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My mom actually has no sense of humor, and my dad actually has no sense ;]
So, has anyone read George R.R. Martin? I think even someone sick of fantasy would enjoy him.
I looked over that list during NaNoWriMo, haha. I have all nos so far, but that's mainly because I'm still planning x_x; I need to get on with the writing already.
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cvgurau: Depends on whether you've seen the movies or not. In any event, just because you haven't read LotR, doesn't mean people can't call your work a rip-off.
Kherezae: Martin is the best contemporary fantasy author around, in my opnion. His books are fantastic, though very huge! I'm just glad he hasn't pulled a Robert Jordan with the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. In fact, my desktop wallpapwer in from amoka.net, and has John Snow and Ghost standing on the Wall.
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If you've actually read The Lord of the Rings, then you are fairly well defended against any danger of writing a LOTR "knock-off" as they are usually defined.
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Shocked? I'm shocked that the darn things are so popular if it's so bad to write that way. But then again, what does the general public know?
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Well...seems the only question I violate is the following:
"How about one [artifact] that will destroy it [the world]?"
But I cannot answer a definitive "yes", either. The story doesn't fit that mold exactly, though it comes close enough that I think I would risk violating that rule.
Otherwise, not too bad. Maybe there's hope for me after all. (If, of course, I ever actually FINISH this thing).
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Appropos of this thread...over at Locus Online, they posted a link to Jeff VanderMeer's "Exhaustive Essential Fantasy Reading List," with a short list of an essential sixty followed by a longer list in alphabetical order. I apologize in advance for not contributing a link here...it's beyond my simple abilities, at least on this website.
None of which appear to be written by anybody named J. R. R. Tolkien...
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Has anyone tried to write a story where all the answers are "NO!"
Do you think anyone will buy it?
I wrote a novel that was supposed to look like many of the answeres were yes but were really no. DAW sat on it for 9 years and sent back a 1 page rejection letter.
quote:None of which appear to be written by anybody named J. R. R. Tolkien...
I'd like to point out that the author was immediately asked (paraphrased): How can you not consider Tolkien essential reading?... and the reply was: I assumed everyone has already read Tolkien. Of course he should be on the list.
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I've read a number of books on that list. Those ones probably belong on the list...but I think that I tried to read some of the others mentioned and gave up on them.
That, for me, renders the list pointless. I don't care what he failed to put on there as "essential reading", if he puts something on the list which I simply couldn't enjoy, it discredits the list entirely.
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First off: Thanks, Jammrock, for posting a proper link. I tend to worry about my skills in such things...besides, I also worry about where the link might lead, and what it might bring to somebody who linked on it. (I still haven't figured out how to do some of the tricks I see others do on this site...)
Leaf II: I think I'd read six of the One-Through-Sixty list. But I don't consider myself ill-informed.
Elan: I imagine there are still some fantasy-oriented readers who never read Tolkien. I first read "The Hobbit," then "The Lord of the Rings," when I was fifteen or sixteen---but I'd had plenty of opportunity to do so before that and passed on it. All I can offer for an excuse is that, in those days, the Ballantine paperback covers were just plain awful and utterly unappealing to the beginning reader that I was. (I picked up a (hardcover) copy of "The Hobbit" at a school book sale, on the grounds that I felt I had to buy *something* and that was the closest thing to science fiction that was for sale...but once I read "The Hobbit" I just had to read "The Lord of the Rings.")
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Ok, I have six 'books' in various stages. Here are my results:
#3 Story- Legion of Dead. Yes the MC is heir to the throne and doesn't know it, but the throne does not exactly exist yet and even if it did the man lives in a cave for most of his life. A very nice cave with many dead servants.
#4 Story- Change of World. There are 5 MC's, each one is "coming of age", each one is gaining "great power" because everyone who survives does and together they defeat the supreme badguy. That is kind of the idea behind the plot. As I understand it 'tropes are not bad, it is all in how they are handled.
#5 Story- The Ordained. It is a story that looks at the question, "How does anyone know that this one item will destroy the bad guy if this has never happened before?". So yes, there is a magic widget that "saves the world".
#7 Story- The Ordained. See above. In this case the prophecy is not a mysterious knowing of the future, but a way to manipulate the people involved like pawns in a very long game.
#19 Story- Change of World. One of the characters wants to be an FBI agent and has more skill with a gun than a curling iron.
#36 Story- The Ordained. The main character's name takes part of the mother's and part of the father's name. Hyphen was required to make that work.
#48 Story- Emily. She travels through the entire book doing what the Gods tell her until she finally tells them to leave her alone. Story- Change of World. The characters go from America to Europe to track down the "supreme evil character". Story- Not King. The main character travels with militia and by the end of the book ends up leaving the kingdom. Really it only kind of applies. It depends on how you define "inordinate".
#49 Story- The Ordained. The beings that are manipulating people could tell them that it is all part of a very long game, but that would be cheating. Story- Change of World. One of the group is actually on the side of the "supreme evil". Telling would be counter-productive.
#68 Story- The Ordained. (Hitting often, eh?) If by number they mean two or more, then this one counts. There are three races, The game players and two sets of pawns.
So, of the six stories I ran through this exam Seth and Not King did not get a single yes, though Seth had one "Kind of" and Not King had five "Kind of's". Emily scored only one yes and Legion of Dead got one yes and five "Kind of's". Change of World had three marked yes and three marked "Kind of" while The Ordained (which is supposed to have cliches) got five in the yes category and another five in the "Kind of" section.
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I'm working my way through LOTR right now. It takes some dedication (he gets a little long-winded, sometimes), but all in all, it's a good read. Makes me wish I'd read them sooner, when I didn't have a dozen library books on the To Read list.
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"Does your main villain punish insignificant mistakes with death?" - Well, that's what makes him the villian! Well, that and he's trying to take control of the government....
"Do inns in your book exist solely so your main characters can have brawls?" - Would you rather they brawl in the church?
"Does anybody in your novel ever stab anybody with a scimitar?" - Of course!! There is no better stabbing weapon out there! A poniard? A dirk? Bah! Give me a curved blade wider than my hand, any day!
"Is your story about a crack team of warriors that take along a bard who is useless in a fight, though he plays a mean lute?" - Well, my main character had his iPod broken when he was ambushed by a band or goblins. Can't smash things without music, you know.
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