SacredOrderOfTheMagi

Right, so, time for some updates!

     About the publication of Bane of Thunder, I think the rejection tally is up to 4 of 20 now, or something similar. But I've taken some thought to the matter, and bothered to look at my fears.

     I've always been kind of worried and on edge about submitting it for publication because I personally belive it to be a great tale, but the beginning does the entirety of the novel no favour.

     The major problem here is when submitting for publication, you either send a query, or a query with a sample, which is almost always the beginning of the novel. So I've taken it upon myself to take every fiction book I possess (that's a lot) and read the openings to kind of get a feel for what a published opening is like.

     Now, this turned out to be just the opening paragraph, rather than the openings. Better yet, half the time it was the opening sentence and I didn't even read all the books I'd dug up! I opened two.

     The first, was a book I am currently reading. The third book in the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks "Beyond the Shadows". (I'll give some detail about it later on). It opened with a scene. It said someone was sitting in a place where earlier had been action. I know I'm being vague but I'm avoiding spoilers.

     My analyzes of this was that it presented the reader with something relevant, a substantial piece of information, but nowhere near enough. It was a well known and loved character, it was a moment where no one knew what was about to happen because of predispositions made in the first two books.

     I thought it a great start but my one problem was that this was the third book in a trilogy, not the first, or even a standalone novel. As such, it wouldn't do me any good. The readers don't know anything about the book, the world, or the characters so they have no predispositions.

     That led me to the second book. "Shadowmoor" an anthology from Wizards of the Coast for a set of Magic The Gathering trading cards. Every set of cards has a novel to accompany it set in the same world as the cards. Shadowmoor was for the Shadowmoor set and I choose it to read at this time because it was an anthology of a fictional fantasy realm similar to mine.

     Seeing as opening sentences to stand alone stories can't be spoilers I'll list them for you.

1) "Ode to Mistmeadow Jack" - Scott McGough & Cory J. Herndon

Jack Chierdagh crept through the fog outside the

Kithkin doun of Mistmeadow, moving with the confidence

of one who knew well the ground beneath his feet.

Starts with the character. Starts with action. You wonder, "Who is Jack", "Why is he sneaking", "What's he doing", "What is a Kithkin", "Why is his name so weird"?

2) "Paths" - Denise R. Graham

They were coming.

Who's coming? What's going on? What do they want? Good thing or a bad thing?

     There were more but I won't bore you. The point is, these established writers know that to open a book, the first task is to grab the readers attention and they do this by providing them with information, but never enough information to satisfy the reader.

     From this, I knew my error, actually it was kind of funny to see my face when I realized this. I suppose it kind of just dropped and a tactical facepalm was certainly to follow due to how obvious the answer had been.

     I'll copy and paste a conversation I had at the time.

6/3/2009 | 10:05:50 PM | Sammy

I think I'll start with Beyond the Shadows, go to Shadowmoor, then the Gathering Dark, and maybe the Giver after that.

6/3/2009 | 10:06:45 PM | Sammy

Shadowmoor in an anthology, so it's bound to be good.

6/3/2009 | 10:07:11 PM | Kris

Yeah, I guess so.

6/3/2009 | 10:08:15 PM | Sammy

Ah ****.

6/3/2009 | 10:08:16 PM | Sammy

I'm an idiot.

6/3/2009 | 10:08:22 PM | Kris

Oh?

6/3/2009 |10:09:11 PM | Sammy

I've been writing with intensive thought into cleverly delivering every sentence to keep the readers attention onto each piece of information I give them, I arrange everything so that I can create an entire world and let them have it, just like that. I make it all perfect and easy to understand.

6/3/2009 | 10:09:15 PM | Sammy

sounds good, but I'm an idiot for it.

6/3/2009 | 10:09:21 PM | Sammy

I need to get them THINKING not UNDERSTANDING.

     And there you have it, my flaw! I've been making entire worlds from the bottom up, starting with geology to likely civilizations to developement and so on until present day. I had all the information in a nice easy to understand package that I handed to the readers.

     Sounds good, lotsa work, but a waste inded! Readers don't want to be told everything like they're in a history class! They want a story, and that means something that keeps them thinking about it. Questions like "How's that work?", "Why did he do that?" or my personal favourite "Wait, what?"

     So that's that. But I'm now faced with another Dillema. I don't know if I should rewrite the beginning (obviously) only, or the entire novel. But I'll probably just skim through and regard each sentence with care. Make sure everything's according to my new foud wisdom.

     Besides that, I've started yet ANOTHER NaNoWriMo challenge. Unfortunately I started it before I realized I was going to fix Bane of Thunder so now I have two massive projects on my plate during exam month...

     Oh well, WIsh me luck!

     Now onto the blurb about the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks!

     Amazing. It's simply amazing.

     The first book, "The Way of the Shadows" was an amazing roller coaster of drama and dark fantasy focusing on a loveable villain in his quest for (mostly) goodness. It's one of those books that captivate you and forces you to enjoy it. There's no speeding through it, and I don't mean that it's a hard read, I mean by some unseen power of Brent Weeks', you have to read it as it's wrote. That means a second per period and half second per comma.

     But on to the negatives.

     I found some parts predictable, but not nearly enough to make it worth stating as a negative. My one and only serious problem with the trilogy is that the trilogy gradually gets worse as it goes. It starts great - amazing! And the second book has you expecting it to be just as good, unfortunately it's just a little worse off. It's great and all but I didn't have the same enthusiasm. And then when it ended, my oh my did it leave you wanting the third book!

     But that's another problem. It had you wanting the third book, but the third book in my opinion fails to deliver. It's as though it's just a formality to complete a trilogy.

     Don't get me wrong, it's a great read, interesting and captivating. You want to know what happens, but it doesn't strike the same enthusiasm as the first book and reminds me of the online role playing game Guild Wars.

     I'm an expert at the game, I know almost all there is to know, I've done almost everything there is to do, and yet, it was more fun in the beginning. I find myself wishing I was a new player to rediscover it all, as though it's become kind of mundane.

     That's kind of what it's like with the Night Angel Trilogy. But even still if you asked me, I'd recommend it in a second. It's on my top reads list, along with The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. The first book of the Godkiller Trilogy!

     Which I can't wait for the second to be released, I'm dying here!

Anyways, I'm procrastinating again. So I'm going to let you go and work on Bane of Thunder! Wish me luck in my endeavours everyone!

Rock on Rockstars!

S. R. Wilkes - The mostly idiotic, yet proclaimed genius. (I disagree)