hopefulmorning

There were two grammar Nazis in my writing group. Their editing was pretty epic. I never realized how esoteric a topic grammar can become. They got into some insane debates over areas of grammar that I had no idea could be such a hot topic. I did invest in the Chicago Manual of Style because of them, but have yet to really crack it open.

Yeah, I'm getting better. I had been part of a local writer's group for a little bit, and I started to get the hang of it more. I remember at one point making a statement about how I just really had a difficult time with liking the heroine of this guy's story, and his response was, "That's good! She's not supposed to be easily likable!" Things like that really helped me to see the value in focusing responses on your reactions vs. how you think they should change the story. The only time I'll make a statement somewhat along the lines of 'this needs to be changed' is when I find a passage extremely confusing. I'll point out what I find confusing, and then leave it at that. 

Now, I think WoT book 5 is going through same phase. I just cannot tolerate any more Nynaeve pulling here braids, and her apparent disdain for men. Elayne till now is nice. Same goes for Min. But Aviendha is irritating. Her constant "Rand, you are for Elayne" and "Elayne loves you" is annoying. Though, I must say, Mat is an interesting character.

Hahahaha!! I can totally relate to this. At one point I was like, "If Robert Jordan says 'she crossed her arms under her breasts' one more time...I'm throwing this into the fire!"

His character development stuff is lacking somewhat, but the world building is brilliant, which was what got me through to where I did. Nynaeve grew on me. I like Aviendha EXCEPT where it pertains to Rand. I loved Min from the start. Egwene (sp?) annoyed me from the get go and still does. Mat is now starting to grow on me some after the whole knife situation. Perrin I just want to slap and tell him to get over it with his whole wolf thing, and Jordan pairing him with Faile was just...fail. 

I'm new here, and have been acclimating myself to the different things this place has to offer. I'm curious about the guilds and some of the RP type game play going on in the communities, but haven't really found a cumulative explanation of it all. How does all of that work? Are there any forum posts that go into those details?

I think some of the problem with readers is just not knowing how to be a good reader for critique. Brandon talks about this some in 'Writing Excuses,' and in his online lecture series with Brigham Young. It's within the first three lectures.

One of the best books I ever read on this topic is Orson Scott Card's book 'How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.' There's a chapter dedicated on good readers for manuscripts and what to request from them. Sometimes just telling people what kind of feedback you're looking for really helps. 

I have a similar problem but it's not that I don't like the book, I just cant seem to get through it. I stopped reading a Feast of Crows near the end for no reason and not wanting to finish it when I've forgotten some of the plot for the rest of asoiaf, I decided to reread the series. I always stop at after the first or second book because I don't have time and I always have this urge to start from the first book before reading the others if it's been at least a few months. Have read game of thrones like 5 times and I'm finally getting to the point that I'm sick of it. :/ I think it might be my OCD is very reactive to my reading style.

I'm having similar difficulty with Martin's series. I've tried multiple times to get into it, but I just get the blah's about it and don't want to continue. Then feel like I need to start over when I decide I want to try again, and it just becomes this vicious cycle. Maybe if the series actually gets finished I'll read it through at that time.

I got stuck with WoT too. I got to book 4 and needed to go cleanse my pallet with something else. It's been awhile with reading them, and I really want to start them again, but don't want to start over. My husband said there's a woman who has a blog that's quite literally a summary of each chapter of all the books. I may try that instead.

It's so funny I was just asking about this on a different thread because I couldn't find a list about it, and NOW I'm finding the articles concerning it. :-) Heh. Typical.

I'm working through MB now. I was reading that you could take a couple different paths. You could go into the next phase of MB, or start on 'Elantris' and 'Warbreaker', which I'm thinking of doing next just to give myself a break from the MB universe.

What book was it?

"The Witch's Daughter" by Paula Brackston.

It started off as very urban fantasy with Wicca influences, which was great. I thought it was going to have some time travel elements due to the back cover description kind of hinting at that, but it wasn't that AT ALL. Then there's the big bad warlock, which had some really creepy, rapey elements and the main character knowing this and still somewhat falling for him and just...ick...blech. ::shudders:: Nope. The characters were difficult to relate to along with being poorly developed to the point where certain scenes would happen and the reactions were obviously the author railroading them.

Basically, I just can't subject myself to reading it anymore. It's too bad because apparently it was a NY Times bestseller so I had a lot of high hopes going into it.

Well. Hunger Games number 3. I guess all of my expectations came from reading Mistborn, but that book was pretty bad even when you don't compare it to Sanderson's works. I like to re read books, even ones that I don't necessarily like the endings to, but I will never revisit that one.

I was really disappointed in the second and third Hunger Games books. The way the PTSD was done was extremely tropy. My ex husband has severe PTSD, and so it was really obvious to me that she hadn't done her research other than maybe reading some articles. Plus, I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES!!!! They're one of my biggest pet peeves. They really lower my respect for an author's writing if they have to use something like that to make enough 'drama' for their character, and they have a tendency to really lower the impact of a strong, female character because the focus becomes she has to be with a guy to be valuable instead of the focus being on how much of a bad chull she is.

I went into the 4th Eragon book with very high hopes.  The first two books were fun (if not deep), and I liked the third one okay.  But the 4th one was just AWFUL!  First, I had to wait YEARS for it to come out.  When it finally did, it seemed like they gave the author too much free rein.  He needed a good editor.  There was one part where it seemed like he droned on for 10 pages about toenails or something.  The last 200-300 pages could have been cut from the book and nothing good would have been lost.

 

I should have stopped, but I didn't.  I guess the good thing that came out of it was I will no longer read his books.  So there is that...

I never finished this series. I had read the first two, tried reading the third when it came out, but lost interest. I've since not been able to bring myself to read it just because I've gotten a bit tired of the traditional human, elves, dragons, etc. fantasy. It has to be amazing for me to want to read it and keep reading it. This is part of why I love Sanderson's work so much. He's been breathing in fresh life into fantasy.

I'd say skip to the ending. If it's a good one, finish it. If not, ditch it.

I did this already, haha, and was just kind of 'blah' about it. I've finally decided I'm just going to donate it. I primarily read fiction for enjoyment, and since this book really isn't bringing me much enjoyment I'm going to just let it go and move on.

Have you ever started a book with high hopes, and then became more and more disappointed to the point where you don't even want to finish the book?

When in those situations, did you finish the book or didn't you?

Thank you so much! I'm currently reading HoA and 'Firefight' at the moment. I was planning on reading 'Elantris' followed by 'Warbreaker' next so that will work out well! I'm trying to wait on WoK due to wanting to start it closer to when the third book is coming out so that it lessens the length of waiting. My husband absolutely loves that series, and I'm not the most patient person when it comes to waiting. :-)

I apologize in advance if this list has been done, and I'm just blind and can't find it. If it has, then please point me in its direction.

I was wondering what is the best order of reading Sanderson's books when it comes to the Cosmere? I've been searching through various forums, but there's a lot to sift through, and I'd rather just ask the question - even if it's a repeat - to preserve my sanity.

Thanks!

Any further news on White Sand? I read his blog posts and the tweets. I even found a little something on The Coppermind. I was just wondering if anything further had been released?

I've been wanting to build my own dev box, and have been doing some research into it. Due to a major move coming up for me, I probably won't be able to get started until early next year. When I get closer to making it happen, I plan on keeping a detailed account of the research and processes.

Windows primarily because I grew up on Windows. While I was in art school I did switch over to Mac for a bit, but then was back to Windows. I've been relatively happy with Windows 8, and then I'm excited to use Windows 10. I'm purchasing a new lap top that has a touchscreen due to the fact that Windows is really shifting more towards touchscreen UX.

As I've been working on my development skills, I am getting more and more curious about Linux and using that system. However, with how much technology is constantly changing I have a tendency to get overwhelmed and then I put off learning the new things.

Awesome, thanks! I definitely want to help out when they release the kickstarter!

From facebook there will be a kickstarter for the Mistborn board game this "fall".

I tried going to this link as I would like to stay up to date on the information, and the link is broken. Did they take it down? Or are only certain people able to view it?

I was medic while active duty military, and had been voluntold to assist in the yearly flu drive occurring at the hospital where I worked. To escape from the monotony, I had begun reading The Wheel of Time series. 

One of the other medics on the flu drive was a huge fan of that series. Like, had-read-through-the-entire-series-at-least-four-times kind of huge fan of the series. He started telling me about how Brandon Sanderson had finished the series, and that Sanderson's Way of Kings was going to become his new favorite fantasy series even though it hadn't been completed yet...basically guy crushing akin to a teenage girl at a Bieber concert. He recommended that I start with the Mistborn trilogy.

After I hit book four of Wheel of Time, I decided to take a break and start the Mistborn trilogy. I was completely blown away. I could go on and on about why I love this series so much. I'm still reading the third one. 

I'm very new here, and found out about this place through a signing I attended around the release of Firefight when I asked how he chooses his Beta readers.

Years ago I had taken a hiatus from reading fantasy, and after quite a few life changes I ended up being reintroduced through the Wheel of Time series a couple of years ago (which I still haven't finished, embarrassingly enough...I haven't been able to get past book four).

A good friend of mine told me about how Brandon Sanderson finished the series, and recommended all of his books to me. I started with Mistborn, and I haven't quite finished the third book due to being interrupted by the Steelheart books. I was reading the first one aloud to my step sons and proceeded to get completely sucked in. I'm almost finished with Firefight now, and very impatiently awaiting Calamity getting released.

I'm a writer, and absolutely love Writing Excuses and the free YouTube videos of Sanderson teaching at Brigham Young. He has an amazing sense of humor, and I've found those resources to be incredibly helpful in figuring out my own process with writing. I think it's fantastic he's made them free, which only increases my loyalty to his books.

I don't even know where to begin with how much I love his books. There's the strong, female characters, the humor, the limited usage of deus ex machina, unique magic systems, unique worlds, well rounded characters, plot twists, the obstacles his characters go through, restoring my faith in the YA genre of books, and the list goes on and on.

I'm super excited to be here, and can't wait to check out all of the different topics and theories. :-)