't feel realistic to me when a woman -- especially a young one, and they are always, always beautiful -- is dressed in full armor and leading an army. For some reason it was more or less believable in Willow, but it may have had something to do with her mother being a very powerful sorceress queen. But since even in this day in age there is not total gender equality in most military structures, it is ridiculous to think that there would be in a medievalesque society. In The Lord of the Rings, Eowyn had to disguise herself in order to go to war. It's inconceivable to think that any and every woman could have the mind for war, just as it's inconceivable to think that any and every man does. Female characters in fantasy books are too often amazingly unrealistic and unbelievable. Women are more often toush as iron nails and can take on any man in a fight and win. The strange thing is that many of these are written by men. It feels like these guys have a touch of radical feminism. I don't want any of that. Every author (and indeed anyone who writes any kind of story these days ever) seems to think that they need to have a super-prominent female character in the story. If the writer is male, the female is tough and falls in love with the hero within ten pages of meeting him. If the writer is female, so is the main character in most cases and is special in some way and saves the world or something. Those stories I tend to stay away from. I want to make my people realistic. A female warrior will be from another culture, and probably scoffed at by most. She won't be all-powerful if just a soldier. It will most likely be an elf, and she won't take over the story and steal the hero's heart. I don't even want my hero to fall in love in the first story. If and when he does, it will not be love at first sight, either. I believe that the best and longest-lasting love grows from deep friendship, not from immediate lust. Passion dies, but the bonds of friendship are much harder to break. The best kind of person to spend a life with, I believe, is one who you are comfortable with, someone who shares common interests and feelings. I don't want to leap into the dating game, I want to know the person first. That's how my characters will do it. Some of the cultures might do arranged marriages, but it's not the same thing. Also, half-breeds, like elf-human hybrids, will be quite rare. Getting back to the girl in battle thing, I prefer that a girl has to break the rules and hundreds of years of tradition to do it. Now that's showing progress better than if they're already equal. I always liked a girl who's a rebel. Innovativeness rocks.

August 14, 2005

I've been wanting to write something that isn't pure fantasy, set in another time. I have what could be called the ingredients (some of them) for the beginning of a story set in modern times where magic is not publicly practiced, but certain people are magic. A boy has been living with people all his live he thought were his real parents, but they are not. His parents disappeared when he was very small and none of the magic-using world has heard from them since. The boy's elderly next-door neighbor is actually a wizard or whatever who has been keeping an eye on him. Something happens one day and the neighbor comes to take the boy away to his real home. This is basically everything I have. I know nothing yet about the bad guy or what is going to happen once the boy (whom I have decided to call James, but as of yet has no last name) leaves his house. I think I might try to write just the beginning and see where it goes.
I've been having sort of a craving to write fantasy stories that take place in modern times. I never much liked the idea before, and I don't know exactly what made me do such a 180 degree turnaround. I've read very few stories that are written in such way. They seem to work best when the main characters are very young. When adults are in whatever fashion transported to a magical realm, it doesn't feel the same. I found myself not getting into Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold at all. I think that before I hadn't known that he main character was from our earth. Sometimes it seems to work best with children, especially if the other place is somewhere that adults cannot normally go. There is something about a young mind that is more readily willing to believe enough to send themselves to a magical place, something that adults have forgotten about and have no time for.

July 19, 2005

SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has come out and I read the whole thing over the weekend. It just might be my favorite one yet. I don't know how patient I can be before the next one comes out, because I've already figured out one thing and want to be proved right. I also want to know that Harry isn't a horcrux (can people be horcruxes?). I do not want a Dragonheart situation. I knew that Dumbledore was going to die at some point: the chapter titled "Phoenix Lament" more or less proved that suspicion before I got that far. I actually thought it would be later, but whatever. I'm not quite sure one way or another about Snape -- he could still be playing the bad guys and Dumbledore could have faked his death or asked Snape to kill him. With Rowling, you never really know. It seems relatively likely that Draco may end up on our side (by "our" I mean the good guys). I've had this desire to see him and Harry fight side-by-side. And, as always, I'm hoping to see Wormtail pull a Gollum and somehow turn the tide in favor of the good guys. I'm thinking he'll do this willingly. Harry said something to him about owing him for saving his life before or something like that. I think he'll pay him back. I was very happy about the Harry and Ginny thing, which I've been waiting to see happen since I got into the series. I figured it out way before he did. I've been through that, I recognized the signs. And Tonks is reminding me more and more of myself, first the clumsiness and now the werewolf fetish... it's getting kind of scary, really.
I'm starting to read Eragon and the plot seems promising, but the writing style is definitely that of someone rather young and inexperienced at writing. It reminds me of he way I used to write a few years ago, when I hadn't done very much yet. There is an awful lot of tell and not so much show, but I'll keep reading for a while at least -- it's very possible the writing will improve, especially if he keeps at it. I got better over the years with practice -- there's no reason why he shouldn't as well.

May 2, 2005

Lara from The Fifth Ring has got to be the most annoying heroine EVER. Apparently she's the only girl in town who fences, she's as good at it as any of the boys, yet she still acts like a total girl even though her wearing of dresses isn't so much for herself as it is for the guy whose attention she wants which pisses me off even more because she's totally not being true to herself. She acts all innocent and naive when she sees a couple of prostitutes and immediately proceeds to calmly point a knife at a guy's area when he makes advances on her. For all her bravado that she struts off, she sure isn't consistent with it. I think the author was trying too hard to make her "perfect" and only succeeded in making her fake. There doesn't seem to be anything remotely unique about her and she doesn't have much in he way of a personality (or a point in the story). Actually, most or all of the author's female characters seem this way -- flat. I'm still waiting for an author to write a girl who's real and not annoying or too serious. I am most certainly not going to have an annoying heroine. Most of my stories don't look like they're going to have room for many super-prominent female characters at all. I'm not a feminist. It just doesn't feel real enough to have the girls just as good (and often better) at everything in this sort of world. Other than the annoying females thing, the book doesn't seem that bad so far. The action sequences, when they can be found, are quite intense.
After plodding on through four hundred pages, I decided the hell with Mathew Lewin. He wasn't all that likeable anyhow. I fear I may have spoken too soon when I said that the characters were well-developed. Most of them are in a severe need of a bash over the head. It seems living in the same small town all their lives has made them more or less exactly like one another and incredibly boring. I can't believe how difficult it is to find decent fantasy novels. At least my hopes for having a writing career are looking bright every time I read a really bad book and see things I know I can do better. I don't understand why every single story needs people to fall in love or something of the sort. We could do without that every now and then, or at the very least not have it take over the rest of the story. It's so much better when they don't make a big bloody deal over it. I'm going to give Shadow Moon a try. At least I know George Lucas thinks up good stories (or used to at any rate). One of these days I'll just resort to reading Tolkien and Rowling over and over again and write my own damn book.

February 27, 2005

It turns out Legend's two main characters fell madly in love with each other and were sleeping together within twenty pages of meeting. Unfortunately only one of them was male. Any of my characters who fall in love are going to do it like real people and know each other for a lot more than a day and a half. I'm so sick of this kind of think happening, and there being sex in every single fantasy novel. So I put Legend back on my shelf and started reading Fortress Draconis instead. The main character is fifteen, so hopefully there won't be a lot of sex involving him. So far I like it. No annoying female characters yet. I went to Powell's yesterday and found not one but two copies of The Changeling Prince. I only got one, but I'm so happy I only paid four dollars for it instead of ten, which is at least what I would have pain had I bought it on Amazon. I ordered the first of Mitchell Graham's trilogy through Boders because I can't find it anywhere. Even Powell's didn't have it, and they have everything. This book is only a few years old. At least I know the whole trilogy has been published already -- all I'm missing is the first book. I also got the trilogy that takes place after Willow, because I loved the movie so much I figured I ought to read it some day. In some cases I don't care as much when a story is about a girl. I loved Willow's world, even if the only characters in it that I know are Franjean and Rool.

February 25, 2005

Turns out Foreigner is pretty boring. Most of it is thought process, a kind of internal monologue that often refers to things that have happened before or how things work now -- basically it's a whole lot of exposition and very little is happening. I got about a hundred and sixty or so pages in and got too bored to finish it. Unfortunately I have four other books from that series and at this point it's doubtful that I'll ever read them. I did, however, aquire several new books this week. I have the second and, as of this afternoon, the third in a trilogy that looks promising. I'm waiting for the first to arrive at Borders so I can start the series. I'm starting Legend by David Gemmell that so far isn't bad (the guy's English and usually they're good fantasy authors). I had a book by Gemmell once before but never read it. This one is the first in a very large series ( I think there are eight) and I'm seeing if they're any good first before I get them all. I'm not very far in, but at least the characters seem interesting. I don't usually read books with aging heroes (David Eddings may be an exception -- but I picture Sparhawk as quite young, so maybe not) but this series looked good and Gemmell has many books in case I like his writing. The hero's name is Druss, and on the cover he looks remarkably like Sean Connery. I might picture him as a little different (I'm thinking Liam Neesonlike) but I haven't met him yet, just some guy named Rek who looks like he may be significant and a guy in the prologue who does not. Red's obviously weathered somewhat so probably not all that young, but it doesn't say he's old, either. Probably somewhere in the middle. I'm trying to get a hold of The Changeling Prince since i liked it so much, but it seems it's out of print. There are a few copies for sale on Amazon, each for at least ten dollars, but I figure I liked it that much. I'll check out used bookstores first, but if I can't find it I'm ordering a copy. Young Adult fantasy seems to be really good. And it doesn't have any damned sex. I swear to Gaea all of the adult fantasy authors feel like they have to put sex in their books. I'll surprise everyone and not do it. Or maybe I'll just write YA. That wouldn't be so bad, actually. Brooks doesn't have that kind of stuff in his (or at least not in the one book of his I read). Neither does Eddings, or at least not so explicit or not so I remember. Salvatore doesn't have much. It seems only the really great authors like Tolkien seem to sweep it out completely. He probably didn't figure he needed it, and I agree with him. I'll leave that part of the story up to my fans. I'm actually really looking forward to having my own fanfiction -- it's a sign of admiration, even if it's sometimes godawful. I can't wait to see who they slash. It also seems as though nobody writes with elves or dwarves anymore unless they write for TSR. McKiernan does, but they're cardboard and boring as hell. I also really didn't appreciate how dwarven males in his books were big and burly and hariy, while the females were slender and delicate and utterly graceful. I see enough of that on TV and in real life.

February 2, 2005

I'm giving up on Into the Fire. I'm really getting tired of how melodramatic everybody is. Even battle-hardened immortal elves will burst into tears at the mere mention of death. I'll probably keep the books around for a while in case I ever feel like finishing them when I'm terribly bored or stuck at home or something. Then there is the decision of what to read next. I could start CJ Cherryh's books in scifi, or David Eddings' Tamuli, or the Magic Kingdom of Lanover series. Hopefully whatever I pick won't take four months to read (or maybe it will, since I have so much damn homework). I know I like David Eddings, and this series has most of the same characters as Elenium -- except for Kurik, of course.

I think I'll try CJ Cherryh's Foreigner. It has a guy in the lead - a young one - who seems to take a bit of a beating now and then. Not too tough a guy. Just how I like them. Uber-tough heroes too big for pain are no fun.

February 1, 2005

Yesterday I found a book at the library called Tolkien's Ring, which goes into the inspirations behind The Lord of the Rings. I have only just started reading it, but I already want my own copy. It's amazing to know what is behind that story, and what sources I can use to draw from for my own. It seems I'm already using several. I also found out from this book that Tolkien hated the works of Shakespeare, especially MacBeth, and indeed the genre of drama itself. That surprised me at first, but then I started thinking about the drama classes I've been taking; nothing has really blown my socks off. The plays we've been reading really are meant to be performed, not read. I usually hurry to finish the plays in my Shakespeare class. The only one I've actually seemed to like is Othello, and I read that in my other drama class. I guess I don't like him as much as I expected. The other plays, too, can be seen as good -- and I don't have too much trouble reading them, but I don't think I'd make a habit of it or read them on my own. Books are still my favorite literature form by far. I'm getting much batter at visualizing things I read or just think of inside my head. I remember I wasn't very good at it when I read Rendezvous with Rama in 8th grade because I just couldn't conceptualize the size of the spacecraft. I think my biggest inspiration for images is music. I can see certain things happening when I listen to certain music.

January 30, 2005

"Keep in mind that the writers we call eternal or simply good, the writers who intoxicate us, have one highly important trait in common: they are moving towards something definite and beckon you to follow, and you feel with your entire being, not only with your mind, that they have a certain goal, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, which had a motive for coming and stirring Hamlet's imagination. Depending on their caliber, some have immediate goals -- the abolition of selfdom, the liberation of one's country, politics, beauty, or simply vodka... -- while the goals of others are more remote -- God, life after death, the happiness of mankind, etc. The best of them are realistic and describe life as it is, but because each line is saturated with the consciousness of its goal, you feel life as it should be in addition to life as it is, and you are captivated by it. But what about us? Us! We describe life as it is and stop right there. We wouldn't lift a hoof if you lit into us with a whip. We have neither immediate nor remote goals, and there is an emptiness in our souls. We have no politics, we don't believe in revolution, there is no God, we're not afraid of ghosts, and I personally am not even afraid of death or blindness. If you want nothing, hope for nothing, and fear nothing, you cannot be an artist."

-Anton Chekov
November 25, 1892


"Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another. The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment and the world."

-Joseph Campbell

January 27, 2005

I've finally finished Into the Forge! Huzzah! And it only took me four months to do it! Eesh. I read many reviews for it on Amazon that were negative and found myself agreeing with most of them. The elves are boring, I can't stand the way everybody uses different words for the same things, and the way McKiernan uses elvish words like they're part of this language is annoying. The languages themselves, which he 'makes up,' are obviously English-based in structure. Looks like somebody never studied languages. I'm still debating over whether or not to read the second book: it's a good deal longer and from what I've read it's not going to get much better. I feel like I should read everything I can get my hands on, though, if I want to be a good writer. I can just as easily pick up tips on what not to do. I still like Beau's character, though, even if he tends to repeat himself. Maybe that's just because in my head he's played by Dominic Monaghan and ever since Lost started I've been in love with the guy.

January 4, 2005

I am continuing to read Into the Forge, although I read about a third of Salvatore's The Thousand Orcs. Seems like I was reading something else before, but I forgot what it was. Anyway, most of Forge gets read before classes like last term. The story seems a bit slow-going with long stretches of very little of importance happening, but I still really like Beau. He might be the reason I keep reading it, so I can follow his story to the end. The way McKiernan's women are equal in battle to men kind ot steals the feeling of realism that I feel in other stories. I kind of prefer it when a girl goes against the rules when she is in battle and surprises everyone. It just seems more real. I'm not creating my ideal world for my stories, not at all. An ideal world would be peaceful, people would be smart, tolerant, and would get along. People would be courageous and noble and virtuous, and adventurous but sensitive to others' lives. But my world is not an ideal utopic world, it is a world that could easily be as real as ours, even a world that ours used to be in a time long past. A history rather than a fantasy; like Tolkien.

November 15, 2004

I'm not sure I like McKiernan's elves very much. They don't seem quite as mystical and powerful as those of Tolkien, although they are immortal. They also talk in the puritan-style Modern English, which is just strange to hear from an elf. Some of the names as well seem very un-elf-like to me, but that might be my perception from becoming so infatuated with Middle-earth elves. I'm considering giving mine Welsh names, maybe altering them to make them sound older. I've been adding to my idea book quite a bit in the past few days. It will be some time before I am ready o begin, I know now. There are more things I have to learn first. It may not be until after I have earned my degree in Medieval Studies, which will probably be at least three and a half years from now. I heard once that anything worth doing is worth doing well. This will take time. The Lord of the Rings itself was many years in the making. I will practice on other things until that time, and keep adding notes to Lily's book. One day I will be ready to begin their journey.

November 1, 2004

Reading on Into the Forge is going slow because I do most of my reading between classes, and I have people I talk to in most of them. I don't read much of it at home, but I want to -- I read The Sword of Shannara that way a year ago. At the rate it's going, I'll finish the duology by the end of the school year. Maybe if I'd spend more time reading and less time watching Homicide and pretending to write, I'd get it done sooner. I wish I would read like I used to. In grade school I would knock off one book after another, and I read many more than once. Damn internet fanfiction! I want to read more real books. It's a shame I'm so picky about my fantasy. I prefer epic fantasy or heroic, and I just hate the post-modern dreamworld impressionistic formalistic neo-phantasy that Tor is so keen on publishing nowadays. I like fantasy that has familiar things, old elements, people drawn from actual cultures. The old folktale elements feel so much more real than all that dreamworld stuff.

October 29, 2004

Instead of reading Wrath of Ashar, I switched books because it was starting out too slow and I'm now wary of Wells. Instead I'm reading Into the Forge by Dennis L. McKiernan and within the first two pages I knew I was going to like it. It started right off and its main characters are a little hobbit-like, at least in size. My mind's eye automatically chose Elijah Wood for Tipperton 'Tip' Thistledown and Dominic Monaghan for Beau Darby. So far there aren't any other characters (seeing as I'm only five pages in). The background for Mithgar is so broad and the story is presented like Tolkien himself presented his, the author telling the tale of a long-lost world from old writings, done partly by the characters themselves. I learned what this was called in the Tolkien class, but I'd have to look in my notes or ask Trabue what the name of it was. I have a feeling I'm going to like this story and that I'll be collecting more works my Mr. McKiernan.

October 27, 2004

Had to stop reading Wild Magic because I couldn't stand Cennaire. In the second book I could at least skip the parts with her, but I can't do that anymore. If she was evil, I might like her, but being oh-so-redeemable as she is just doesn't make her a good character. She's really sort of a Mary Sue, taking over the story. I still liked Bracht though. I'm trying to start Wells' other series and hoping it has good characters. If it doesn't, I'm reading more David Eddings. His characters are awesome and diverse and he doesn't Mary-Sue!

I can't remember how much of Domes of Fire I've actually read, but I don't think it was more than a few pages. I remember the first paragraph was almost exactly the same as in The Diamond Throne.