Karen Azinger's Blog: The Silk & Steel Saga - Posts Tagged "game-of-thrones"

When I finished reading George Martin’s Storm of Swords, I desperately wanted more, but George takes a long time between books, and I really could not find anything else on the bookstore shelves that satisfied my craving. So I decided to write my own epic medieval fantasy, something similar but different. The first thing I borrowed from George was writing each chapter from the perspective of one point-of-view character. I love this writing style, the way it lets the reader and the author get deep into the character. It makes the story intimate and very personal, where the reader understands the dreams and fears of every POV character. The second thing I borrowed from George was complex plots and strategies. I wanted to write a big sweeping saga full of twists and turns that would surprise, shock, but also delight the reader, grabbing hold of your imagination and never letting go. But there were some things I wanted to do very differently. I wanted more women in the saga, not just women to bed and/or wed, but women that make a difference. From a sword-wielding princess, to a seductive priestess, to a queen who rules by coin and guile, to a silver-haired grandmother who wields knitting needles and knives, I wanted to explore how women gain, keep, and wield power in a medieval world. I wanted my saga to be a fast-paced sword-wielding adventure, but I also wanted it to be full of deeper meaning, so my saga explores the mechanisms of evil, the overarching theme the books. If the avatars of good cannot recognize or understand evil, then they will not prevail. And last but not least, I agree with George that some characters must die to make the risk real…but not all of them. If you love Game of Thrones like I do, I hope you will consider reading The Silk & Steel Saga. I’d love to hear how you think the two sagas compare.

What authors would you most like to meet? My top three are JRR Tolkien for his Lord of the Rings, Frank Herbert for Dune, and George Martin for Game of Thrones, the three authors that inspired my own writing. Sadly, time and fate make the first two impossible without a time machine, but not the third. Back in 2004, GRRM posted on his website that he planned to attend Foolscap, a small but cool fantasy conference in Seattle. Since this ‘con’ was within easy driving distance, I immediately signed up to attend. And then I contacted the con organizers and begged and pleaded to be put on a panel with George. I told them that I was an epic fantasy author and although my Silk & Steel Saga was not yet published, it was inspired by Game of Thrones. My pleas worked, and the organizers put me on a panel to compare Game of Thrones to Lord of the Rings. Wow! My first con panel and I’m sitting next to George Martin! It was an amazing experience. I followed George around the conference, attending every one of his panels, listening to his chapter reading, and getting him to sign all my SOIAF books. That night, I was one of a handful of fans to join him for drinks after the con. George was gracious and fascinating, keen to answer any question about his works or his writing methods. It was an amazing con, one I’ll never forget. So if you have an author you’d love to meet, consider attending a fantasy con. You never know who you might meet or what you might learn.

Creating great fantasy is equal parts world building and character building. Characters are the true heart of any story. The deeper and more complex the characters, the more soul-catching the story will be. We all love to read about brilliantly strategic queens, dauntless knights, corrupt kings, and scheming princes, for it is the characters who sweep us away on tides of emotion. They make us weep for loves lost, shock us by their betrayals, and thrill us when crowns are won or lost, but none of this happens unless the reader truly cares for the characters. So how does an author create characters that are both fascinating and believable? One way is by creating a compelling backstory.

Backstory is essentially the character’s background, but for literary purposes it is far more than just the character’s place of birth, his family status, or his schooling. To create a powerful backstory, a writer needs to give his characters emotional landmarks. It is the triumphs and the scars of life that forge the very soul of the character. These emotional landmarks steer the character’s choices like a relentless compass. They give the character hidden depths and make them believable and intriguing. One of the best examples of a powerful backstory is Professor Snape in Harry Potter. Snape’s abiding love for Lilly explains all his actions, all his difficult choices. To be truly effective, the author must be consistent in how backstory influences a character’s decisions. Everything must make sense in the light of the reveal.

I’ll tell you a secret about backstory…it’s a secret! Who doesn’t love a good secret? Secrets are delicious story questions. The more secrets your characters have the more they will tantalize your readers. Give your characters lost loves, or thwarted ambitions, unfulfilled dreams, secret fears, or skeletons in their closet. An example of a great secret in Game of Thrones is 'who are Jon Snow's parents?' This question haunts the character through all the books, delighting fans with the chance to defend their own theories.

The fantasy genre provides authors with iridescent dimensions that other genres don’t have. Rare magical talents, secret skills, or a royal bloodline are often hidden in the backstory of fantasy characters. But no matter the genre, backstory provides powerful questions that weave beneath the plot and draw the reader through the story.

In my epic fantasy, The Silk & Steel Saga, you’ll find characters with secret pasts, hidden powers, suppressed loves, shocking bloodlines, and buried crimes. From the brilliant Queen Liandra, to the seductive Priestess, to the cunning Lord Raven, you’ll empathize with the good and pray they prevail but you truly feast on the bad who are utterly compelling.

I just wanted to share this You-tube interview where I talk about The Silk & Steel Saga and the inspiration I took from George Martin's Game of Thrones. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIExvr...

Minor Characters, a lesson from George Martin’s Game of Thrones

As writers we stand on the shoulders of every book we’ve ever read, learning the good, the bad and the ugly way to tell stories. When I started writing my epic fantasy, The Silk & Steel Saga, I looked to my favorite authors for lessons in writing. Here’s another lesson I learned from George Martin’s Game of Thrones.

A really good author can make a minor character memorable in just a few chapters.

If you look up the definition of a minor character in literature, you’ll find something like this: “Minor characters support the main character in a story. They play a lesser role. They do not grow or change. They are also known as two-dimensional characters or flat characters.” In other words, they’re boring. They play a minor role and then quickly disappear from the book’s pages as well as the reader’s memory. But does it have to be this way? Wouldn’t a book be so much richer if the minor characters also made an impact on the hearts and minds of the readers?

In Game of Thrones, as well as in my own Silk & Steel Saga, there are legions of characters. Most of these characters are little more than names, knights that died in battle, ladies in waiting, pages and squires that serve, but a few of these ‘minor’ characters sometimes take on rich and surprising roles. A great example of this in Game of Thrones is Syrio Forel, a water dancer from Braavos who Ned Stark hires to teach is daughter Arya the art of fencing. Syrio only appears in a few chapters yet he is a unique and interesting character. Syrio has his own distinctive voice, imparting wisdom as well as sword play to Arya. When the queen’s guards come to capture Arya, Syrio does something surprising, something indelibly heroic. With nothing more than a wooden practice sword, Syrio holds off the guards buying Arya the chance to escape. Since wood is no match for steel, it is implied in the book that Syrio died, but his heroism and unexpected daring leaves readers praying that he survived. Whether Syrio still lives somewhere in Martin’s saga remains a mystery, but he certainly lives in the minds and hearts of Martin’s readers, a great example of a minor character leaving an indelible mark on the story.

But how did Martin do it? In just a few short chapters, he created a unique and interesting character and then he let that character make a choice, a choice that made a difference to a main character and to the overall arc of the story. Syrio Forel is a minor character in terms of the number of chapters in which he appears, but he is not a flat, cardboard character who does not change. Because the author gave him a choice, Syrio Forel matters. Syrio is an example of why Game of Thrones is such a rich read.

So while you are writing your sweeping, epic fantasy with a cast of thousands, challenge yourself to write a few minor characters that remain small in terms of the numbers of chapters ascribed to them, yet are large in terms of the impact on the hearts and minds of the readers. Your story will be so much richer for it. If you are looking for more examples of these types of ‘minor’ characters, consider reading The Silk & Steel Saga.

I became a writer because I love to read. I discovered the library in fourth grade and was instantly smitten by the magic and wonder of books. Reading has been a lifelong passion, a magic carpet whisking me away on many adventures. I long to don burnished armor and fight for justice, to search for treasure in a faraway land, to explore secret passages of a ruined castle, to find love on a windswept mountain. Reading has given me so much pleasure that I wanted to pay it back by contributing my own verse, The Silk & Steel Saga.
I believe "you are what you read." So I thought I'd share with you some of the books and movies that inspired me to write my own epic fantasy saga. Perhaps you'll recognize echoes of these works in my writing...but only echoes, since I put my own twist on everything.
First and foremost is George Martin's Game of Thrones. Reading this epic medieval fantasy is what caused me to put pen to paper (actually fingers to keyboard) and start writing The Silk & Steel Saga. After reading Game of Thrones I wanted more but could not find it on the bookstore shelves, so I decided to write my own saga. I love George's style of writing, where each chapter is deep in the point-of-view of an individual character, so I used that same style for my saga. This style lets both the reader and the writer get deep into each character, so you truly understand their needs, their wants, their secret desires. This depth of character makes everything seem more real. Deep characterization is what draws the reader into the rabbit hole.
The second work that inspired me is JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. LOTR is the saga that made me fall head-over-heels in love with epic fantasy. I longed to live in a land of elves, wizards and enchanted forests. For me, LOTR is the masterwork of fantasy world building. Middle Earth is a world you long to explore, from the mines of Moria, to the halls of Rivendale, to the towering Argonath, it lives and breathes in our imaginations. Inspired by LOTR, I strive to add magic and enchantment to the kingdoms of Erdhe, from the illuminated manuscripts covering the walls of the Kiralynn Monastery, to the towering forests of the Deep Green, to the shimmering battlements of Castlegard, and the fearsome magic of the Gargoyle Gates. I hope you will agree that Erdhe is a land brimming with wonder, a feast for the imagination.
The third work that inspired me is Frank Herbert's Dune. To me, Frank Herbert is the master of incorporating themes like environmental science, religion and politics into the weave of his story, turning Dune into a classic. Theme is the underlying message. Theme is what elevates a good book to a great read. Themes resonate with the reader, drawing us back to read the same book over and over again. Inspired by Dune, The Silk & Steel Saga has many themes woven through it. One of the main themes is to explore the mechanisms of evil. Evil is not just a horde of ugly orcs brandishing swords. In my saga, those who walk on the Dark side are beautiful, smart, and manipulative…which makes them scary as hell. The avatars of good must recognize evil and foil their mechanisms in order for good to have a chance to prevail.
Another book that caught my imagination as a young reader was Bram Stoker's Dracula. There is a plot twist in Dracula that I think is positively brilliant and you'll find echoes of it in The Silk & Steel Saga. There is one character in particular whose story arc is inspired by the original Dracula...but I'm going to let my readers figure this one out for themselves.
One of the movies that inspires my writing is Braveheart. The underlying theme of Braveheart is 'it's our wits that make us men'. I love how all the battles in Braveheart are about strategy, advantage, and alliances, not just sword and brawn (although there is plenty of that too). Inspired by Braveheart, The Silk & Steel Saga is brimming with medieval battles, swords and spears and shields, but all of the battles have some twist dealing with strategy, advantage and alliances. In my saga, victory is often achieved more by wits than by swords.
And last but not least, another movie that inspired my writing is the Highlander (especially since it stars Sean Connery...be still my beating heart). In the Highlander, the immortals are battling for 'the prize.' In The Silk & Steel Saga, the dedicates of the Dark Lord are battling for more lifetimes, but each lifetime must be earned. What would you do for another lifetime, another youth, another hundred years?
I hope you'll read The Silk & Steel Saga and let me know what echoes you find in my writing! Enjoy!

Flash SALE on Amazon for Spring Break!!! The Steel Queen, the first book of The Silk & Steel Saga, is on sale today and tomorrow (Mar 4 & 5) for $0.99!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the perfect time to start reading this epic medieval fantasy full of plots, battles, romance, and schemes that will never let you underestimate the ‘weaker’ sex again. If you love Game of Thrones or Tolkien, then this saga is for you!

When I first started writing The Silk & Steel Saga, I planned to write a trilogy. I'm the type of author who writes what I most love to read. My favorite books are big sweeping sagas with complex characters and complex plot twists set in a world full of wonder, books like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Frank Herbert's Dune, and George Martin's Game of Thrones. To me, as a long-time lover of fantasy, that initially meant writing a trilogy. But as I finished writing the second book, The Flame Priest, I realized there was no way the story could be told in a trilogy, so I set my sites on a five book saga. But while I was writing the 'last' book there was still too much story to be told. So I published The Knight Marshal and now it is a six book saga. I think I can finish the story in six books but I still have tons to write. If it gets too long then I will break this book in two as well, but that will finish it. I figure as long as I don't have a single boring chapter, it is okay to keep writing. And Erdhe is so big, with so many cool characters and so many interesting plot twists that I don't want to leave anything unwritten. So I hope you will agree with me that it is the quality of the story that matters, not the number of books in the saga. But I must say, I'm looking forward to typing 'The End'!

Here's a link to my latest author interview, offering fresh insights into The Silk & Steel Saga. http://simonduringer.com/rambling-on/...

Here's my latest post on Fantasy World Building, the element of clothing! This is an example of the tips and insights I'll be giving in my Wonders of World Building workshop I'm teaching at the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland Oregon on Aug 12. Enjoy the post! Hope to see you at the conference!

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