Tamske
Writing...
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2009
- Messages
- 1,764
- MBTI Type
- ENTP
Okay, maybe this is just the frustrated wannabe writer again, but...
I've read the first 40-something pages of "A song of ice and fire". The prologue I thought was okay. Not great, but okay. I didn't need that much repetitions of how inexperienced the leader was. The rest... pah. I can do better.
- Why does it have to mix the stories of so many people? Is this a requirement for fantasy? Once, I alternated between only two stories of only two people and my readers thought it confusing already. But Martin gets away with it (as do many other well-known writers).
- Why does it have to describe all the guests of a feast in great detail? There are more parts I wanted to skip, but this is the most obvious one. If I add this much description, my readers (including a few publishers) tell me I should start the story already.
I have tremendous problems with starting a story, especially a fantasy or science fiction one. You need to make the reader familiar with the world (without a geography/history/magic/future tech lecture), you've got to introduce the characters and describe them, AND you need some conflict. So I thought I'd study some popular books in the genre. But then I encounter things like this. It's not the only one, either, but perhaps the most popular one.
A question for the fans of Martin! What is it that gripped you? What is it that made you want to read further? Why do you like it?
I've read the first 40-something pages of "A song of ice and fire". The prologue I thought was okay. Not great, but okay. I didn't need that much repetitions of how inexperienced the leader was. The rest... pah. I can do better.
- Why does it have to mix the stories of so many people? Is this a requirement for fantasy? Once, I alternated between only two stories of only two people and my readers thought it confusing already. But Martin gets away with it (as do many other well-known writers).
- Why does it have to describe all the guests of a feast in great detail? There are more parts I wanted to skip, but this is the most obvious one. If I add this much description, my readers (including a few publishers) tell me I should start the story already.
I have tremendous problems with starting a story, especially a fantasy or science fiction one. You need to make the reader familiar with the world (without a geography/history/magic/future tech lecture), you've got to introduce the characters and describe them, AND you need some conflict. So I thought I'd study some popular books in the genre. But then I encounter things like this. It's not the only one, either, but perhaps the most popular one.
A question for the fans of Martin! What is it that gripped you? What is it that made you want to read further? Why do you like it?