I am an unrepentant escapist—one of those nerdy 28 year olds who still curls up with Frodo and Gandalf at midnight. This blog is a celebration of all SFF, but is especially targeted at people like me, who are up and coming speculative fiction writers.
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Quotation
“For he is an unrepetant escapist. His plays spin fancies in a clear air. He just doesn’t like his fellow-men, and cares less for their continuously clumsy though well-meaning attempts to straighten things out.” -William Kozlenko
(Two Reviews instead of Two Rivers. Geddit? This is the spoiler-free part.)
I camped out at the BYU book signing and got the #58th copy of Memory of Light. A large part of me felt insane for doing it--it was, after all, -2 degree whether, and by the end of the night, the inside my tent walls had so much ice on them that they looked like frosted glass--but the Wheel of Time has been my go-to comfort read for some 16 years now, and I wanted to end things in style.
Speaking of ending things with style...Wow. I finished the book this morning at 4 a.m. After 7 books of waiting (for me), I have an ending to the story I first started reading when I was 13 years old. And it was an awesome ending.
I don't know how Brandon Sanderson did it. There were so many threads to be juggled, so many characters, so many plot-points, and he managed to pull them together in a satisfying fashion. Before, I've said his style grated on me, but while I still noted the differences between him and Robert Jordan in this book--this was the first book where I really, truly didn't care. I could tell that the majority of it was his, but it didn't matter because things were so good. I'm glad Team Jordan put the extra time into it, because I think it shows in the book's quality.
If any of the last books bugged you, be they the pacing issues of Crossroads of Twilight or the painful rendition of Mat in Gathering Storm, I say--skip ahead. Just read this book. It's worth it, especially if you like battle scenes. Because this book is like 700-pages of non-stop battles. And since this book feels like it's going back to the roots of the series (appropriate for the wheel theme), you won't actually have missed too much.
And the stakes get high. People we've known and loved since the first book die. Characters make heroic sacrifices. There are callbacks to things earlier in the series that I'd pretty much forgotten.
****SPOILER-REVIEW****
(Seriously, spoilers. Don't read this until you're at the end of AMOL).
Speaking of callbacks and deaths, I almost wish there had been more dying. Lan's fight with Demandred might be one of the top moments of the entire series for me. But you can't SHEAVE THE SWORD and then walk away after. That's cheating. My favorite actual death was either Egwene's or Siuan's. Even if Siuan's is only a couple lines, you got to admire someone who heroically goes to their death, even if they aren't sure it will accomplish anything. That's true heroism. I wish we'd had one last Bryne POV as he went beserking to his death to accompany it, or that they'd found his body later with 90 dead trollocs around it, but you can't have everything even in a 900-page novel, I guess.
I liked the male/female working-together dynamic that was running through everywhere (Andol/Pevara, Elayne/her generals, Rand/NynaRaine). That was a cool pay-off of the series' philosophy. It was cool to see the flaws in Callandor be intentional. That was great.
At the same time, I was disappointed by how useless Moiraine and Nynaeve turned out to be. What did Moiraine do that was so important for saving the world? Alivia could have come in her place and nothing would have changed. Mat sacrificed his eye so that, what, Moiraine could tell Egwene she needed to break the seals when she got her hands on them? I guess coming to a truce between them was good, but I wasn't sure Moiraine was the only one capable of doing that. I had really hoped she'd get to do something awesomely dramatic. And she did, at the very end with exploiting the flaw, but that was Rand's idea, so she only gets partial credit with it.
Ditto with Nynaeve. Alanna could have released the stupid bond at any time. So Nynaeve actually knowing how to do stuff without the power (a theme repeatedly hashed on this whole time) didn't actually turn out to matter. It also brings up the question: Moiraine knew she was going to die, why didn't she release Lan and save him a little suicidal angst? Not good on you, girlfriend. I always assumed she didn't because it was some complicated weave that could only be done with time/effort. Nope!
And all the stuff we had to slog through with how many books with the Windfinders? Did it pay off? Nope. Not that I wanted to spend time with a culture that beats up its teachers. WTF was that???
Padan Fain was the biggest letdown. He's been screwing things up for our heroes ever since the first book and he barely gets a mention (except for two obvious 'help remind the reader that's he's still out there' moments by Perrin) until he's suddenly a mini-roaming Mashadar who gets two pages and then gets offed. Thanks for wasting our book space for however many years only to give Mat something to do at the bore for thirty seconds!
Speaking of Mat, how great was it that the Hornsounder didn't end up sounding the horn after all. Great thing or greatest thing? (TEAM OLVER 4EVAH!!!)
***END SPOILERS***
Overall, even though I was annoyed at some little things, I loved the ending. You can't have a book series go on for so long with so many things being juggled without there being a few disappointments, and I'm in awe that Brandon Sanderson managed to complete such a daunting task.
So bravo, team Jordan, bravo. A part of my life feels...empty, now. Good thing GRRM's still writing books for me to obsess about. If he finishes a Song of Ice and Fire, I won't know what to do with myself :)
Love these Wheel of Time pumpkins by LynnKitty (from Brandon Sanderson's Tweet page). Very well carved!
In other news, it's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I'm not participating because I'm in the middle of the book which is the trickiest part so I don't mind if it goes a little slowly. But maybe I will next year.
There was a bit of a comment flurry on Evil Editor's page about writing query letters before your work is done. Personally, I always write my query before I'm done, sometimes before I start writing the book. It's a way of giving myself direction and nailing down the book's selling points/voice.
NOTE: I didn't say I sent the queries before I finished writing. I just have one for personal reference so every time I get yanked off on a subplot that doesn't matter, I can go back to the query and say, okay, am I taking away from these promises I've made in the query? Or does this entertaining tangent add and make the story better?
While query letter writing comes naturally to me--it involves the same skills I learned in journalism school--hook, summarize, explore consequences. In newspaper writing, we have a thing called "inverted pyramid" which means you have to pick the most important/interesting issue in whatever you're exploring and put that first, then sort all the other facts out also based on their importance/interest, with the goal being to NOT let the reader stop reading until they reach the end of the article (the least interesting part). But I think most people don't have that summarizing/sorting training, so that's why they have a hard time figuring out how to write a good query letter. Wow, I used far too many /'s in that paragraph.
Anyway, the best example I think I've ever seen of turning a bad query into a stunningly good query is HERE. The transformation is incredible--one of these books sounds boring, and one of them I would yank off the shelf in a heartbeat. And she points out exactly what she did wrong at first--create a laundry list of plot points, without making them interesting to us. Most authors tell you that interest comes from conflict, which is true, but it also comes from caring about a character. As far as I've been able to see, most bad queries fall into two categories: Too much information about a character's background, and not enough about what they're doing, and too much information about plot, and nothing about why it should matter to us. I'm not going to link to examples of horrible queries because they might end up as big name authors and ridicule me one day, but I think if you go to Evil Editor's site, or read through the listings at Query Shark, you'll quickly see what I mean.
I had a dream three nights ago that I needed to make a change to my query for my fantasy novel. That it was crucial for me to add a third paragraph containing more plot information. And I knew exactly how to word it and everything. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I forgot everything. Since my query rate is 25% positive responses, I'm not sure if I should mess with a winning formula or not, but my subconscious insists on it, so perhaps I'll pull it out and look at it again.
Anyway, I'm not going to have a writing prompt, but you might want to try writing a query for your current project and see if it doesn't give you a clearer picture of your work. Plus, then you can sit on it for awhile and perfect it, while you're perfecting your manuscript. My query for Skin Farm was pretty stinky at first, but now I like it...even if it's probably too short on details. Because I'm definitely trying not to fall into the third query trap I didn't mention: Too much world background--a disease that strikes almost every fantasy writer at some time in their lives. Pity these poor creatures, for they know not the boredom they cause.
So much to blog about, so little time! I'll fill in gaps another day. I have notes from Scott Westerfeld's lecture at the Provo Teen Bookfest, a cartoon appearance by Neil Gaiman, and other goodies like that to comment on. I also had a first date with a guy that I enjoyed a lot, but I guess he didn't have fun since he hasn't called. I wonder, sometimes, how people can perceive things so completely differently? I wish my radar in this area was more well-attuned.
But I don't feel like writing about any of that now because I just finished a) revising a novel b) reading Towers of Midnight (I got number #60 and went to the release party dressed as Moiraine). So now I've got a headache, but I have to respond to the book before I can sleep.
Spoilers below, but I can say non-spoilery that I liked Towers of Midnight better than The Gathering Storm. Brandon Sanderson seemed to hit the characters better and the style is less jarring. Sure, there's sometimes a strange choice of words, especially when it comes to adjectives, that jerks me out of the book, but I think he has a better handle on all the characters, especially Mat--though he's still a bit clownish. Sanderson continues to do the best job humanly possible, and I can't think of any author that could have done better at capturing the world and the style.
Reading it also struck me with a sense of sadness. As I took the book and flipped through the pages, just catching hints of story here and there, I realized I could only do that for one more book--see sentences out of context and have no clue what they meant. For only one more book, I'll be able to read and speculate without knowing what happens. Then, all that's gone.
Sanderson mentioned at the signing that Harriet is thinking about putting out a more complete WoT encyclopedia after Memory of Light comes out. My response to that is kind of--what's the point? I enjoy reading the glossary because I'm hoping to get secret clues and hints about what happens next. After the WoT ends, I'll stop caring about these people ever again. I'll never get into an argument about who killed Asmodean again--something which Sanderson said was answered in this book. It must have been in the part I read when I was doped up on pain meds, holding my eyes open with my thumbs and trying to read. Or very subtle. I guess I'll find out the answer on the forums.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is it's like the finale of Lost. Or of Harry Potter. How many times did I read the series before the final book came out? Four or five times. And how many times have I read it since? NONE. Because the anticipation was half the fun.
And when Memory of Light comes out, it'll all be over. And it's not like I don't want it to end, and I think Sanderson will give us a more satisfying conclusion than either of those series', but it will still darken my life a little.
Anyway, onto the details.
***THERE BE SPOILERS HERE. AVERT YER EYES, MATEY.***
I never realized how much I loved old angsty Rand until he was gone. I followed a sad, lonely shepherd boy who had to fight against the world and his own personal problems for fifteen years, and suddenly the angst is gone and deus ex machina, he can spot darkfriends with a glance and turn mold into bread. From a writerly perspective, this is an example of why characters need flaws. I loved the old Rand, and now I don't really care about him. It's kind of weird. And it's nothing I'm blaming on the authors--narratively, I can understand why it had to happen--but still, it's a bit like losing an old friend. We'll see if Mr. Perfect grows on me. This book wasn't really about Rand, so I can understand why it didn't offer him much in the way of a character arc, but it still feels too easy. I look forward to the challenges that will test him in the final book.
The Verin letter thing is stupid. She didn't give redundant information to someone else? Why? Why? Why? That's just dumb and unbelievable. If that was in Robert's Jordan outline, it should have been chucked out. Really. Also, some of the political manuevering in the book struck me as subpar. None of the Aes Sedai remembered that Rand was a monarch? I know it's hard to create characters that outsmart me, but these are supposed to be women who live hundreds of years, and who have been forced to practice craftiness by finding ways to get around their oaths. The Aes Sedai are masters of politics! COME ON! This was the same thing I struggled with when it came to Verin's black ajah oath, that the wording was so transparently, obviously easy to break with suicide, I decided that this must be intentional on the Black Ajah's part, so they could torture members to death for their information. But every time I see the Aes Sedai three steps behind the reader, it breaks the wall of disbelief a little. I also have a hard time buying the fact that Elayne can bribe three Cairhein nobles and the throne is hers, but that's really a plotline I'd like over with, so I'll give that one a pass.
Perrin's character arc was exceptionally well-done, although I was minorly frustrated by the chronological displacement. (Tam is in two places at once! And then he disappears for the rest of the book! Say hello, Tam! Good-bye, Tam!) I'll wave that off as a necessary evil. The writing in the Perrin arc also felt the closest to Jordan's own--I suspect a lot of it may have been Jordan's, but I don't know.
Sanderson also hit Moiraine's voice spot-on, I thought. Preachy but lovable. I'm SO glad to have her back. The eye-losing Mat scene is also pitch-perfect.
I hope Farstrider's background is a little more explored. Maybe the rest of the fandom unraveled this already, but the only thing I remember about it was Ishamael's whispers back in...book one, was it? Anyway, it's fuzzy. And Luc. Seriously, why was he so evil again? Tigraine deserved better.
What's up with the Black Tower? My theory--we've just found out what happens when you distill a channeller through 13 Myrdraal and 13 Black Ajah. Welcome to Stepford Tower.
I totally called Danelle being Mesaana. Go me.
I'm glad Graendal survived to get a better punishment. She was my favorite Forsaken. I always figured she'd be the last one standing, and would crawl away from the last battle and reinvent herself as an evil farmwife. Or something. Possibly, I thought she might end up on Rand's side at the end as "redeemed" (ie, saw that Ishamael was cray-cray and switched sides), but I'm glad she didn't. And pitting the Whitecloaks and Perrin against each other was just her style. How many forsaken are left out now?
Oh, I read on the forums that Sanderson put the murderer of Asmodean in the Glossary. SHAME! I CALL SHENANIGANS!!!
I'm reading a book that features the POVs of multiple siblings. As soon as I saw that, I sat back and started waiting for the father to die. It took 100 pages for him to kick the bucket, but kick the bucket he did. After George R.R. Martin did that so wonderfully in Game of Thrones, other authors have tried imitating it with various levels of success. Most of them end up failing. At this point in time, I'm so jaded, I prefer the authors who kill the father off pretty quick, or make it so obvious he's going to die, you're interested in the how, not the actual event. Books whose only twist is that the father dies bore me, because I can see it coming from fifty miles away.
The amazing thing is, when I read Game of Thrones the first time, I didn't see it coming. Looking back, I'm not sure how I missed it. Fantasy books are like Disney moives--if daddy's there at all, daddy's going to die so that the kids can go on adventures. Mommy is sometimes left alive--perhaps because our social views of women allow for a more passive female character. Mom is helpless, but dad, if he were alive, would do something, so we have to kill him for the sake of the plot. I've heard discussions of "orphan syndrome" related to middle grade and young adult fiction, but not in fantasy as a genre. The only example I can think of at the moment where the dad didn't die is Wheel of Time.
I think why Game of Thrones succeeded in the whole orphaning is because George R.R. Martin is such a wizard with slight of hand. He had us focussed on the mystery, the politics, the threads going on in other realms... (the wall, Daeny). We were so busy wondering if Cercei was going to kill Robert or Jaime was going to kill the children or what that we didn't notice the main character's death sneaking up on us.
So, if you're going to kill a father-figure in your book, at least give me a mystery to distract me while I wait for the inevitable assassination/beheading. Better yet, maybe you can let a father live, occasionally.
August progress report: I'm currently reworking a revision of God's Play; adding occasionally to Skin Farm, which is now two-thirds done; and plotting a new epic fantasy novel called City of Murderers, which may be my next project. I have more projects than I have patience to write. I'm listening to Terry Pratchett audio books and the aforementioned father-killing novel, which so far has been a demonstration of incredibly poor writing. I keep wondering if it's a translation, because many of the sentences make absolutely no sense. Terry Pratchett, on the other hand, is brilliant, and even more brilliant when read in the dry, British accents of Nigel Planer.
WRITING PROMPT #17
Title: Agree to Disagree Genre: Any Type: Character
So I had a dream. I don't remember the content, but I do remember this--I was watching something, something significant. I woke up and rolled over and went back to sleep. I repeated the same dream, except this time, I was someone different. And it showed. The changes in my perception were slight, but important. My actions were slightly different as well. Both character perceived each other's reasons for doing things completely inaccurately.
This happens in real life. Three people will remember the same conversation differently. They will also remember the same event differently.
I want you to take two characters through a scene. Any kind of scene--an argument, repairs to a space station in orbit, a battle against a red-skinned monster with three tongues. Write the scene from one POV, and then write the same scene from the other character's POV. How accurate are each character's perceptions? You can have them be diametrically opposed, if you want, but I think this exercise is more interesting with two characters who view the same things with only slight differences.
You can do this one of two ways. If you're like me, a discovery writer, then you write the two scenes and then compare them to gleam the differences in personality and such. If you're an outliner, you might come up with a list of major differences between how the characters see the world and try to work them into the text.
Well, it's Weds. somewhere, right? I got caught up in some expected yardwork today when the sprinkler system went down, so this post's a little late. But here it is...
Ah, CONduit. The Salt Lake City Con where you can attend a writing panel on How to Get published, stay for a belly-dancing performance and learn the basics of detecting paranormal activity...all in a single night. This year's theme was space pirates. There's such an ecletic mix of gamers, artists, anime fans and writers, if you go to CONduit and don't come home with at least one new friend...it's probably your deoderant.
Of course not everyone's friends are as cool as the Dread Pirate Roberts. But hey, you can't all be as awesome as me. Relax. Don't strain yourself. We wouldn't want to be setting the bar too high now, would we?
Anyway, I had a lot of fun. I even introduced myself to some new authors who's advice I have been listening to for a couple years now, and found out that Larry Corriea and John Brown are every bit as nice as they seem to be. And Provo Library doesn't carry a copy of Larry Correia's book, FOR SHAME! Some regular faces were absent (I missed Howard Taylor's jokes) and some of the local authors didn't stay long, but I still went home with a belly-full of advice and a bucket-full of motivation. I chucked out about 40 pages of text on Skin Farm yesterday (and by chucked out, I mean typed out. How much is decent enough to merit staying in the book, we'll see). Brad Torguson recognized my face from previous conventions and came to talk to me and introduce himself without prompting. I also managed to avoid all Lost spoilers, miracle of miracles. I'm still a season behind, grumble.
My question of the con was: How do you deal with form rejection? And boy, these authors had experienced a lot of it. I didn't quite ask every author there, but the ones I missed I'm sure would have had the same advice. Keep your chin up. Work hard. Throw stuff at the wall. Something's bound to stick eventually.
In some ways, there were a lot of depressing moments at the con, because some of the authors haven't had much upward career movement since last year. Barbara Hambly, our guest speaker, has had a whole ton of success over the years--our library has a shelf almost dedicated to her exclusive use. But after she'd "made it", quit her day job, worked full time as an author for decades, she ended up getting chucked out by her publishers (and this time, I do mean thrown out) and forced to find a job at the time in her life when many people start contemplating retirement. So...you can make it, and still not be safe from the terrors of the 9-to-5.
The funny thing is, the community college she's teaching at wouldn't let her teach creative writing, because she didn't have a masters in English. Ha!
Anyway, a lot of advice we got was the kind of thing you've heard before...ie, don't send your query letter on perfumed paper, or dark paper...(part of me groans at people's ignorance)...but there was some new stuff too, like that sometimes the "no submissions" policy at publishers is just a shield and if you send a manuscript to someone anyway, you might get a bite with comments. Not something I'll try unless I have a few Writer's of the Future awards under my belt, but interesting nonetheless.
Barbara Hambly--who is a really interesting woman, she talked about her ghost sightings and her student's reactions to her numorous tattoos--advised me to start with character when writing a historical novel and then work outward, since I'm finding the whole historical setting bigger than I can chew. She also told me her WoW server (not mine, alas) and that she plays on Thursdays.
Another thing: One of the distinctions between M.G. and Y.A. involves spheres of influence. In a M.G. book, the biggest influence on a main character tends to be family. Often kids saving their parents or having to make due without their parents or fighting their foster parents or wishing they had parents, etc. In Y.A., that influence has shifted over to friends. It's less about family and more about that cute boy with the locker three feet left of the girl's bathroom. Friends in trouble that need rescuing instead of parents. Anyway, I'd never thought of it that way before.
I also learned there's a new subgenre called "New Adult" which is for college-aged folks. Not quite adult, not quite young adult. I'm not sure how you'd go about marketing such a thing and whether its a viable sub-genre since college kids are pretty much adults, but it'll be interesting to see if it develops. I can see how there are some unique "college" issues that would make for great reading. I haven't seen a shelf for it in bookstores, but it's been awhile since I went walkabout in a Barnes and Noble.
James Daschner also told me not to worry that I've missed the bandwagon with post-apocalyptic. They're still hot, which is good because I hope to get queries out on Skin Farm by Christmas.
Anyway, I went to readings, a Wheel of Time panel, and other events, and saw pirates and armed knights carrying signs "WILL FIGHT DRAGONS FOR FOOD." James Daschner gave me a copy of the first few chapters of the sequel to Maze Runner (signed) which made me squeal a little. I squealed a lot when Brandon Sanderson told me the first Wheel of Time signing for Towers of Midnight will be at BYU again this year. I'm picking out my sleeping bag already, you losers. That #1 signed copy is MINE!!!
But more importantly, I came home with so many story ideas, I'm not sure what to do with them all. I'm beginning to wonder if I might not actually be a secret Y.A. author in disguise. I think of myself as gritty, but Y.A.'s gotten pretty gritty of late, and most of the characters that spring into my mind are young, if not high school aged. Probably because I am trapped into a perpetual state of immaturity. There would be some advantages--Y.A. authors are less penalized for genre-romping, so I could write historical fantasy and dystopian science fiction under the same pen-name--as well as a wider audience and bigger paychecks. Sounds good to me.
Next year's COnduit will be superhero themed. The guest is Tamora Pierce. They've already got the website up for next year. I've never read anything by her, but I like some of her book titles. I find myself scratching my head and wondering where to start. Usually I study an author's career in chronilogical order but reading 26 books by the same author is a little dauting.
UP FRIDAY: Double book review! The Lies of Locke Lamora and Paper Mage.
Listened to Writing Excuses again before going to bed. Which, as we all know, triggers the weirdest dreams...
In this case, I spent most of the time watching my grandfather run over suicide bombers who jumped on the road, mowing them all down with his truck. It didn't make a lot of sense, but at least I got to eat Tikka Masala after we went to a banquet thrown in the terrorists' honor (with Indian food?).
Anyway, there I met Brandon Sanderson, who was holding a book signing in a treehouse. Which he should totally do because IT WOULD BE AWESOME. I climbed up there and managed to convince him to read the first five pages of my novel, only I couldn't find my new drafts. I think I ended up re-writing the first five pages from scratch.
When I came down from my hotel room the next morning, Sanderson was literally furious, sweat pouring down his face, pacing back and forth, stomping around. He told me I should never show this to anyone again because it was so horrible, the worst thing ever written in a variety of ways, and I was punishing people by forcing them to read it. THEN he accused me of breaking into his office and plagiarizing parts of the Towers of Midnight... (because it was horrible if I wrote it, but if he wrote it, it was a masterpiece :) )
I woke up, then. Strangest thing was, I woke up feeling happy despite the soul-shredding critique because I'm like "Brandon Sanderson read my work! Awesome!!!!!"
Poor Brandon. He has to play the weirdest roles in my dreams. When I was a Storm Leader, it was nice because almost all the other Storm Leaders had weird dreams about him/Robert Jordan books too. So I may be strange, but at least I'm not the only one.
Other people dream about movie stars. I dream about fantasy authors. Golly, Virgia, I think I'm a nerd.
I know most didn't like the cover for Dragon Reborn because of the costumes, but I liked that one better than this one. I'm just not digging the new eBook cover. Too...conflictless. Pastoral. Dull. Although pretty. Good artist, good artwork, just not my cup of tea. Though I like the fact that Rand looks like he's about to hurl his flute at Min's head, or something.
Finished the the Gathering Storm. In about 12 hours. Fantastic. There are minor quibbles, minor disappointments, occasional steps out of character, and definite jolts of stylistic choice that left me blinking, but nothing that denies the basic greatness of the work itself. There is no question that Tor chose a worthy heir. I think most of my annoyances would have existed even if Robert Jordan had written the work, so they don't stem from a new author.
I was right about the character POV swaps though. That was a little distracting. Felt like a water droplet being jolted around on a hot griddle. I wanted to nail the POV to the ground and FOCUS.
Still, he did a phenomenal job. This book will make you fall in love with the Wheel of Time all over again. I laughed, I cried (well, not really), I cheered.
I will have to pick up Brandon Sanderson's other books now and read them. That is the highest compliment you can give an author.
Here's my write-up of the Wheel of Time release party last night: if you were one of those people crazy enough to tune into the live broadcast, you got to watch me sing Dance with Jak o' the Shadows. The video will probably float to the surface to embarrass me long after I have granchildren.
Anyway, here it is. I hope it's all accurate--I was very tired last night and some of the notes I took are completely illegible.
Diary of a Stormleader (By Jennifer McBride)—unrepentantescapist.blogspot.com (a.k.a Vegetathalas)
Want a sneak peek into the glorious, glamorous life of a Storm Leader? Here’s a glimpse into the excitement of during the midnight bookstore release at BYU. (For those of you watching the livecast, I was the really annoying blond girl that hopefully nobody noticed because they were so busy goggling at Brandon. This was my first chance to be at a Wheel of Time release party, so I might have been a touch…overexcited.)
12:00 p.m.:TWELVE HOURS BEFORE THE RELEASE
The Stormleaders have been meeting by email for a couple of weeks, but it’s finally time to meet in person. People from all over the valley (and one from Idaho) converge on Springville, Utah to put the final touches on the event. We range from fans who have followed the series almost since its inception to one person who only joined up at the Knife of Dreams. Most of the meeting we spend talking about our favorite books and examining the swag from Tor, which includes comic books, bumper stickers and bookmarks. As I run my fingers down the slick comic book covers, murmurs of “my precious” are heard. THANKS TOR!
Matt Hatch, our “First Among Servants,” already has the book and stayed up all night reading it despite a trip from Las Vegas which left him short of sleep. He lets us look at it. A quick-flip through doesn’t reveal any new chapter symbols, though I could have missed some. The book weighs in at a hefty 783 pages with a skinny glossary. Oddly, the symbol above Brandon Sanderson’s biography is Faile’s golden waistband from Sevanna. An oblique commentary on Brandon being ‘chained’ to his work? I’m glad they changed the last line of Robert Jordan’s biography. Every time I read the “until they nail shot his coffin” part, I feel like I’ve lost him all over again.
We also learn that a storm is literally gathering in Provo, but the rain won’t break until after the party, hopefully. At least the live feed works, even if there’s a delay.
The host’s two-year-old daughter tells us gleeful that the Stormleaders are coming. She seems disappointed to find out the “Stormleaders” are us.
3:00 p.m.: NINE HOURS BEFORE THE RELEASE
We break to visit fans, who are already in line at the BYU bookstore. I rush around town buying necessities—chocolate to keep me awake all night (thank God for Halloween!) and enough copies of the trivia quiz/word find/crossword puzzle to keep some 300 people entertained – our rough estimate of how many are going to show up.
On my way to the bookstore, I’m thinking about Semirhaag when I see a dead hand dangling out of the car trunk in front of me. Seeing it helps me reach new heights of vulgarity until I realize that the hand is plastic, which makes me remember…oh yeah. Halloween.
I run these errands wearing my Stormleader t-shirt to show my general awesomeness. Unfortunately, the rest of the world seems oblivious to said awesomeness. The clerks at Albertsons seem more concerned with the sale on camouflage Snuggies.
6:00 p.m. SIX HOURS BEFORE THE RELEASE
After struggling with a possessed copy machine, I head over to the Red Rooster Dumpling Bar in downtown Provo. Matt’s there and he’s put together a poll in which fans try to guess what will happen by the series’ end.
I get kicked out of my seat by Brandon’ s assistant (Peter, who is wearing a shirt with the word “incalculable,” because that’s what Brandon calls him in one of his book dedications). And I realize with horror that BRANDON SANDERSON is going to be sitting across from me. Watching me eat. What if I get broccoli stuck in my teeth? The HORROR!!!
Brandon arrives fresh off his trip to Denver’s MileHighCon with a nasty cold that will, through the night, put him on the edge of losing his voice. We all feel sorry for him, especially because he’s going to get a maximum of three hours sleep tonight before he’s off on the plane to his next signing.
The dinner goes well, with good conversation. There’s a certain surreal aspect to it, as we’re all clustered around a table treating Brandon like a celebrity and/or minor god and NO ONE ELSE IN THE RESTAURANT KNOWS WHO HE IS. There’s even another Brandon at another table, and the author looks up when he hears his name, grinning sheepishly. His wife, Emily, a former English teacher, is nice, beautiful and pregnant.
Some things we talk about at dinner: (I didn’t take proper notes but I believe the 4th Age Podcaster of our group was recording it so you can probably hear an edited version there)
·Brandon refuses to confirm or deny that the One Power was used to kill Asmodean. He also mentions a Slayer scene deleted from the Shadow Rising which would have shown more about Slayer’s powers.
·If he could pick a nationality from the Wheel of Time world, he’d belong to Malkier because he loves the lost kingdom story. He thinks all the Borderlands are cool, but would definitely NOT be a Saldaean.
·He says he’d have to consult the notes to make sure, but he believes women can become “wolf-sisters.” We just haven’t seen any.
·His favorite chapters to write from TGS were the concluding chapter and also chapter 22.
He also repeated things that he’s said elsewhere, like that Robert Jordan left extensive notes, though he does have the power from Harriet to override them for the interests of the story. Robert Jordan especially left a lot of specific notes as to who lived and who died in Tarmon Gaidin, and he wasn’t going to change any of that. So is there going to be a lot of deaths?
The answer, of course, is RAFO.
I don’t remember if he said this during dinner or during the signings or both, but he was considering doing the outrigger and prequel novels, but that the decision was ultimately Harriet’s. Jordan left notes for that as well, especially the other prequels. If Brandon writes the other books, it will be after a pause at the end of the series. He definitely doesn’t want it to become ‘the McWheel of Time.’
He also said that the series’ ending puts certain threads in perspective. For example, Morgase, my least favorite character, apparently turns out to be less annoying than she appears. Also, fans will better be able to understand the importance of some of the lesser-liked books, like Crossroads of Twilight.
After Tor picks up the check (THANKS TOR! AGAIN!), Brandon heads over to the bookstore to begin signing books. He goes into the back to sign and number everything, and will wait to personalize the books of those willing to stick around and wait in another line. At this point, there’s about 120 people waiting out in the cold at the bookstore. The sun went down almost four hours ago, and I’d guess the temperature is around 46 degrees.
10 p.m. TWO HOURS BEFORE THE RELEASE
The gates are opened and people flock in. While I’m off making copies, a 150 more people get in line with more to come. The line, which once wound around the block, now winds around the bookstore. We hand out trivia quizs and start grading them. The winners will get their pick of the Wheel of Time comic books, which are both beautifully illustrated. I love the lacy gateway Ishamael weaves in the prequel, as well as Lews Therin’s destruction scene. Awesome. To my chagrin, the other fans know the series better than I do. The key has some answers wrong, which I realize after I’ve thought about it. Oops. Only two people managed to get a perfect score, both brothers, so congratulations to the Briggs!
When Brandon gets finished signing in the back, he works the line, signing copies of Mistborn, Elantris, the Alcatraz series, and his latest: Warbreaker.
12 a.m.: MIDNIGHT!
After a fifteen second countdown, the boxes are opened and the books are released. Brandon begins signing, and signing, and signing. Sometimes he takes questions from the live feed. I only heard a couple, but one of them was “which Ajah would he be if he could pick an Ajah” and he answered: Brown. Given his love of the Borderlands, I was expecting Green.
The signing went smoothly and well. The bookstore did a wonderful job hosting us and gave out their own door prizes, including free books. It struck me how sincerely grateful Brandon was for his fans, thanking them and trying to remember their names—impossible given however many hundred were stuffed into line. He also stuck up for the Stormleaders and made sure we got our numbers (in the 90s), which was kind of him. He had a cheat card with some phrases of the Old Tongue written down to help with the spelling in personalizing books. Some of his favorite things to write included: “May you always find water and shade” and “it’s time to toss the dice.”
Fans requested other things, like “Tai’shar Robert Jordan” and sayings from Siuan Sanche along with personal jokes. Brandon refused to sign stuff he hadn’t worked on, like the comics. One person brought his old Magic the Gathering Cards and gave them to Brandon, earning his eternal gratitude.
There were a surprising number of fans who waited the several hours in line even though they’d never read a Robert Jordan book. One person waited hours to thank Brandon for his books even though he had nothing to sign. Even Brandon’s sisters joined the line, and Brandon signed a book to “the Goober,” his mother. One of the two people who had come to Brandon’s first book signing back when Elantris was released (and Brandon sat in the bookstore, all alone—very different than today) came to get his book signed. He can legitimately call himself Brandon’s “#1 fan.” There were also people who’d never read Brandon’s works before, including some truly dedicated. Among the rubber band balls, axes and corsets, there was also a man with a heron marked sword. Epic fantasy lovers and t.v. cameras mingled between shelves stacked high with books.
Brian Lickey was the lucky fan who ended up with book #1 of TGS. He waited in line 41 hours, waking up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday and deciding to go wait in the bookstore line because he had “nothing better to do.” Brian may be a relative latecomer to the series, (he started reading in 2002), but that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. He said he’d been resisting reading Robert Jordan for years until he fled Utah to get away from Olympic Fever and caught Wheel of Time fever instead. His favorite male character is Mat and his favorite female character is Min.
APPROX. 2:45 a.m.
The last fan has made it through the bleary-eyed yet enthusiastic line. Brandon’s voice is shot. Everyone is tired after a long day. It’s rumored the bookstore sold 400-500 books. The Storm Leaders are the last to get their books personalized from Brandon’s hands, still writing legibly despite the weariness. For some reason, more than a hundred crazy souls have stuck with us through the livefeed and Brandon dances for them. Let’s just say I don’t think MTV will be calling anytime soon. The Stormleaders join in, and we all chant “To Dance with Jak O’ the Shadows.”
Brandon called it his “biggest book signing ever” and hurries home to upload Towers of Midnight onto his portable computer so he could work on it during the tour. Hopefully he managed to get some sleep in the three hours before his flight to Carolina.
The Stormleaders trudge away. I’m too tired even to read the book I spent the last who knows how many years waiting for. I stare at the stack of some 200-300 email addresses I need to put together for the Utah Wheel of Time mailing list we’re developing and sigh before turning into bed.
The Storm may be over, but the work is just beginning. Especially for Brandon, who is probably about to endure the most exhausting book tour of his life.
---
For anyone wondering what I asked Brandon to write in my book (#96) -- "For Jennifer. May you become the writer you dream of becoming."
After re-reading the Wheel of Time FAQ, I have changed my mind as to who killed Asmodean.
It was Bela.
...
...
...
And probably Graendal. Although I still think it would have been cool if Mazrim Taim or his controller hired Slayer to take out Asmodean so Taim could take his place as Rand's teacher and gain his trust. And when Slayer said the Dark One himself had called on his services, well, who else but to take a Forsaken? It would have been cool, but I don't think that's what happened. And Demandred's alter-ego is, apparently according to interviews, not someone we've met on-screen yet. Which is dumb.
You know you love a world when it can invoke so much rage in its readers.
...
In other news, I apparently may not patent my catchphrase "throw the back against the wall." Someone else got to it first.
Tv Tropes is a wonderfully interesting website to explore, if you haven't already. Basically it covers tropes in television, movies, literature, video and table top games. Not to criticize the tropes, but to explain them. It has some beautiful terminology and I love the comprehensive links system. From contemptible covers to growing the beard to "Not Using the Z word," this has loving references to all the tropes we know and love. You can search by trope or by book/movie/whatever to discover all sorts of interesting stuff. Great time-waster! I love it! Be warned...you can get lost in this for hours...and it is definitely not WWJS (What Would Jesus Surf?). Especially the outside links, including some to...erotic Care Bear fanfic.
Ah, Grumpy Bear. You should be ashamed of yourself.
However, as a writer, you walk away from the site a sense of depression. Because YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THE TROPES. Nothing you ever do will ever be original. Ever.
I also got queasy after reading the 'unfortunate implications' page. I'm trying to do some interesting things with race in my books, but it gives me nightmares sometimes what someone reading about 'savage Dark Elvs' and the slavery of dark-skinned Lomari mages by the light-skinned humans (albeit after generations of the dark-skinned Lomari enslaving the light-skinned humans) will think after reading it. The end point of the book is that NO ONE RACE in this world is right and pure and perfect, and that its a semi-ironic take on the normal fantasy, especially of Elvs (ie, Our Elvs are better and the Noble Savage concepts). But I can see how some things can be misinterpreted.
Well, any press is good press. Right? Right?
It would be incredibly ironic if, when I write book solely on my desire to have brown-skinned female wizard protagonists (not as unique as I thought), I end up killing the same book because it accidentally comes off really racist. Well, at least she isn't a staff chick.
Ah, the overwrought conscience of a politically correct liberal.
On the plus side, I got 100 pages of revision done. The middle of my book is mostly dialogue so the pages just kind of fly by. I'm doing them over again, of course, and I'm going to try and add some more depth, and wondering whether some parts fit the rule of cool or its just me. Albeit not of the sexual and more of the bright shiny explosions variety.
I'm not a creepy person, but I do have creepy dreams. I view them as an asset. The only way I can come up with anything original is through dreams. It's hard to force my mind to go down anything but the well-worn paths of literary cliche otherwise.
Anyway, I dreamed I went to Brandon Sanderson's house to ask him about something unimportant, and I accidentally stole a copy of the new Robert Jordan book (I thought he had my copy of 'Fires of Heaven'). The cover was really weird--kind of this paisley wallpaper pattern with a burning phoenix at the bottom, but with no title/author/blurb on the front or anything. When you opened it, you found out its title was "Randiland" (not Randland) and it only had six chapters, and all of them variations of the word Rand.
When I started reading, the ink was so faded on some pages you couldn't see anything and then there were all these copy-editing marks in cursive handwriting so scribbly it was impossible to understand. When I gave the book back to Brandon, he kept asking me which signing I was coming to and refused to believe I wasn't from Salt Lake. Then he had me babysit his nudist roommates' kids.
Then we went to the mall to attend a lecture on Santa Clause, but when when we were sitting in this big Christmas-decorated lecture hall/movie theater, a 12-year-old black girl came up to me and accused me of using the "N-word" to insult her when we'd both been in elementary school, and I denied doing any such thing but Sanderson thought I was a racist and so left in a huff, except he reappeared when I was doing some sort of group therapy/conflict management thing with this black girl. And when I pointed out to her and her mother that I couldn't possibly be the same person because I was, you know, 14 years older than this child and so I couldn't have been in elementary school with her, but Sanderson told me I should apologize anyway because, since the universe is full of infinite possibilities, an alternate version of me from an alternate universe had probably done it in that universe, so clearly I had some race issues to work out.
Normally, I only share my dreams when they have something to do with writing but this one was so bizarrely entertaining...
Of course, if you don't have the context that I dream weird dreams about everything, and this was actually kind of mild for my subconscious, you probably view me as the kind of creepy person you should tell your kids to stay away from. Especially if you're Brandon Sanderson.
Oddly, it's one of a string of Brandon Sanderson/Robert Jordan book dreams. Obviously, my subconscious is terribly excited about the release. And I had been thinking before bed about what I would do if I were in control of the publicity for the Gathering Storm book tour, who would need to be approached, how to make the non-fanboy press understand the importance/significance of the events, etc. It would be a fascinating process to watch and it would give me ideas for what I would need to do on my own tour, if I ever have one.
Incidentally, its my 26th birthday today, although I refuse to admit it in public.
Well, I've had a chance to read the Gathering Storm first chapter and listen to the second chapter for free online. I'm glad I did. (Spoilers follow).
Reading the first chapter was, honestly, a little jarring. Brandon wisely didn't try to imitate Robert Jordan's style, which meant that the voice felt completely different to me, with the result that it felt like reading well-written fan fiction. It just...wasn't the same. It made me feel Robert Jordan's loss keenly, not because Brandon wasn't doing a good job, but because it was like it finally hit home for me that I would never be reading anything else from Robert Jordan's bright light ever again. It was a recap chapter, so other than that, I pretty much reserved judgment, except that I felt confused that Rand's reaction to Egware was so strongly negative, but hopefully that will be explained a little better in the prologue. Maybe the hall of the rebel tower is still issuing pronouncements in the Amyrilin's name, pronouncements Rand doesn't like very much.
I also wondered why Rand needed a new sword? Did Semiharg destroy his old one in Knife of Dreams? I don't remember--I haven't re-read it in a long time. Anyway, there is much speculating on the sword, but my favorite guess is that it belongs to Artur Hawkwing...though why it would have a dragon on it and not a hawk, I don't know. But that's the only old sword I can think of that would have any interest to Rand and that he could remember from his old memories. Unless Tam had another stashed away in his closet somewhere.
I wonder what Tam al'Thor's up to, anyway? Surely its been long enough after Rand took Andor that his name has percolated back to him. I just finished re-reading Dragon Reborn, and since Tam and Abel visited the tower after their sons, I wondered if they went chasing them around again.
I also hope we find out where Gawain's lurking at. He should have heard about Elayne's enthroning too by now and should be reunited. Or have heard the name of Egwene mentioned. I liked him as a character, just because I sympathized with him being overlooked in comparison with his more handsome brother and his desire to protect Elayne.
Anyway, I was disgusted with Rand's decision not to torture Semiharg. I mean, I'd think even Rand would see the necessity of having her stilled, at least. He was able to sentence Colavere to exile and strip her of her powers, even if he couldn't kill her outright. I wonder if Min's seen anything interesting in the forsaken's aura? They must not be a pretty sight. I wouldn't be surprised if Nynaeve and the Ash'a'man took it into their own hands to "take care of" Semiharg--she seems oddly obedient, lately. Ta'veren.
I thought Brandon did a very good job dealing with the missing hand--Rand trying to run his non-existent fingers through his hair and failing broke my heart a little.
Brandon also hinted that he'd finally reveal who killed Asmodean, but maybe I'd reading too much into that. It was never a real issue for me, though my bet would be Isam/Luc. I mean, dead's dead, so why does it matter? But apparently arguing over it drives some people nuts. I'd rather find out who the what's-her-face forsaken is impersonating in the tower. And who Demandred is, since he isn't Taim. Here's an interesting theory: maybe he's impersonating Masema?
I don't like the hint that the taint on Saidin is someone the fault of the female Aes Sedai who refused to go along with Lews Therin's plans. The more we learn about Aes Sedai, the dumber they seem, which is annoying because I liked them. They were my favorite part of the first few books, and now they act like a bunch of silly hens. It triggers my feminist instincts because, if Lews Therin's correct, it's like one of my favorite authors is saying, "if women would just be obedient to men, all the problems of the world would go away." I'm definitely reading too much into that, I'm sure, but it would be nice if the gender politics in Robert Jordan's world would tilt toward the women a little more often. Oh, and must all the baddies be lesbians looking for "pillow friends"? It seems like the only active lesbians are both bad girls, and both red Ajah. I can't quite decide if New Spring hinted that Siuan and Moraine were lovers but grew out of it or if that's just in my strange imagination.
Like I said, the first chapter was mostly recap, so it wasn't exactly the most scintillating read. But it wasn't a failure either.
The second chapter, however, I really enjoyed. I was happy to dive into Egwene's perspective--sometimes I'd pull out the Knife of Dreams just to re-read the Egwene chapter. I never liked her much until after she became Amyrilin. I was glad Brandon mentioned the Seanchan episode. I just read the Great Hunt, and I thought, "wow, I'm surprised Egwene is so mentally sane. I'd have major PTSD." And being in the Tower, cut off from the Power and powerless, would be difficult for her. I'd also think it would be helpful. "Hey, the Seanchan nearly boiled my skin off, so if you want to beat me? Eh, go ahead. I've had worse."
It looks like Brandon might be doing alternating POVs per chapter, which will kind of annoy me. One thing I liked about the series was that it stayed in one character's POV for large chunks of time--infuriating if it wasn't a character you cared for much, but at least you knew when you finally got back to what you did care about, you were going to stay there. But I understand how the alternating perspectives is easier on the author and how it's a tool for building suspense. It's supposed to make me grind my teeth, but I don't have to like it. I don't have much right to complain because of all the POV jumping around I do in the beginning of my book. Anyway, in the second chapter, I didn't feel jarred by the different writer at all, and I loved it. It bodes well for the rest of the book. Hopefully we'll get the answer to "Siuan's puzzle". All signs point to the idea that the Ajah heads might be in communication so they can create one hall again, but that would seem strangely cohesive given the dissention in the tower. Also, if they had the backbone to do that, I'm surprised they haven't had the backbone to depose Elaida and pick someone, maybe a neutral party, as Amyrilin. Or a loyalist Amyrilin/rebel Keeper, something like that (perhaps how Egwene ends up with Beldeine as Keeper, as is in her Accepted's test). I'd think, after the bungled kidnapping and the prisoners captured by the black tower, only the Reds would still be supporting Elaida.
All in all, things look very promising and I'm looking forward to Oct. 27. It should be fun. I love the characters so much, I'm glad to see what happens to them. Other than the voice, nothing was particularly jarring--small annoyances, but they seemed in character for Jordan's world. Nothing that would make me put the book down.
I wish Harriet was coming to BYU. I'd love to meet her. One day, I'm hopefully going to have enough power to strong arm someone into letting me write some short stories in the Wheel of Time world. For example, Elayne's test for accepted, how Semiharg let a prisoner go once just because she was curious what being merciful felt like, how Birgitte met Gaidal Cain for the first time, or the Dragon met Illyeana. How Sammael got his scar and why Artur Hawkwing was so dead set against Aes Sedai, thanks to Ishamael.
I had the weirdest dream a little while ago that Brandon Sanderson hired me for his secretary, so I booked all his book tours and once. I ended up getting fired because of the recession.
Well, I'm back from my vacation to Issaquah, WA! That means that it's time for another writing prompt. But first, a status update:
I saw my younger brother graduate from high school. I also saw my father for the first time since he was tentatively diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
It was very difficult. I heard things were bad but not that bad. It hurt me to watch my dad shuffle slowly down the stairs. He says that he has a hard time keeping his balance because he can't feel his feet. I never thought about how important the nerves on the soles of our feet are, because without that pressure feedback, walking can be a bit of a guessing game.
All in all, I think he's handling things all very well. Much better than I would. It made me a little queasy to look at his MRI, complete with skull and eyeballs (strange, but I think I could have recognized his bone structure even if I hadn't known what I was looking at.), but he thought it was cool. He said it's good to see the lesions in his brain, which look like little fireflies on the brain scans, because he knows it's not all a made up disease in his head.
Anyway, my natural response is to run and hide from my emotions and go play video games. I hate to see anyone I love in pain. If I ever get a chance to dedicate a book to anyone, it will be to my mom and dad because they're so courageous.
Anyway, I took a two week break from writing and it's hard to get back into the groove. No rhythm. I haven't done jack squat.
I'll do better when I cheer up. I think I'll get to the acceptance stage about my father soon.
It's amazing how helpful posting my novel online for a critique group has been. Not only does it change the formatting, which helps me get a new perspective, but I can tell when things are moving too slow way easier when I break a scene down into 1000-word chunks. Just about everything I've posted can be chopped down to keep the pace up. Anyway, it'll be ten times better once I put it through its paces.
Mostly that makes me groan because it means I still have half a book to write once I do the cutting. And I think the random stableboy is going to have to go back in to address the male/female balance. If there's space.
Wonder if I should edit the blog posts when I get published? Should I let my readers know I go back and forth on things? Most authors seem to project this aura of infallibility. It probably helps them sell books. All the authors I've met are human, all the books I've read have mistakes--from typos to major errors (like the same guy dying twice in one series--whoops!) and I think it's okay. Serious fans might have a problem with the nice wallpaper being peeled back to reveal the roach-covered wood though, so I'll have to think about it.
On the other hand, maybe so many authors' freaky self-confidence is the reason so many people think they can become best-selling millionaire writers without working at it, so maybe I'm doing a service by bursting the "it's so easy" bubble. Read about how hard Jim Butcher struggled before he found a publisher. That'll make your confidence shake a little, because if it wasn't easy for a future #1 NYT bestseller...
It also proves how important connections are in the professional publishing world. So make them, and don't screw them up once you have them.
We'll now get back to your regularly scheduled writing prompt.
WRITING PROMPT #7
TITLE: Deal with it GENRE: Any TYPE: Character
We've all had moments in our life when we've grieved. If your characters don't have something to grieve about, or at least feel some kind of intense emotion about (like seeing the results of their dad's m.s.), there's probably something wrong with your book.
Now you've probably read the Conan-style heroic fantasy where the black-clad bad guy slaughters an entire village or a hapless underling ("Apology accepted, Captain Needa") or the hero's sister/mother/father/kitten. And it was just the cutest, fuzziest kitten a barbarian war-dawg could ever possess.
And you know what the hero's version of therapy is? Kicking villainish butt, that's what. If my brother turns out to be in league with Dr. Evil, whatever, I'm a buff hero who barely has the brains to point a chainsaw in the right direction, so I accept it and move on.
WRONG!
One of my favorite things about the Wheel of Time series was Rand's flashbacks after he is tortured in the box. As a sexual assault survivor, I know some things about nasty flashbacks and his claustrophobia. His weakness and added descent into madness made absolute sense to me. The all powerful Dragon needs a safety blanket to hug when life gets to that hard moment in life.
So that example's not exactly about grief, but it's certainly about intense emotion. And there are other moments when Rand chivalrously grieves over all the women he's harmed. Realistic, I think, even if one does want to say "you gotta break a few eggs to make a souffle, dude." Which is probably what Robert Jordan himself was thinking.
What about your own hero or heroine? Have you taken opportunities to show a hero dealing with strong emotions? Has she or he ever been through the five stages of grief? If you've forgotten, in order, they are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Often, heroes in books only through anger and acceptance. They shed a single tear over the burned ruins of their home village and move on to some self-righteous killin'.
Can you use denial in your story? Bargaining? Depression? I think the only time I've ever seen bargaining in the sci-fi/fantasy genre is in Stephen Donaldson's series, so if you can pull bargaining off, you might be doing something semi-unique.
Now's the tricky part: can you write intense emotion without making it melodramatic?
That's something I struggle with, especially with male characters. In real life, grief can be unmanly, and I've been told there's nothing like a crying hero to drive male readers running from the heels. I will go to just about any lengths not to deal with intense emotional scenes. I have to bring myself to the point of self-flagellating to write them. Part of the difficulty, at least for emotional male scenes, stems from the fact I was sexually assault. I have to fight my semi-subconscious belief that men couldn't possibly be real people with real emotions, otherwise this one particular paragon of male virtue couldn't have hurt me and violated me so deeply.
I think the best advice about writing emotion is that nobody likes a hero who wallows. Keep it short and sweet. Angsty adolescent heroes are a bit of a fad right now, but it's not necessary something that needs to be brought out by long soliloquies about the bitterness of life just to prove how sensitive your character is. A lot of emotion doesn't need to be directly written because we've all been there and we can paint the details in our own minds. And there's nothing like a hero who's trying to keep a stiff upper lip to win a reader's sympathy.
Again, to draw on Wheel of Time examples: Rand, while reading Moiraine's note, is moved to tears. We don't need an internal monologue telling us why. Robert Jordan paints the picture with a few guilty phrases and his denial that he's crying.
Or Perrin when he loses his family. He doesn't go crazy with his grief until Faile holds him. So much emotion in such a short space. I think Jordan is a master of characterization and world creation, which is why we all loved him even when we loved to complain about him.
(And speaking of great authors being human, remember when Perrin is talking to Min in book three and says he's never had a sister? And then his sister dies in The Shadow Returns? Whoops. There's another one where Birgitte swears to Elayne and calls her daughter-heir and LATER says she thinks Elayne's lying about being daughter-heir of Andor. Actually, given the extensive world Jordan's created, I think it's incredible how few continuity errors there are in his books. He must have kept the fattest stack of notes ever.)
Anyway, this week, try to put characters and the tough emotions together in at least one scene. Keep it short. Keep it strong. And put yourself in your character's place. What would you feel like if you were in the same position? Chances are, your hero would react similarly because we're all human. Or elvish. Or whatever.
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