World building nitty gritty
gryffin23's comment on Robert Jordan's novels being a serialized record of a really long D&D game got me thinking. Over the years I've enjoyed (and occasionally mocked) the Wheel of Time (WoT): its influence on my adolescent appreciation of fantastic fiction (and fiction in general), the terrible cover art, the perpetually pissed-off female characters, the hefty paperback tomes, I'm really very sentimental about the whole thing.
Back in 1993 or 1994, someone at Tor publishing came up with a brilliant marketing idea: Provide copies of the 1st half of the 1st book of the series (The Eye of the World for FREE.
A thirteen-year old version of Llama could not resist the idea of free novel (or at least the first half of one), picked it up and was hooked. The premise was simple Tolkien-esque fantasy pastiche: yokels from the countryside are drafted for a Very Special Mission that will Save the World. I am a still a sucker for this premise. In fact, I LOVE this premise, because I too, in my llama heart of hearts, believe that I, a simple countrified llama, am destined to SAVE THE WORLD (preferably in a some manner that involves access to the internet and indoor plumbing.)
I also love really intricate world building: social structures, stories, food, language, clothing, hairdos- whatever, I'm sold. I'm willing to overlook serious character deficiencies and plot structure in the name of world building. Oh, and there has to be some romance (guy/girl/straight/gay/whatever, its all good) and deeds of derring do! So Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, for all its myriad flaws, fits these criteria.
Robert Jordan (really James Oliver Rigney) passed away in 2007 after completing only 11 books of the Wheel of Time, leaving his epic unfinished. His estate hired fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to work from Jordan's notes to complete the unfinished volumes of the series. When the Gathering Storm (volume 12) came out in October, I was a bit ambivalent. As I've gotten older, my teenage starry-eyed passion for the novels (like all things adolescent) had faded in the process of growing up. I recognized that perhaps the characters were a bit 2-dimensional, veering into cliche. The cast-of-thousands viewpoints, rather than adding depth to the story, just made it more confusing and less engaging. And why hasn't anything actually happened to advance the story for the last 6 books?
Still, I was able to get a copy from the "new books" shelf of the library-and I found myself falling in love all over again. Not really with the story or the characters- but with the 14 year old Llama-self that lives in the back of my brain who gets really excited about new Wheel of Time novels.
It's like that line from "Real Genius": "You see Mitch, I used to be you. And lately I've been missing me so I asked Dr. Hathaway if I could room with me again and he said sure."
So my 14-year old llama-self (whose capacity for enthusiasm and imagination I sorely miss) and I had a date. Nostalgia aside, it certainly helps that Brandon Sanderson is a) a good writer, b)there were no extended battle scenes that failed to advance the dramatic narrative and c)my favorite characters (including the perpetually ignored Gawyn Trakand) got to do cool stuff. Yay!
Prodded by de facto imprisonment by snow and very cold temperatures over Christmas and New Years, I dipped back into the Wheel of Time (Not in order, and only reading the parts I liked) my 14 year-old self and I were happily absorbed in escapist fantasy.
However, my 28 year old llama-self kept intruding with annoying questions like, "Haven't the Aes Sedai figured out how to use the One Power for birth control?" (I think Aes Sedai are allowed have sex (ex: Greens with their multiple Warders- but I can't imagine that any of them particularly want to have children, especially since they'll probably outlive them by 200 years.) And if the Aes Sedai haven't figured out, surely someone else (Aiel Wise Ones, etc) has? Jordan conveniently elides the role of sex in WoTland (which is strange considering how prominent romance is in the plot/ character development, as well as "clash" of men and women through various gender stereotypes) And if Aes Sedai live for 300 years, but remain physically young, do they ever go through menopause?
14 year old llama-self shakes her head, but smiles. 28 year old llama-self has a reputation for overthinking. That's why she has a blog.
Back in 1993 or 1994, someone at Tor publishing came up with a brilliant marketing idea: Provide copies of the 1st half of the 1st book of the series (The Eye of the World for FREE.
A thirteen-year old version of Llama could not resist the idea of free novel (or at least the first half of one), picked it up and was hooked. The premise was simple Tolkien-esque fantasy pastiche: yokels from the countryside are drafted for a Very Special Mission that will Save the World. I am a still a sucker for this premise. In fact, I LOVE this premise, because I too, in my llama heart of hearts, believe that I, a simple countrified llama, am destined to SAVE THE WORLD (preferably in a some manner that involves access to the internet and indoor plumbing.)
I also love really intricate world building: social structures, stories, food, language, clothing, hairdos- whatever, I'm sold. I'm willing to overlook serious character deficiencies and plot structure in the name of world building. Oh, and there has to be some romance (guy/girl/straight/gay/whatever, its all good) and deeds of derring do! So Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, for all its myriad flaws, fits these criteria.
Robert Jordan (really James Oliver Rigney) passed away in 2007 after completing only 11 books of the Wheel of Time, leaving his epic unfinished. His estate hired fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to work from Jordan's notes to complete the unfinished volumes of the series. When the Gathering Storm (volume 12) came out in October, I was a bit ambivalent. As I've gotten older, my teenage starry-eyed passion for the novels (like all things adolescent) had faded in the process of growing up. I recognized that perhaps the characters were a bit 2-dimensional, veering into cliche. The cast-of-thousands viewpoints, rather than adding depth to the story, just made it more confusing and less engaging. And why hasn't anything actually happened to advance the story for the last 6 books?
Still, I was able to get a copy from the "new books" shelf of the library-and I found myself falling in love all over again. Not really with the story or the characters- but with the 14 year old Llama-self that lives in the back of my brain who gets really excited about new Wheel of Time novels.
It's like that line from "Real Genius": "You see Mitch, I used to be you. And lately I've been missing me so I asked Dr. Hathaway if I could room with me again and he said sure."
So my 14-year old llama-self (whose capacity for enthusiasm and imagination I sorely miss) and I had a date. Nostalgia aside, it certainly helps that Brandon Sanderson is a) a good writer, b)there were no extended battle scenes that failed to advance the dramatic narrative and c)my favorite characters (including the perpetually ignored Gawyn Trakand) got to do cool stuff. Yay!
Prodded by de facto imprisonment by snow and very cold temperatures over Christmas and New Years, I dipped back into the Wheel of Time (Not in order, and only reading the parts I liked) my 14 year-old self and I were happily absorbed in escapist fantasy.
However, my 28 year old llama-self kept intruding with annoying questions like, "Haven't the Aes Sedai figured out how to use the One Power for birth control?" (I think Aes Sedai are allowed have sex (ex: Greens with their multiple Warders- but I can't imagine that any of them particularly want to have children, especially since they'll probably outlive them by 200 years.) And if the Aes Sedai haven't figured out, surely someone else (Aiel Wise Ones, etc) has? Jordan conveniently elides the role of sex in WoTland (which is strange considering how prominent romance is in the plot/ character development, as well as "clash" of men and women through various gender stereotypes) And if Aes Sedai live for 300 years, but remain physically young, do they ever go through menopause?
14 year old llama-self shakes her head, but smiles. 28 year old llama-self has a reputation for overthinking. That's why she has a blog.