Fantasy Book Club discussion
Self Promotions
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anybody interested in an Asian game of thrones? I am thinking of writing one.
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Jack
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Oct 23, 2015 07:04AM
Suggestions, critics, and ideas are welcome
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As someone who's immersing myself in "World Literature", the idea sounds somewhat intrguing (if a bit vague) as a "tagline" for a book....But I'd need a deeper description of what you intend before I can say much more than that.
Out of curiousity, what kind of knwoledge do you have of Asian culture/history/folklore/mythology/literature? (Even though it's fantasy, it should still be belieavly rooted in teh culture to differntiate it from standard "Euro-Fantasy".)
Jack, I moved your thread, again to self promotion. I realize it doesn't quite fit, but this group is not set up for authors getting writing suggestions.There are groups that are geared to that.
☆https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
You may want to review our rules.
Especially those for authors.
I used to live in Japan, my dad was with the military. I do know quite a bit about Asian culture but I like European culture more. It's going to be based on the Sengoku period of Japan, a 200 year civil war between the various clans of Japan for unification. The Mongols also tried to invade Japan previously. I would also have a Korea which was split into many warring states at the time and a China which was the dragon empire after all. Do you need more? I haven't come up with much more then that
Just my opinion but... I hate it when authors start/write/etc books where the premise is "let's take a popular idea/trope/book and change the setting! Won't that be fun?!"
No. It won't. It just looks like bandwagon hopping but if that's what you're going for...
Also, Asia is a pretty big Continent...are we talking India? Russia? China? One of the 'Stans? Taiwan? (I could keep going with this.) I hate it when people mention a continent like it's a country.
I (personally) would NOT be interested in an "Asian" GoT. I would be interested in a book that was focused on specific countries that did NOT try to emulate GRRMs work. It should be about and for itself. GRRM's ASoIaF is based around European mores so if you based it around the same type of thing that GRRM is doing... You'll have ASoIaF placed in a faux-Japanese setting.
IMO.
Thanks for your oppinion. What I mean by like Game of thrones is large scale civil war, end of the world plot. That's basically it. I don't want to copy him since he is a published author but I really like the idea of a civil war and fighting over a throne.
Jack wrote: "Thanks for your oppinion. What I mean by like Game of thrones is large scale civil war, end of the world plot. That's basically it. I don't want to copy him since he is a published author but I rea..."Sort of like a fantasy version of Clavell's Asian Saga?
That could be interesting. And war is pretty popular right now.
Personally, an area that I feel has been sorely neglected in Fantasy are myths and fairy tales of other cultures - like Japan.
I notice that a lot of authors use the Greek Pantheon. They slice it and dice it but it's still the Greek Pantheon (ho hum). I've only read ONE book that used the Egyptian Gods and I was really impressed.
Maybe - if you're interested - work in some of the actual myths, Gods and tales of that era and culture. In your world, will the gods have walked the Earth? How did they treat their followers? And then interrogate the text as to how those myths and Gods informed your new Japanese culture. I have a book that I keep meaning to read (the MT. TBR struggle is real): Japanese Fairy Tales
I agree with almost everything MsJoseph said.Aside from the pacing (I find most Japanese literature very low-key, and somewhat langourous, very UNLIKE Game of Thrones!), one of the things that you would have in your back-pocket to play with is a vibrant culture full of great mythology! (Check my shelves for some fantastic Asian-themed and inspired fantasy novels and anthologies; if you like, I can make you some reccs.)
I guess the first thing I'd like to know more about is the overall plot and themes. Would it be a more ""Human-centric" plot (IE a bunch of feudal lords & provinces/Daiymos fighting over the Shoguns throne), or would it be more supernatural/mythological in nature? Or a combination of both?
Martin uses the supernatural [Dragons/Gods/Magic] sparingly and to good effect, whereas Asian culture is steeped in magic, myth and folklore; to not utlitlze that seems to be doing a great disservice, IMO....
Shadowdenizen wrote: "Martin uses the supernatural [Dragons/Gods/Magic] sparingly and to good effect, whereas Asian culture is steeped in magic, myth and folklore; to not utlitlze that seems to be doing a great disservice, IMO.... "Agreed! I was reading an old UF a few years ago and the author had a Japanese demon and she also discussed other Japanese demons. OMG. Those demons were terrifying. The one this author used was one that devoured the soul - and afterwards could shapeshift into that body. (I'm sure that the author made some changes but the way she used it was scary enough I never went looking for the originals. O_O )
Jack wrote: "Good idea thanks"Welcome!
thanks, I am planning on using the mythology, magic and such a lot in the books. I am planning on seeing any end of the world myths from the different cultures and using that as an overall plot to the books. I might incorporate some Egyptian myths as well. IE Night and Day, Chaos and Order. I think it will be more of a Combo of Malazan and Game of Thrones. Since Game of Thrones doesn't have much magic, myths since its based on European History. I want to include a lot of magic and mythos but not to much. In answer to your question I want the story to be a mixture of both. Maybe the first couple of books will be more of a human conflict and the later books will add in a lot of magic myth and gods into it.
