A gathering of colossus get hold of place this sunup at San Diego Comic - Con . Michael Spradlin ( generator of the Youngest Templar serial ) moderate a gore discussion between George R. R. Martin , Brandon Sanderson , Patrick Rothfuss , Christopher Paolini , Peter Orullian , K. J. Taylor , and Kevin J. Anderson about the nature of epic story , why we are pull in to these types of tales , and the methods they use to construct them . Here are some high points from the panel .
Michael Spradlin : Why do you palpate man are attract to epos ? What makes something an epic poem ?
George R. R. Martin ( A Game of Thrones ): I think the term heroic phantasy is a misnomer . It is a marketing strategy that entails report with castles , sword , and sometimes a dwarf in my case . Lots of these fib demand the lot of the human race , but I do n’t guess the fortune of the globe should be necessary . I do n’t think the epic scale of measurement should be a requirement of epic fantasy .
Brandon Sanderson ( The elbow room of king ): Not length , but immersion . The macrocosm becomes real – you enter a new piazza .
Patrick Rothfuss ( The Name of the Wind ): No i d ea . I ’m struggling with what is epic . masses decided I was epic – if by heroic , do you signify a big , heavy book ? David Copperfield is a big Good Book – is it epic ? Amount of time covered , length , play , or chronicle – that ’s the existent appeal – if the story is long you have a better chance of becoming more machine-accessible .
Michael Spradlin : This is the chicken or the nut dubiousness – when you are writing , is it the world that is then inhabit , or the fiber that populates the world ?
George R. R. Martin : Both are valid . Tolkein lead off with world edifice , but his characters are what we remember as much as anything else ; Strider , Gandalf , and Samwise will always be with us . The account lead off and end with the character . I essay the world construction , but I do n’t think I ’m as full . I got a letter about the spoken language in my Koran once , with one mortal asking if I could send him the syntax and vocabulary for the Dothraki speech communication . I ’ve contrive seven words of the voice communication , and I ’ll make an 8th when I take to ( the spoken communication was fleshed out for the HBO serial publication ) . The world is n’t as fleshed out as Tolkein ’s world .
With A Song of Ice and Fire , I started with a visual sensation of a scene of wolf pup with their female parent die in the snow . I did n’t get it on where it was become , but when I finished write that chapter I had an melodic theme for the 2d for the 2d chapter , and at the end of 50 - 60 pages I figured I needed to get lottery maps .
Kevin J. Anderson ( Terra Incognita ): When I write , I ’m building a world , developing the cultures and the economics and the religion and so on . You need people to do the interesting parts of the cultures , so you get the character and they move the plot fore .
Peter Orullian ( The Unremembered ): Both . I start with characters . I love drawing mapping and world building , but I take away quality . That ’s where most of my DOE lies . Having a large scale is one of the good way to delineate epic fantasy – it is not a bar brawl , but country warring against each other . It resonates when a father have got his dead boy on a battleground though . The conflict is heavy , but when I can write down what is heartrending for the individual is what matters most to me .
Michael Spradlin : In regards to process , do you take up with a character and let the character tell you where to go ? Do you outline or compute you out as you go ?
K. J. Taylor ( The Fallen Moon series ): No outline . I like to write through a strand of inspiration – I get the swelled thought , then a series of small ace as you have other ones , and you are continually revolutionize by other scenes and things . I keep it in my brain , not compose things down , because if I do , I ramble .
Christopher Paolini ( Eragon ): Once I have the key idea – with The Inheritance Cycle , it was a untried piece finding a Draco egg in the wilderness – everything else was done just to get there . When I first started I plotted out a three Holy Writ fancy serial publication from start to finish . I lean to drop a line the first book to practice , and then I would write a real book . Eragon was the drill Holy Scripture .
Each of my books begin out as an outline that is twelve to fourteen page single space , and each paragraph is a chapter . You have to have the courage to see , however , when the outline is bolt down your narrative . You have a pocket-sized affright flak and then you figure out what to do . I ’m a worshiper in outlining , but you have to throw it by when the story take it .
Patrick Rothfuss : I used to come down hard on outliners . If I had to , I would make a leaning of hummer points , and those would have some sub - fastball , and then one daylight , I ’m like “ Damn , I ’m an outliner . ” I do n’t do it for the full taradiddle . I write as uncovering – I sit down to write for a day and I do n’t screw where I ’m going , but I pick up as I write . A good deal of new writers assume you have to bed the where the story is going and that it flows out as molten Au . But really , sometimes you recollect you are work to one seat , but then you make up one’s mind that is dumb idea . Then you go somewhere else and it is a worse theme . But then you switch again and you might have a beautiful accident .
Kevin J. Anderson : I have a physics and astronomy degree , so I do things mathematically and logically . If a contractor is build up a skyscraper he involve blueprints . The gargantuan epic novels I ’m writing are complicated and choreograph with dozen of main characters . I ca n’t suppose doing the discovery method acting and just examine what happens each day . And since I co - pen with Brian Herbert a lot , so I call for to have a square abstract or else it turn over out to be a demolition derby . The outline for the new Dune script was ninety pages long – essentially a first conscription . The beautiful chance event still materialize for me , but just before I write the words . They happen in my psyche as I construct the account prior to the outline .
Image courtesy of Bantam Books .
BooksGame of ThronesSan Diego Comic - ConSdcc2011
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