Fantasy Fiction

So, I'm reading "The Last Kingdom" (the first in The Saxon Chronicles) by Bernard Cornwell. Not fantasy. More historical fiction. I loved The Winter King. (And all of his Arthur books) so I figured I would enjoy the Saxon series.
I also thought it would be good inspiration for writing some "realistic" fantasy (there's an oxymoron for you). It got me thinking about fantasy styles.
On the one hand, there is the Tolkien-esque style (exemplified by RA Salvatore). I guess this is "High Fantasy" or "Heroic Fantasy"? I'm not sure of the term, but if the good guy (like Drizzt) can annihilate 50-100 bad guys singlehandedly in combat, then you are in this camp.
Then there is the George RR Martin style or the Joe Abercrombie style where the action is more realistic, but it is fantasy because magic does rear its ugly head and do unspeakable things. Magic in this style is more frightening and rare. Magic in the heroic style is a common tool used by everyone.

Any preferences out there? I am guessing people fall firmly into one camp or the other though most fantasy readers probably dabble in both. I think I am firmly in the "realistic" camp though I do love most Warhammer Fiction and Gotrek definitely stretches the suspension of disbelief a bit.

I guess I love them both, but since George RR Martin and Joe Abercrombie top my list of favorite authors, then I guess I have to say "realistic" fantasy (the oxymoron) wins out for my vote.

Sales Presentations

Just had a visit from a vendor selling service. Like all vendor presentations, it was nice and collegial. We traded cards, we drank coffee and they showed me a powerpoint presentationt that was reasonably well done.
There was nothing earth-shattering to commend this vendor over any other, but I may use them for work at some point.
It got me to thinking though that there has to be a better way to get business. Build relaationships before saying "Will you hire me?"
I think this goes for entertainment companies as well, but how to begin building a relationship?
I have always heard that an amateur artist copies, but a mature artist steals. Maybe that's true, but we all have a moral repugnance to imitating someone else's work. Imitiation, of course, is the highest form of flattery.
Flip this around for a moment though - what if, instead of imitation, you think of it as an homage to another artist's work. That makes it more palatable. Why would I say to do this? Well, unless you have a sigbnature style that people are going to seek out, then you have a couple of options. One is to work in a world the people already like (for example - take over drawing X-men or write a Forgotten Realms novel). This is a hard one to break into sometimes. The second option is to write/draw/produce something that feels familiar to people. The way Starcraft was familiar to Warcraft players and a million other RTS games were familiar to the same people. The same way Joe Abercrombie feels familiar to readers of George RR Martin. After the familiarity phase, people begun to trust the Joe Abercombie's to be as entertaining and satisfying as the Geroge RR Martins and the new relationship is good to go!
So don't imitate...homage! Build a relationship - then try and sell, but only sell stuff they want. Sell what they need, not because you need it.


('’)

Making a Property

As I have mentioned, I am reading the "Song of Ice ad Fire" sage by George RR Martin (currently I am on the second book - "Clash of Kings").
Here is what cmes to mind. George RR Martin wrote the first book n 1996. Did he know it would be a series? I think so. The first one ended in a way that seemed to indicate a sequel or a series.
In any event, the books have grown into card games, miniatures game and now a series on HBO.
I am not sure how one takes the leap from writing a book to having a viable, marketable "property" ripe for movies, tv series and things like that.
One thing I do know though - first he had to write a book, and it had to be a darn good one.

So I guess step 1 is write, write, write

step 2 must be to make sure your telling the absolute best story you can.

Song of Fire and Ice

You've got to love George R.R. Martin. Anyone whose middle name sounds like a pirate laughing (arr, arr) should be a good writer. George is a great one.
I have always loved the Wild Cards series, but he only writes occasionally for it. He mainly edits and compiles the stories (and they rock).
I am reading (for the second time) "A Game of Thrones" from his "Fire and Ice" series and I am reminded just how darn good it is.
It's not just the writing, though his writing style really fits me, it is the storyline, characters everything.
He pulls off some of my favorite stuff.

1. No character feels safe so you are afraid that, at any moment, your favorite character might bite it
2. Magic is mysterious and scary, though it follows its own rules so I know the author understands how it works in his world
3. The good guys have attributes that are despicable and the bad guys are completey understandable so that they make great bad guys. I love it when the heroes are flawed and the bad guys have admirable qualities. Makes the characters seem so vivid.
4. It reminds me of Arthurian fiction the way it should be written.

So, I will be spending a good portion of my Sunday curled up with "Game of Thrones".

Ciao

Wild Cards

In my opinion, any fan of superheroes has to read The Wild Cards series. It is a set of books written, primarily, by a group of authors all editted by George R.R. Martin. This book series is a great example of everything GGE aspires to. It has the formulaic pieces of superhero fiction, but it is written for adults, no doubt about it. These stories are about "real" people. The characters are very deep and well characterized. The powers are not the focus of the story really. The powers are more the setting. It's a bit hard to explain, but it is so well done throughout the series. The first book came out in the 80's. I read it and was hooked immediately. The newest volume was released in December 2009. I have already devoured it and the series just continues to get better and better. A new book is coming out soon ("Busted Flush"). The books are basically written as "triads". Any one of the books is a good jumping on point. It makes it a richer universe if you start at the first and read all the way through, but all of them are just darn cool!
Now is a great time to get onboard.