After a brief hiatus, we’re pleased to bring you an update on our ever-ongoing project.
In September, we completed a third revision of part one of our epic tale. Part of said revision was formatting the action and dialogue into sections to make the visual aspect a little more straightforward in terms of execution.
The completion of the formatting, which took approximately six months, was something of a milestone, which naturally required something resembling a celebration. This took the form of Horde 2.0 from Gears of War 3, possibly the manliest game ever created.
Furthermore, I am pleased to announce that as of only a few weeks ago, we began book two, which will undoubtedly be the largest, most enveloping part of the three. For myself, starting to write part two was like seeing a much anticipated sequel for the very first time.
This process, which so far has taken nearly three years, has been a worthwhile experience unto itself. What lessons have I learned, you ask?
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Do not attempt to brainstorm after watching Game of Thrones
A series that has such strong characters and themes, it’s sometimes difficult not to try to follow some of the same avenues. In fact, this sentiment weighed fairly heavily on us at the outset. Namely, most fantasy stories live in Tolkien’s shadow. So, to get an idea of what other types of fantasy stories were out there, I read a trio of books that each seemed unique enough to be worthwhile.
1) The Darkness the Comes Before, R Scott Bakker.
Of the three books that I read (actually, Dave and I both read this), it was the only one that I actually finished. The book succeeds in creating a world thriving with its own unique cultures, dialects and behaviours. The protagonists (if any can be named as such) are all vying for power in their own way, and all possess some attributes which makes them ambiguous and, at times, unpredictable. However, for a world that suffered an apocalypse at the hands of age-old evil from inhospitable northern lands (read: Warhammer Chaos), most of the citizens of this world seem to be unaffected by the horrors of the past.
2) Chronicles of the Black Company, Glen Cook.
While the book has an interesting premise (a world that went to war with a league of powerful evil sorcerers and lost), I did not feel compelled to continue past the halfway point. Magic-users are powerful yet vulnerable, a combination of traits I couldn’t quite get used to. Also, most cities and characters had short, simple names (only one character in the first half of the book had a
last name). This brevity meant that there was no feeling of culture of language specific to any particular place in the world the author was attempting to create.
3) The Deed of Paksenarrion, Elizabeth Moon.
Someone called this trilogy the true heir of Tolkien, which, to me, is more of a weakness than a strength – I never finished Lord of the Rings, either. As the morally superior protagonist, Paksenarrion is humble yet unnaturally skilled. In short, she was, to me, a hero so unconflicted that she becomes stale. My humble opinion, of course – Dave feels the exact opposite. I will say this, however – I did finish one of the three books in the trilogy. I attempted the second, but did not progress past the first 100 pages.
Nuketown erases brain activity
Nothing eases the frustration of writer’s block quite like the sublime chaos of Nuketown. While Battlefield 3 boasts huge maps and larger numbers of players, there is nothing quite so satisfying as the organized chaos of Nuketown.
However, on the other side of the equation, if you happen to be on a brainstorming crusade, Nuketown will suffocate it without mercy. It is the great nullifier of brainwaives. Proceed with caution.
