Jason's comments (member since Apr 29, 2009)

Jason's comments from the Modern Fantasy Readers and Writers group.

Will post later tonight. Lap top is down again.

I believe we are planning on doing this book in August. I had to order a copy from B&N as I couldn't find it in stock at any of the stores near me. How are other folks doing on picking it up or reading it?

David wrote: "It'll be weird reading his version of the Wheel of time. The plot will advance, there won't be endless descriptions of people's lace, fewer tea parties... I'm personally very glad they didn't choos..."

Hopefully we can finally do away with all of the "pinches the bottom of person [x:]" and the overly played out struggles between men and women. I swear Jordan had a serious female/male relationship identification issue. I will miss his work, but I agree that it will be nice for the series to get a fresh coat of paint.

#1 I agree with what's been said so far, it was to give more context to how bad it was under the current regime.

#2 Kliss was a minor noble who loved to gossip at court. Vin cornered her and "got" her to talk about the High Noble woman (whose name escapes me) mistborn and their plot to kill Elend. She used allomancy on her and the woman caved and revealed everything. It was one of those times in the story where I was like, "Sanderson you could have just written down-I as the author, want you to see the plot, the plot is A, B, C-now resume reading and enjoy the rest of the story".

#3 I saw Kelsier not making it out of the book. He had made himself to powerful and to much of a figurehead to the people for him to be a major character in the next book-everything would have been about him and that is not what the story was about. The twist I liked was how oolie (or however it is spelled) used his bones to make him reappear and get the revolution going. I missed that possibility. Although everything (the capture of "Renoux" and the inquisitor fight and the presence of the emperor) were really convenient for pulling off the ending-I still enjoyed it. Sanderson got me to suspend my "come on this is so fake" and enjoy his story.

#4 There were some parts of the story that seemed to drag, but overall I thought he gave us just enough throughout the book to keep moving forward. Although in retrospect, there were parts that were unnecessary and could slow down the pacing. Could you link the interview with Sanderson where he said he didn't like the pacing?

#5 I liked the book, and enjoyed the second one. I think Sanderson is talented, but needs to trust his readers a little more. "We get it, Brandon" is heard a little to often with his stories. I will read the rest of the series and have Elantris and will probably pick up his latest. I am surprised by his pick to finish the Wheel series, he has a very different style from Jordan. Jordan's last several books were very formulaic before he died.

1. I thought Sanderson did a good job of introducing Elend. His aloofness and thumbing his nose at his father came off very genuine. I did not understand Vin's attachment to him so early on, other than to chalk it up to no one had really paid all that much attention to her to begin with. But after Sanderson's heavy handedness throughout so much of the book, I might have missed that in a first reading.

2. I thought Sanderson handled Kelsier very well. Keeping the balance between the slightly off-balanced, good hearted leader and the calculating, forethinking revolutionary he was. It was little scenes like these that Sanderson added in that made the character development of Kelsier stand out in my mind.

3. I thought the training scene was very heavy handed between Marsh and Vin. There were other ways to show Vins "special" use of the metals-perhaps ones that would have lead to more character development opportunities between her and some of the other Crew Members. It would have helped their blind acceptance of the 17 year old street rat turned revolutionary leader as the mind behind the plans in the Well of Ascension.

4. I am interested in finding out the tie between the noble blood and allomancy, I have the third book on my shelf and will pick it up once I am done with Wizard's first rule.
I thought Sanderson's handling of the Skaa/Noble question was one of the better PoV issues he used in the book. Everytime someone spoke on the issue they revealed more about themselves and their view of the Skaa.

5. @David, the only thing I saw was Kelsier did not want to sacrifice himself from the beginning and was planning on using the army. I think he had to adjust the plan as new developments happened and that his end goal-overthrowing the government-was worth any sacrifice and he would not be deterred. I think the story worked, but Sanderson could have handled the shift from Plan A (Use the army and survive) to Plan B (Die as a martyr for the cause). I don't think Sanderson shifted gears as there were a lot of scenes that built to the believability of the sacrifice. I mean think of all the religions he reviewed with Sazed, it was all research.

#1 I liked the action scenes. I am not sure if they took me back to those really bad war books I use to read. I thought he did well in giving enough physical information to let my mind construct what was happening; he also didn't fall into the trap of describing every single action in detail. I think he gave just enough to get a flavor for the combat, especially with its difference to the real world.

#2 The Jaism reference was to a religion where the leader was dead but the people continued to follow it to the last dieing man because they believed in him. I thought it was well done for tieing to the end of the book.

#3 I thought the scene was ok, but unnecessary. I didn't learn anything new about the characters than I had already gleaned to this point. Her reaction was entirely predictable and only served as more of the heavy handedness that Sanderson used to develop her.

#4 I did not buy into the economy. Atium is valuable, and that value needs to be controlled. I understood that part-it's the same reason we don't print 10 trillion dollar bills and pay off our debt. Our currency is built on a shared acceptance that gold is valuable. Sanderson's economy would crash if there were no more Mistborns-as it is there are so few that it seems only a handful of houses would have a use for it and the counter economy being that you buy it up to keep it out of others hands just doesn't seem to hold water. I think we saw Kel, Vin, the high noble woman, and the Inquisitors (who don't need to buy it because their supplier [the government:] gives it to them without cost) that could burn it. Even in the second book we see the brother, and the one Mistborn throw away from Elends father that can burn it. That's only like 7 people that it needed to be bought for in the books.

Thanks for the catch Max, I just wrote that up quick to get us started.

Perhaps only two questions per section? How do others feel?

Jason wrote: "Jason wrote: "I am not a big fan of rules when it comes to working with characters in this type of an open format. My experience, however, is that we have to have some basic ones.

Every other d..."

So it posts it at the bottom, that is a bummer.

Jason wrote: "I am not a big fan of rules when it comes to working with characters in this type of an open format. My experience, however, is that we have to have some basic ones.

Every other day, starting t..."

Just seeing how this works for replying to each others work.

Yep, each new entry can be in whichever PoV the writer wants to put it in.

Sound off here if you plan on reading along.

Also, other than the obvious issue of timeliness on the part of your moderator, how were the questions? Any suggestions on making the questions more useful or engaging?

"A drunkard stumbles in from the street. His clothes are dirty and shredded showing sweat stains around the neck and armpits. What's left of his white hair is ratted and standing on end. The man is mumbling incoherently.

The bum stops in the center of the bar, his eyes roll back in his head and the mumbling takes on a rhythmic quality. "Aghmenon, terrenon, aghmenon, suldmaine, aghmenon, terrenon, aghmenon, suldmaine!"

Heat erupts throughout the bar as the man's body becomes flame, clothes and hair consumed as the fire pours over his skin."

I am not a big fan of rules when it comes to working with characters in this type of an open format. My experience, however, is that we have to have some basic ones.

Every other day, starting today, I will post an incident that happens in the bar. After two days people should leave constructive feedback for each other. (The other board I did this on was a bit easier as you could reply to just part of a post-but we will see how it works).

The first person to post has the most freedom, as they get to spend a couple paragraphs using the incident to develop their character.

Each next post should work on developing their character, but if the previous post had an action they have to build off of that action-so it becomes kind of a serial posting.

For example:
The situation could be:
"A drunkard stumbles in from the street. His clothes are dirty and shredded showing sweat stains around the neck and armpits. What's left of his white hair is ratted and standing on end. The man is mumbling incoherently.

The bum stops in the center of the bar, his eyes roll back in his head and the mumbling takes on a rhythmic quality. "Aghmenon, terrenon, aghmenon, suldmaine, aghmenon, terrenon, aghmenon, suldmaine!"

Heat errupts throughout the bar as the man's body becomes flame, clothes and hair consumed as the fire pours over his skin."

My post could be:
Mikhail leans back in his chair and watches as the Efreet walks to the bar and orders. It has been years since he last saw one of the guardians of Ra, this was an opportunity he could not miss out on.
Mikhail checked his wards, double checking his fire ward.
The bar tender stood back from the Efreet, but served the fire beings order without a second thought. It would be good to note that the "Rusted Blade" was a tavern where you could make those special contacts you might not find elsewhere.
Mikhail approached the Efreet, when the flaming head turned and said, "Mikhail, you are not welcome in these parts. Return to your realm and do not attempt to contact us again." Mikhail checked his fire ward again, to be sur.

Darius grasped the empty mug of ale in before him, afterall there might be a drop or two of nourishment left in it. He never knew the next time someone would take pitty on him and buy him a mead. After being banished for 11 years he was in no position to have the Phoenix Guard find him breaking that banishment.

Or something along those lines. . .

The only rules I think we should utilize are:
Keep it to under 3000 characters (you can always do some work on your own)
No killing each other
No all-powerful powers (this isn't a D&D game you're trying to win)
Feedback must be constructive-while not necessarily all of it positive, it must seek to provide assistance

Suggested rules for bar scene posted tomorrow. Please email me any thoughts you have.

Name: Mikhail Cherney
Height: 5'10
Weight: 205ish
Build: Like a 40 year old who use to be in military shape, but hasn't kept it up. Still has a good muscle structure, but there are signs of more paunch than before.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Short, military cropped, raven black with grey frosting in the front
Face: Firm, solid lines, as if built from clay and not really smoothed over. Unshaven, not bearded, but with the stubble of someone on a three day business trip without a razor.
Dress: Black laced boots, once polished; Grey Cargo Pants, worn but not holey; Grey Flannel Button Down, slight light grey checkered pattern; Wool knee length trench coat, patched at the elbows and collar-where identifiers were removed.
Walk: Paced, even steps not quickly taken, slight slouch in shoulders as if in defiance of the firmness of his back

First impression a mother would have: "What the hell happened to that guy, he certainly looks like he was someone my unwed daughter should meet, but not now. That's some hard living, probably drugs or alcohol or something."
First impression a father would have: "Poor soul, he was probably married and lost everything in the divorce. Ain't that the way it always goes. . . "
First impression a store attendant would have: "This guy better not steal the toilet paper, everytime one of these derelicts come in, I have to wash the bathroom sink and replace the toilet paper. Maybe I will tell him we lost the key . . . Hey where did that guy go?!!!"

How would they respond to:
Do you have a light?-"No, go fish. You have a smoke?"
What time is it?-"Do I look like I carry a watch?"
"Get out of my way, I am late!"-Steps out of the way.
Getting cut off in traffic?-Writes down license plate and will deal with them later.
Being arrested?-"Again? That trick never works. . . "
Getting a cold meal at a restaurant?-"Cooks probably having a bad day, that's what you get for not making it yourself."
Being invited to go camping?-"Can I stay at your place while you are out?"

No cheating Christina, build your own charachter.

Hey All,

Let's use this post to introduce our characters. I suggest we use a standard format, just so each of us will have an idea of who else is in the bar with us.

Name:
Height:
Weight:
Build:
Eyes:
Hair:
Face:
Dress:
Walk:

First impression a mother would have:
First impression a father would have:
First impression a store attendant would have:

How would they respond to:
Do you have a light?
What time is it?
"Get out of my way, I am late!"
Getting cut off in traffic?
Being arrested?
Getting a cold meal at a restaurant?
Being invited to go camping?

Hey All,

I believe that the basis of all stories are the characters in them. If the character is uninteresting then the reader never really gets into the book. Personally, if I don't empathize with the character then I rarely finish the book. That doesn't mean I have to like them the same way I liked the best man at my wedding; but I have to be able to understand them, identify where their coming from, and care what happens to them.

So I thought, thanks to the feedback from the members of our group, that it might be fun and productive for each of us to create a charachter during the first week, and then in the second week we can do a bar scene where they all meet. I will post some guidelines in the bar topic that another group I work with used.

For the bar scene you should know the basic information about your character: Description, Mannerism, Prime Motivation etc. If anyone wants help with this piece I have some sheets I build from for my characters.

I just started Maxwell's first 100 pages of his book, anyone else reading it that would like to discuss the book?