jamesbondsmith

Thoughts that came to me as I read through some of the thread. Some of these thoughts don't have a huge amount of evidence for them, to be fair:

- While reading the passage I was willing to take it at face value that the Stormfather was real, and was truthfully trying to replace the Heralds. I was confused by the way it manifested as basically a humanoid heat shimmer, but I thought it might be due to the attempts to become a Herald rather than a Radiant. After thinking on it (Mistborn)

- The 'Stormfather' does seem quite shocked that Gavilar would abandon his post. Perhaps he genuinely thought that Gavilar was able and willing to hold out, and after realising he wouldn't simply gave up on trying to make Oathpact 2.0.

- Wasn't it fairly explicit in ROW that Ishar had some kind of magical capability before the Honorblades? I don't see why him having his blade makes a difference to whether he can get up to mischief.

- Lying does seem like a mark in favour of Stormfaker, but could the real Stormfather just be bending the oath of truthfullness to keep an oath to prevent a desolation? He could be tricking Gavilar because he believes that no-one would willingly take on the torture involved in the Oathpact, but someone as noble as Gavilar is pretending to be might be willing to rise to the occasion. Especially as is noted in OB (I think it's that one) that the Stormfather loses much of his understanding of how people work when unbonded.

- Saying (not promising, it's worth pointing out) he'll never trust another Kholin might well be the spren equivalent of a hungover promise to never drink again. Especially if my theory about Bondsmiths needing to bully their spren into a bond in order to show they have the fortitude to be equal partners with Godspren is true. Dalinar is changing in the years since Gavilar's death, and also shows his will by pressuring the Stormfather into a bond. The 'Stormfather' does hint that a demand is very close to what he needs to hear.

- Ishar's insanity doesn't seem like the crucial theorycrafting point people are making it out to be. Can we take the word of a man who murders mages to stop the invasion of the enemies those mages fight, a woman who destroys anything representing her own image, a 'Herald of kings' turned drooling drunk, a nervous wreck and a mantra-quoting, borderline catatonic man mountain on who is sane?

- Could the sliver of Honor that is within the Stormfather and the Stormfather himself not be as intertwined as first though? Could the former be impersonating the latter?

- The seon touching Thaidakar's hood really doesn't seem very important. I took it as sort of a Cosmere hologram. I mean, when Darth Maul appears in Sidious' messages, no-one freaks out because Maul is in the room with them.

- Overall, I feel that the similarities and inconsistencies can be explained by either the real Stormfather or the Stormfaker. The Stormfather acts differently than he did with Dalinar because he failed spectacularly with Gavilar, and if we take him at face value, there may well be differences in behaviour depending on if he is recruiting for Radiants or Heralds. He also has characteristics like a rumbling voice, and the flash at the end where he resembles his normal form. The Stormfaker would have to be a moron to not at least try to be like the real Stormfather, and he does appear to lie which might be out of character for a spren so tied to oaths.

1 hour ago, Ta'veren Kaladin said:

The ebooks are in multiple formats, I think, and the way Brandon does things, you can easily change format if you need to.

OK. I've never had ebooks before, so I wasn't sure what formats I would be able to use on my phone or laptop or something.

I managed to blank completely on the kickstarter, was there any more update on whether these projects would be available in bookshops like his other works? All I could find was a solid 'maybe'.

Edit: I found the late pledge link, does anyone know what the file format for the ebooks is? I like the idea of the physical books, but my bookshelves are overflowing as it is, and AU$400 feels a little pricey when shipping is factored in for 4 books.

15 hours ago, C_Vallion said:

Only realized today that this ended up in my spam folder. Hoping to get caught up on it and the others this weekend!

Yeah, I keep having to rescue submissions from my junk folder.

Suddenly had inspiration for Detective Pikachu/Cosmere memes

ROW

General

Hi,

Submitting the opening of my novel. Currently it’s the first two and part of the third chapters, but it’s occurring to me that any of them may make a decent opening.

I had a few things I wanted to get opinions on, but any other feedback you have would be good too.

I was really trying to create a sense of place within the superhero genre that isn’t just New York or some other US city, as I feel that setting is saturated in the genre. If anyone has been to Perth, Western Australia let me know if I captured it, and if you haven’t then let me know if the place has been built up ‘from scratch’ for you, so to speak.

I wrote different parts of this over several years, so if you notice inconsistencies in tone/voice let me know.

Also, I call it a ‘novel’ but I’m actually stuck below the ‘official’ wordcount cutoff for a novel (39000 words out of 50000), so if anything screams out for expansion let me know, but I’m not sure it’ll be apparent this early. It’s ‘finished’ in terms of having a beginning, middle and end written but it needs more.

I had to cut the third chapter short for this submission. For context, the rest of the third chapter deals with

OK, thanks @Silk!

I've realised that the extract from my novel is reaching 6200 words which is a bit over the limit. I'll try to find a spot to cut it off.

Alternatively I have a short story (~1600 words) that I thought I would submit to a contest late May (fairly rough draft). Anyone have preferences?

CW: Sexual assault, DV, War

What modern media (lets say 2010s on, 2000s if we push it) do you think could become required viewing or reading in future education?
I started wondering this about Jessica Jones S1 and how Kilgrave is basically an anthropomorphisation of rape culture and domestic abuse. Other topics ideas:

Avatar: The Last Airbender and its handling of war and colonisation (whether or not you agree with how they handled it could be as educational as if it was a perfect handling)

I wrote my honours dissertation on critical media literacy in the Hunger Games series, focusing on the films.

Would I be able to nab a spot either this week or next week (so 21/3 or 28/3)?

First thoughts, I might have more later.

I did notice a couple of points where punctuation needs tidying up (e.g. capitalization that isn't needed, sentences need full stops/periods, that kind of thing).

I can understand the criticism of G being too inexperienced to be leading soldiers into battle, but I'm presuming the reasons why he was kept out of war and then thrown into the deep end would be explained later. Also, is the reveal of his title meant to be something of a chapter cliffhanger? It kind of came out of the blue for me, as I presumed his family were rather lower on the heirarchy. Is there some kind of dramatis personae at the beginning of the book? Although I do understand that those can present some issues with spoilers etc.

I was a little confused about why this book was so significant that he had to scrabble through his saddle before escaping an ambush, but I also presume it will be explained later. I had to go back and check whether it had been mentioned at all. 

I liked the part about drizzling the nectar on their food. I feel like food is a good part of worldbuilding and character development and I'd like to see more of that.

First impressions, might have more later.

I'd like to step in and say I don't really think you need to explain why A is avoiding the mural (at least not in the very sentence it is introduced). The fact that they are purposely avoiding looking at it implies enough that it is an uncomfortable for some reason, and being vague makes me question and read on. I agree with the point that being 'outed' as their former self is a bit too early, but I'm not sure it makes sense to criticize that being too quick while also wanting to find out immediately why the mural is so uncomfortable.

I was a bit confused about why A was picking up fallen books, I felt I'd missed something. I did reread and remembered that they tripped,

There were a few possible typos (e.g. D's name changing, 'A knew they governor', 'they'd be a lot of dead cops').

The idea of A being a 'celebrity mage' gave me a different idea of where the secret was heading before the MUP reveal. More like if Elizabeth Olsen or Michael Fassbender were trying to keep a low profile vs if Wanda Maximoff or Magneto were trying to, if the distinction makes sense?

I see what you mean about the non-binary pronouns being as nonchalant as binary cis people's are, but there were a couple of times where I got confused about when you were using the 'singular nonbinary' they vs the 'plural' they (I'm not sure what the exact terminology would be, sorry). E.g. 'Learn magic at the school where they taught writing'. I eventually figured out that it meant A was teaching, but I first thought it meant 'they' as in 'the school as a whole' and it referred to a school with mundane subjects alongside magical ones. Kind of like how people talk about Hogwarts doesn't teach maths or essay writing, and then a smaller school where magical students actually learned those subjects.

The line near the beginning about 'less sacrificial parents' bugged me. It seemed to be a little closer to a dole-bludger/welfare cheat type of criticism, which is at odds with the rest of the chapter constructing A as an anti-elitist, 'free education for all' person.

Would anyone be willing to have a look at my manuscript? It's currently sitting at just under 39000 words, so it shouldn't be a very long read (part of what I was hoping to get out of this was ideas for how to get it closer to a novel length piece). To be honest, I'm kind of nervous about letting other people read my work, but that's the point of writing I guess. I know it's missing something but I feel like I've been staring at it too long to know what that something is anymore.
I'm willing to look at other people's work too, but I am a bit of a slow reader so I may take a little while to get through it.

Let's be honest, any ideas we have are going to have completely aged out by the time these films get made (if they ever do).

I'm struggling to think of many relatively young actors who could age into roles like those from Dalinar's generation. I'm assuming that they wouldn't even start looking at Stormlight Archive adaptations until at least the first arc is completed, possibly a decent way into the second arc so as to avoid another Game of Thrones Season 8 scenario.

Pom Klementieff is 36 this year, she might be able to age into a Navani role in 20 years or so. I can kind of imagine Navani being somewhat Mantis-like if she gets lost in her engineering studies.

So-Dam Park (hopefully I wrote that right) might be good as Ialai if she is able to work in English-language films eventually. She's pretty scheme-happy in Parasite.

Remy Hii was kind of slimy in Spiderman Far From Home, which fits Sadeas.

On 12/22/2021 at 1:02 AM, Halyo_Alex said:

My current theory (which is very crackpot and I openly admit that) leans a little more into the "anime" inspirations/undertones of SA, but still builds logically on those features of the actual bond.

TL;DR The bond between Radiant and Spren becomes so deep and thorough that their Spiritwebs and Identities are no longer individually distinguishable, and they become one entity.

Wasn't there an implication that all 5th Ideal Radiants are bonded to that degree?

ROW:

As my username suggests, I identify with the Bondsmiths. I was drawn to them by their oaths to keep improving on who they were in the past and to take responsibility for their actions, but after I became a supervisor at work I identified with their Guidance attribute. I've helped train several of the current staff at my job (some on their first ever shifts) and I used to teach martial arts, so I'm familiar with the idea of guiding people to their potential. However, I don't particularly like being in charge of stuff, and it took a long time as a supervisor to become comfortable with it.

It occurred to me that the Windrunners have the attribute of Leadership, despite the Bondsmiths being the stereotypical political leader figure. Bondsmiths are said to have a lot of magical power which implicitly transfers to a huge amount of political power, so it felt strange that the Order considered to be in charge of the Radiants wasn't given the Leadership attribute. Could a Bondsmith just be a guiding, mentor type figure who operates behind the scenes? I guess Obi-Wan Kenobi might be an analogy of a character who mentors but isn't the official head of an organisation, but from my knowledge (mostly from the films and the TVtropes page) he doesn't provide as wide a scale of guidance as Bondsmiths seem to. Dumbledore also came to mind, but he's also the head of the Order of the Phoenix and Hogwarts, so he's still in an official position of authority.

I've been a fan of mashups for years, but I discovered this channel a few weeks ago

Black Sabbath and The Who - "Who? Are You Paranoid?" - YouTube. 

Bootie Mashup is also a great site.

I like the idea that Hoid was meant to be the Stoneward Herald. I hadn't made the link with Topaz, and I did wonder who Taln replaced and why he wasn't meant to be the Stoneward in the first place (especially since he held out on his own against torture for 4500 years, which is perfect for an order who take stubbornness to a divine level). Although he might have planned it. He might have known that Taln needed to become a Herald and arranged things so this happened (let's wait however many years it takes for the Stoneward/Taln book).

As for keeping Odium on Roshar, was it more to do with Odium or with Rayse? It would be a gut punch dripping with dramatic irony if Hoid believes that Todium is less dangerous than Rodium, and he puts less effort into keeping the former contained until he escapes and reveals that he's far more of a threat.

I think of Dalinar as Ken Watanabe, and Prof was an older Robert Patrick (the liquid metal Terminator)

I mean, half of Navani's arc in ROW is her seeing if she could without thinking if she should (or at very least, 'let's see if I can figure out how to kill Fused while also showing the Fused how to kill Radiant spren').

Combined with her 'we'll figure out how I'll overcome your main reason not to bond with me after you've bonded with me'attitude to the Sibling, I'd be surprised if she didn't end up doing or discovering something she shouldn't.

How do you like to go about worldbuilding, and what are some different ways you like do it?

Someone on the forums (can't remember who) said they wrote songs. I like the sound of that, and I'd like to focus on recipes and food for a bit in one piece I'm working on.

For example, what ingedients are easily accessible and therefore considered upper/lower class. If the world doesn't have mammals or mammal analogues, say goodbye to anything dairy based. Also, cultural and geographical influences (e.g. spices, preservation techniques, dietary restrictions) or whether the magic system helps at all (control over fire would at very least make things easier, and there's the gag of Iceman instantly chilling your drinks).

Now we can include Rhythm of War Spoilers:

73) When speaking with Adolin Kholin, I must be clear about which 'sword' I am referring to.

74) Must not draw the Shash brand back on Kaladin's head while he is sleeping.

75) Must not graffiti 'Big Sibling is watching you' on the walls of Urithiru.

76) Asking the Sibling for details on Dalinar and Navani's private life will be awkward for all involved, and they will all find out.

77) 'Don't spoil stories' is valid. History, on the other hand, doesn't have spoilers.

78) I should stop giving out the address of Kaladin's clinic to all the eligible noble ladies.

79) The Fourth Bridge is a marvel of fabrial engineering, and as such should not be used because I can't be bothered climbing a flight of stairs.

80) Windrunners don't have the time to keep catching me if I jump off a high platform, and have no idea what 'bungee jumping' is.

Resurrecting my own thread to focus on the second question in my original post, as I've noticed some more similarities between my ideas and existing works.

Are there any concepts/plots/archetypes that you consider to be impossible to separate from a particular work?

I feel like a bunch of people who 'hate' Lirin would find themselves making many of the same choices if they were in the same position. Everyone wants to believe they'd be the badass flying around and beating up the bad guys, but a lot of us would end up being the ones trying to stop a bad situation getting worse. 

Also, Radiants seem to be functionally indestructible with enough Stormlight, so they have much better chance against the Fused and a Singer invasion than a squishy doctor in a backwoods village.

@Eluvianii The mundanity thing was something I liked in Last of Us 2 (despite the fact I think it was fundamentally designed wrong). I literally have a save file purely so I can go back and play with the guitar. I find myself watching youtube clips of characters in various movies/tv shows just dancing around and having a good time, so the part about a local hangout resonates with me as well.

@Spren of Kindness I do find a lot of fantasy authors and fans are like 'but I have to have gratuitous sexual abuse and violence, it's realistic!'. Meanwhile I'm thinking that they've put dragons and magic in there, why is abuse the cutoff point for realism? It's especially frustrating when it's a constructed world and people use the 'but the time period' excuse. I mean, if it's not set on our world, why should our history have any bearing on what happens in a world you've literally built from scratch?

I hadn't thought of it that way, but I definitely see what you're getting at. I agree that she's deeply flawed and that some male characters have done similar things and are still beloved by fans.

According to the tvtropes page for Byronic Heroes, such a character tends to have 'a distaste for social institutions and norms and is disrespectful of rank and privilege, though he often has said rank and privilege himself.' I think one of the reasons people dislike Shallan is her classism, and in the first three books she defnitely holds onto her nobility, works very hard to get married to another noble and is dismissive of darkeyes and in some cases just walks all over them and insults them. From memory in ROW she has exactly one scene where she isn't with either high ranking lighteyes or other Radiants (who pretty much skipped the queue in the caste system), so we can't really say whether she's gotten over her prejudice.

I definitely don't like Shallan, but I understand why she'd do the things I dislike about her. I've been thinking about why I dislike her so much, and I think that a lack of consequences for her actions might be one of them.

Steal a priceless magical item from Jasnah, at worst the third most powerful woman in Alethkar, while pretending to be her ward? Stays as her ward, and when she confesses the theft to Jasnah's family the response is 'well that was dumb lol'.

Force Kaladin, a darkeyed soldier to give up his boots, making him walk barefoot on the rocky ground that tore her feet up? Gets told off once, and then it becomes a joke at her wedding which Kaladin totally forgives her for.

Victim blame slave soldiers for their own slavery and trauma, three of whom are currently protecting her and flying her across countries? BF will swoop in and tell the mean former slave not to tell her off about it.

Major ROW spoilers:

To be fair, there are several characters who have gotten off way more lightly than they arguably should have. Dalinar and Adolin come to mind. 

I do agree that Shallan's Byronic traits as a woman might be a factor in why she is disliked, but they're definitely not the only ones.