For a while, there seems to be have been some flack flying around claiming that Geralt is a direct clone of Elric. I’ve not paid it much mind, personally. I have been a long standing fan of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion books. I only got into the Witcher after watching the Netflix show, then buying Witcher 3 from Steam. And then buying the first of the Witcher books (all in 2019).
Did the Witcher rip of Elric?
The best examination of this I have seen was produced by ‘Proper Bird’ on Youtube. Though it is an hour long, the video does a really good job of explaining the similarities and debunking others.
But it brings up some thoughts for me. Where is the line between inspiration and stealing? Has Sapkowiski created something new, or stolen something very established?
Blake Snyder’s story beats have proved useful to me in the past in helping me structure a longer piece of fiction. In my current work in progress, I’m using them to structure a thriller of sorts. But I have been writing horror on the side too. Snyder’s structure doesn’t quite work for horror though. Not perfectly.
T.L. Bodine has come up with a great beat sheet for writing a horror story. This might be old news for others, but to me this is a ‘breaking story’.
Suggest some suspicion of the normal world by hinting at the supernatural.
Introduce the characters and their internal struggles.
The character does something normal that sets them on the path for a conflict with the supernatural.
The character receives a warning of something unusual but continues on anyway.
A glimpse of the monster – but it is dark and they don’t understand what they are in conflict with.
Things get weirder and the supernatural is more obviously in effect.
The monster pursues the characters and some may die.
Hope dies. But a new hope is born when the character sees a glimpse at a possible solution.
A different solution is formulated.
The hunter becomes the hunted and the tables are turned on the monster.
The heroes must pay the piper – defeating the monster will exact a cost, and the hero chooses to pay it.
The inevitable fall out from the choice befalls the heroes, but the monster is at last defeated…
But the evil cannot be conquered – only delayed until a later date.
T.L. Bodine goes into more detail – I’ve not ripped off their entire post like some cad. Having a peek at their site is highly recommended.
What do you think of this beat sheet? Let me know if it is useful for you!
Tale Foundry released the second in a new series of writing tips a few days ago while I was being rained on in Northumbria. Having watched it, the Tale Foundry group hits on several lies that have snuck into my thinking in the past
What do you think of this video? Anything they should have added, perhaps? Let me know in the comments. Please share this video and help it reach the audience it needs to – and remember to credit Tale Foundry for their stellar work!
National Novel Writing Month – Everyone is talking about it on Twitter and Facebook. It is November and now everyone is scrambling to make 1,667 words a day. Everyone, that is, except me.
And why not me? Because I am making NaNoWriMo work for me rather than really participating in the event like some panicked manic. I am a teacher by trade and November is a very busy month for me as children’s assessments need making, planning for the new year is due and a certain holiday season approaches. If I don’t make NaNo work for me, it won’t work at all. Instead of writing 1,667 words a day, I’ve effectively halved that and set myself a target of 5K a week.
So, aiming for 25K over the season, what are the strategies I know already that work for me?
Do word sprints
Word sprints – type without distractions and breaks for short periods of time. I tend to do 20 minutes for a sprint and can get 500 words out or around about that mark. The aim isn’t so much the quality but to get the quantity – to whistle through the story so that the edit can go and fix all the mistakes later on.
Attend events
I attend a writing group weekly, and we write for an hour together. I love this time of the week – it is one of my most productive times. Hearing other people’s ideas also helps inspire me. I plan to attend as many NaNo events as I can, work permitting.
Put a contract out for the inner critic
I wrote recently a blog post saying ‘Don’t get it right, get it written’. The inner critic was an issue for me for a long time, but that little git hides when I write now. You can’t be judgemental about your own work. I call my first draft a ‘vomit draft’ and then allow the first edit to polish it up before I show it off to anyone. Terry Pratchett said the first draft is simply you telling yourself the story. Don’t let your critic inside your brain put any dampener on that.
Make a commitment
I have made my commitment and I have told the world – now, pride will make me keep my word. I like to be able to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.
Get family support
This one is crucial for me. With a small child, it is vital to make sure you give your family time. However, you can share your writing goals with them and get their support too. For instance, talking with Herself to make sure that there is no impediments to going to NaNoWriMo events and the like.
This year is the first time I’m trying a reduced target. In 2017, I managed to do nearly 40K in one month, and this time last year, I didn’t participate for various reasons. This year, I know how busy I am going to be and I’ve made plans.
So, lets see how this goes! Out of interest, are people interested in reading what I write (if it gets a little polished first that is)? I hope so, but I’m not going to post twoddle and I’ll not make people suffer my wiring if they don’t want to. lol.
Good luck to you all, NaNoWriMo’ers and those who aren’t participating this year.
I used to have a bit of a problem. No, wait! Dn’t go. I promise this isn’t some sort of horrendous personal issue or pictures of my weird junk! I swear.
No, my problem was I had to make sure every paragraph, every sentence, every damn word… was perfect. Editing was what other people did – I was making pure gold.
And about 50 words an hour.
It wasn’t until I received some advice and took that advice to heart before this changed. The advice was this:
Don’t get it right. Get it written.
Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t overnight a different writer. Oh no. It took me ages to get this into my brain. I had to make a background for my computer screen with that message written in huge letters (along side the messages ‘You have permission to be crap’ and ‘Write the worst you can. Edit it later, man’).
But it is advice that opened a world of words to me. Now, I write the story down in any old words that come into my head and then go back and fix them so at least then they make sense. Once that is done, I begin the editing phase in earnest.
Understanding that I am allowed to be bad was the key to unlocking things, to gag that internal editor so he can’t tell me how bad I am. I understand, reading posts in Twitter and Facebook, that other people have posted. So perhaps it helps to share this.
I finished Eye of the World by Robert Jordan and reviewed it very recently. And THEN I bumped into some content on Youtube.
Typical.
Daniel Greene’s Review…
Daniel Greene is a total Wheel of Time fanboy, but gives fair reviews. I really like his content on his Youtube channel. His review of Eye of the World is good but not something I entirely agree with. And that’s fine, but I want to explain what specifically I have a bit of an issue with.
I feel like the whole ‘Eye of the World’ is Lord of the Rings shtick is overstated. We’re not reading fantasy books because we’re studying them – we’re reading them because we enjoy them. And having Tolkien as an influence can be claimed by almost all fantasy books. After all, he is the source of the ideas of orcs, our understanding of Elves (not pixies), wise wizards, and dark lords. And while he is far more knowledgeable about Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time in general, I only seem tropes in common between the two stories. And I don’t think that is enough to say it’s a retelling.
Merphy Napier’s Review
Merphy Napier I know less about, but her review seems fair. Her comment about the pacing reflected my experience with reading the Eye of the World. I could have put Eye of the World and not picked it up again in places, had I not wanted to finish it rather than DNF a book for the second time this year. In her other comments, I suspect she and Daniel Greene have one another on speed-dial, especially the Lord of the Rings comment. (EDIT – After further research, I found that both Greene and Napier had appeared in one video I could find together, but I was being hyperbolic with the speed-dial comment). And this leads me strongly to my major point:
Eye of the World isn’t the Lord of the Rings!
It isn’t.
Think about this… A boy discovers he’s adopted. A mentor comes from a distant place to lead them to safety. A dark one hunts for the boy. The boy discovers he has magic powers. That’s right. Eye of the World is Star Wars.
Still not convinced?
A girl lives as one of the poorest of her society. She performs magic which brings her into conflict with the law. She runs and is taught by a rogue wizard… Could this be Vin from Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series… or Sonea from Trudi Canavan’s Black Magician Trilogy? Silly question, it is both!
My feeling is that, because Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Eye of the World all follow Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, there are parallels. Strong ones. You can equate Ring Wraiths, Darth Vader and Myrddraals because they fulfil the same role in some respects. Sure, the river crossing seems almost the same in Eye of the World to Lord of the Rings – but actually, I think Tolkien did that bit way better. Sure, Lan is a bit of an Aragorn clone and Myrddraals are Ring Wraiths with a bit of a paint job. But similarities do not make it the same story.
Think of Tropes! How many stories have similar tropes but are completely different? I could be horribly insulting and suggest that these two reviews are just copies of one another – clearly they are not, nor are Merphy and Daniel the same. I just don’t see that similarities make that strong a case for being derivative. Maybe I’m wrong – I haven’t read The Great Hunt yet but I am looking forward to starting it. Currently I’m reading the Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson at the moment and will be hitting something ‘thin’ before colliding with the massive task of The Great Hunt.
I think, had I started thinking ‘this is just the Lord of the Rings, retold,’ I’d be a little miffed with Robert Jordan and this post would be a lot different, calling him out and slotting him in that same collective of writers as the Goodkind. But while it may begin from a similar premise and take a similar approach to introducing us to the fantastic setting, Eye of the World doesn’t follow the same path or hit all the same plot beats as Lord of the Rings – even in the beginning. Any similarities are cosmetic.
But here is the very interesting question…
The Wheel of Time is being adapted for streaming services (Brandon Sanderson recently tweeted from filming locations). Should any similarities to Lord of the Rings be scrubbed from the episodes? Should Eye of the World start differently… and if so, how?
What do you think about similarities and derivative content? Am I wrong about it all? Please leave a comment! I love to hear your views!
One of my favourite films of all time is ‘The 13th Warrior’ by the director responsible for Predator (the good one), Die Hard (the Christmas Movie) and The Hunt for Red October. 13th Warrior was his last movie before he ended up in prison for lying to the FBI. Regardless of that, I have always loved Ahmad ibn Fadlan’s tale of Vikings, monsters and implied magic. And that is why I picked up ‘Eaters of the Dead’.
And I am immensely glad I did.
Eaters of the Dead had a strange genesis – it was written in response to a dare by Michael Crichton. He was challenged to make Beowulf an exciting story. Taking the ibn Fadlan text and Beowulf as inspiration, Crichton synthesised a faux translation text describing the tale of the Arab when he meets Buliwyf and is entangled in a hero’s quest to free the north from an ancient evil.
There are notable differences between Eaters of the Dead and 13th Warrior – in the book, Ibn Fadlan is more witness than participant. The story really isn’t about him but about what he has seen. Of course, with Antonio Banderas as the star of the movie, the spotlight is on his character more – the movie is named for his role in the tale, after all.
13th Warrior will have to appear sometime on this blog, but this review is of Eaters of the Dead in its own right. Put thoughts about vikings barking at the thoroughbred Arabian from your mind. Put thoughts of ‘Give an Arab a sword and he makes a knife’ from your mind too.
This review is just about the book. And boy, what a book it is.
Eaters of the Dead is a novella of around 50,000 – half the size of a normal book. This is not a disadvantage – every word builds upon the last, painting a ‘historical’ view of the world. Sometimes, novels waste a few words here and there, but not Eaters of the Dead – there is no filler here. You find yourself drawn into the journey of Ibn Fadlan as he meets the Turks and then the Norsemen, or else hear how the Arab managed his team as they traversed unknown terrain.
The story is written in the style of a historical translation, replete with footnotes that add to this illusion, or else build upon the world. Parts of it are actually from the Ibn Fadlan manuscript itself – especially the early chapters – and are genuine. It is a testament to Crichton’s skill at writing that one cannot tell when the factual text ends and the fictional text begins (including the author according to the postscript). If reading a non-fiction style text sounds a little dry, the surprise is that the actual story is filled with characterful moments, character arcs, revelations and the like – the same as you’d want in any story.
So, as well as being short and being written in a unique voice, the tale is also well structured. There is a rising tension in the character of Ibn Fadlan as well as in the story he relates that grips a reader and keeps them reading – or at least, that was the case for me. I found it hard to put this book down. I was sad when I finished it. I thought about reading it again – but perhaps I will slide it on my shelf and reread it next year.
Is it a coincidence that Tolkien translated Beowulf and Crichton reinterpreted the legend in turn? I don’t know is there is much else to link these two accounts save for the common source material, but it seems that the legend, that the history and mythology of the vikings seems a rich ore from which to forge fantasy stories from.
In the end, I have to strongly advise people to hunt out a copy of Eaters of the Dead – it is an exceptionally good tale that is fast, fun and exciting. There are no dull parts, no pauses in the action. If I gave ratings, then out of five stars, this would be a seven. Or more. It is significantly different in how the tale ends to the movie to make it worth seeing the movie and reading the book. And enjoying them both.
Have you read Eaters of the Dead? Did you like it? Have you seen 13th Warrior? What did you think of it? Please let me know in the comments and by liking this post.
National Novel Writing Month – those words often send a chill down the spine of any writer who has tried the challenge before. Thirty one days. Fifty thousand words. Sounds doable.
Having done one of these challenges before, though, and not working a traditional 9-5 job (more like a 8-6 job with more work when I get home, in case I was bored) NaNoWriMo is always a bit of a disaster for me.
I know there will be many people who say that I can afford to give an hour to writing each day no matter what I do. And trust me, I have tried. But it is possible to be so tired that your brain stops functioning. Working with children, this couldn’t be more true. At least when you’re herding cats, you don’t need to answer their weird and wonderful questions too while writing reports about their behaviour! There are studies that say there is a limited number of decisions a brain can make in a day – and in a day, I usually feel I exceed that number.
So, what am I going to do? Twelve thousand words every weekend, maybe? Don’t be daft! What I’m going to do is make my goals a bit more realistic. I’m not going to aim for the 50,000 words – I’m going to aim for a fraction of that – for five thousand each week in November. Funnily enough, there are five weeks (or parts thereof) in November, so that should get me twenty five thousand words! Awesome.
In life, it is important to have realistic expectations of ourselves. Not to aim low – I’m not advocating for that, but to aim for better than what we have. For me, twenty five thousand words will be a significant increase to my output of late and will mean I will be writing more than I have been. Isn’t that enough? I think it absolutely is. I give myself permission to fail, but I want to succeed. Quite badly, I may add. And if there is one thing I know how to do, it’s to succeed badly!
So, what am I going to do to make sure that happens? Well, for that, you’ll need to tune in tomorrow to find out!
Having finished ‘Eye of the World’ by Robert Jordan, I went to the stacks that pass for bookshelves in my house and had so many different titles to choose from.
There was
The Great Hunt (Robert Jordan – Wheel of Time #2)
The Dragon Reborn (Robert Jordan – Wheel of Time ~3)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
The Well of Ascension (Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn #2)
The Hero of Ages (Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn #3)
Children of Blood and Bone (Atomi Adeyema)
The Demon Awakens (R. A. Salvatore)
Bloodstorm (Dan Abnet and Mike Lee – Malus Darkblade #2)
Reaper of Souls (Dan Abnet and Mike Lee – Malus Darkblade #3)
Warpsword (Dan Abnet and Mike Lee – Malus Darkblade #4)
Lord of Ruin (Dan Abnet and Mike Lee – Malus Darkblade #5)
Deathblade (C. L. Werner – Malus Darkblade #6)
But beside all these was a book I had been scouring stores for for years and years. A book upon which one of my most beloved films is based. A story about horror, magic, death and honour. There was ‘Eaters of the Dead’ by Michael Crichton. After reading an epically long book of more than 300,000 words, the 186 page book looked so inviting. So, I’m reading the book upon which the 13th Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas, is based.
Before you start shouting that I should be able to change my mind, that I should stick to my plans, I have to remind you that er… it was a magical addition to my reading list caused by powers from Shayol Ghul, Mount Doom or some such place, and I can’t help it.
Sorry.
Got any suggestions as to what to add to my reading list? Gimme a shout in the comments!
The Eye of the World cover art (that I like the most).
Lets Review: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Nearly eight hundred pages of description, dialogue, action, edge-of-the-seat tension and infected nightmares. And that list doesn’t even scratch the surface of what Jordan has offered. It has taken me just over three weeks to read this book with all of Life happening around me (including School Inspectors poking their noses into things).
Having read this book over such a long time, I feel like I have a relationship with the characters in The Eye of the World. At times I have hated this book, and times tolerated it, and at times loved it. For people who have read Eye of the World, I am sure they too understand this – there are some criticisms of the writing style of Robert Jordan in general in his writing of the Wheel of Time. But you can’t fault the plot, the characters or the setting. And put beside another epic, such as Lord of the Rings, these criticisms are shared: often, less egregious than in other epic works of fantasy fiction, even. Jordan was writing an Epic – he decided it was going to be especially Epic.
I try to keep book reviews positive, and that is very easy with Eye of the World. Robert Jordan packed in a ton of beautiful locations, lifelike characters and a complex conflict which go beyond Good and Evil. This is fantasy for grown-ups.
I’ve listed my five favourite things about Eye of the World.
5. The Wisdom
The Wisdom is a woman in parts of Jordan’s world that serves a village as a healer, a midwife and a voice of reason. The Wisdom we meet in the book is called Nynaeve (pronounced NIGH-neev). And she is awesome. She berates the men, scoffs at teens, threatens idiots with violence and is willing to fight an entire magical order after the kidnapping of [!!!SPOILERS!!!]. Why do I like her? Because, even though I’m a dude, I can relate to her – up to a point. She goes from very scary bear to cuddly toy as the story goes on. My only hope is after the climax of Eye of the World, we get the old Nynaeve back. The one not scared to tell people exactly what she thinks of them.
For this list, it was almost a toss-up between the Wisdom or the Gleeman, but I think Nynaeve was slightly better because Thom’s ‘redemption’ seemed to come out of nowhere and I wasn’t so pleased at how cramped together the foreshadowing and the fight in the town centre were. It was too rushed for my liking – a good plot point, but not executed with as well as I’d hoped. He had all that time on the boat to tell the lads about his past but I didn’t see any illusion to it. Still, the Gleeman was awesome. The Wisdom, slightly better. By fractions.
4. Bella
Bella is a horse. She has no magical power, she does nothing particularity wonderful except being a horse. So, why is she 4th? Simply put, you care about Bella as the journeys wind on – she matters because she is a sympathetic extra. When Fades chase the characters, Bella is mentioned. In the passages beyond reality, Bella is mentioned. The horses are described in relation to Bella. This seems to me to be a clever trick so that readers care as much for the horses as they do for the people. It adds a sense of realism, that if Bella dies, the characters would suffer. Good work, Mr Jordan.
3. The McGuffin
The Eye of the World is named for a McGuffin in the story. The bad guys want it, the good guys need it. Without giving any spoilers, the McGuffin leads to character revelations, links to further tales and totally subverts the expectations I had. I was half-expecting a ring to take to Mount Doom to appear. Instead, what I got was an exciting climax that was held till the last slice of the book.
2. Myrddraals
Eyeless horrors of the Great Evil. Agents of the darkness. The Myrddralls are hideous and man-like, with great sword skills and an aura that freezes men on the spot. I love the description of these bad guys and how they dog the characters until the very end of the book. To me, they feel a lot like the Ring Wraiths from the Lord of the Rings – You really don’t want to meet them. And yes, I know the Ring Wraiths are undead and Myrddrals are living (after a fashion) but still. They ‘feel’ similar in terms of how sinister they are and how they chase the protagonists around like the Nine Riders do in the Shire in Lord of the Rings.
1. Dapple and the others
I can’t really talk about Dapple and her ‘family’ without some spoilers – and I would like other people to enjoy meeting them as much as I did when they read The Eye of the World. Of all the surprises in the story, the relationship with Dapple and the yellow-eyed lad (hehe sneaky workaround to prevent spoilers). Why did I rate this part of the story so highly? Well, for purely personal reasons. After the events of Shadar Logoth, this is where the story comes alive for me. This marks the point were I stopped slogging through Eye of the World and began devouring it. More of this, please! Bring back Dapple!
In conclusion –
Eye of the World is an ‘Undertaking’. It is more than 300,000 words long – nearly 800 pages. In comparison, Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring is under 190,000 words long. The Two Towers and The Return of the King combined have less words than The Eye of the World. Reading this book is daunting. Especially since it takes a little to get started and a lot of characters are thrown at the reader at the start. I think though, for a set-up for a tale as truly epic as this, it does pay off. Get through the first hundred words, and suddenly things start really happening. Bad things. Exciting things. Shocking things.
So, did I like Eye of the World? Put it this way – I’m going to read the next book in the series, the Great Hunt. Well, after I’ve stuck a couple of smaller titles under my eyes first perhaps. That alone should say what I think of the Wheel of Time’s first instalment – I’m invested. I want more.
Imagine Erratically 