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Post by nicholai441 on Mar 15, 2007 4:24:14 GMT -5
Desktop for games (tho see above, too bulky to take with me so I left it at home). But I only ever use a laptop since I came to Madrid. Games live on my XBox 360. Apple (so, y'know, Mac...) Word for Mac. Apple (Mac). Microsoft make stuff that breaks all the time. Like my XBox 360. There is no rage like the rage that follows an hour-long mission ploughing through a mall full of zombies armed with only a lawnmower and the having your XBox overheat and crash 10 yards from the first save point you come to. I think I could actually kill someone afterwards and any jury in the land would say it was Bill Gates' fault. so i guess you have an Apple laptop? just wondering, so i have an idea on a good writting laptop. hm, come to think of it. do you decorrate your stuff(computer(s), game system(s), writting tablets, bag, etc.)? thanks ;D
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Post by nicholai441 on Apr 11, 2007 4:51:52 GMT -5
Pardon me if these have been answered already..
I have heard of some authers starting a project from the end then go to the begin(whatever that means) and others from front to back. where do you start your projects? do you prewrite chapters or parts in your stories, only to find out it didn't really fit how you originally planned(of course then making it better)? (or does that go under the note taking question?)
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Post by bluephoenix on Apr 11, 2007 11:22:15 GMT -5
Also...Revenants are in D&D too! ZOMG! (I'm pretty sure they're really different tho...)
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 15, 2007 6:05:00 GMT -5
Back again! I think the Broken Sky ones are probably the best for that age group, although 5 is very young for reading them I guess. Some of the language and themes are probably too advanced for someone that young. Hi! Glad you found me. I am fairly elusive... however I don't use AIM or any of that kind of stuff cos then I'd never get anything done, ever First part of BSky is out in August I think, in the UK. Don't know if there are any plans for re-release in the States. The BSky dimension as a whole doesn't have a name. There's the Dominions, Kirin Taq and Netherfane. As to the autograph, sure, if you want... Not now, I've been a pro writer for 10 years so I'm unemployable ;D I'd probably try to work in films or sound engineering.
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 15, 2007 6:16:00 GMT -5
Yup, a pearly white iBook G4... No. I go start to finish, like most authors I guess. Some will plan out their books and then write the chapters out of order (like Tolkien did). I've never known anyone write back to front but I wouldn't be surprised... Well, I change them around a lot after they're written, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean by prewrite in this case. I plan it, write the first draft, change stuff as I go, then go back, second draft, change more stuff, repeat until machine-gun rampage ensues. Revenant is just a term for 'one who returns (especially from the dead)' so it's a fancy name for un-dead... which is how they got the name in Orokos, cos originally the people thought they were ghosts. That one's nothing to do with D&D!
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Tama
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Post by Tama on Apr 15, 2007 7:09:54 GMT -5
What?
August!
Dammit, I've got June written on my calender... I was so hopeful!
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Post by zemira on Apr 15, 2007 14:14:51 GMT -5
I wish there was a re-release for BS planned for the states! I really don't want to buy a used copy...
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valca
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Posts: 203
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Post by valca on Apr 16, 2007 3:30:48 GMT -5
How do you think the Braided Path Trilogy would have changed had [spoilers]
Tane survived, yet still saved the princess?
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Post by bluephoenix on Apr 16, 2007 12:46:06 GMT -5
I see, that makes me happy about the revenants. My DM was going over all the undead and she goes "Revenants" and I'm like OH NOES!! But anyway...yeah...ehehehe....
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Post by bluephoenix on Apr 16, 2007 13:17:23 GMT -5
oh! I rememebr my question! In the beginning of Broken Sky (and it lingered throughout the book) it seemed to me that you were playing a little bit of favorites with Kia. True? Or just me being wierd?
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 17, 2007 3:05:46 GMT -5
Yeah, it got moved back a little. Soz! <SPOILERS FOR BRAIDED PATH AND BSKY FOLLOW> Well, Kaiku wouldn't have been quite so angst-ridden, Tsata would have had more competition, and I reckon we'd have ended up with a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style fight between suitors In all probability, Kaiku being Kaiku, she would *never* have realised she loved him if he hadn't died. Catch 22. It took Tsata deserting her for ages, possibly never to return, to make her twig about him. Ya think? Hmmm. I always thought she had the roughest time of everyone. I guess I was probably more *interested* in her because she was so bottled-up angry, but I certainly booted her around quite a bit ;D
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Post by Call me Omnicat on Apr 17, 2007 13:42:25 GMT -5
Ahoy! *waves, hits the forum shore and falls face-first off of virtual surfboard* Ouch. Ahem. Well. One Dutch Braided Path reader boarding... uhm, forum board, I guess? 'Ship' doesn't seem appropriate anymore, after having spent so much time in Fiction Alley's SCUSA forum. ^_^;; So, ANYway... I read earlier in this thread that you used to speak (a bit of) Japanese, and that you're trying to teach yourself good Spanish. That makes my question a multi-parter... QUESTION 1 a) Do you know any languages besides English, and do you know them well enough to be able to read books in those languages? b) Do you own copies of your books, and/or of (some of) the translations? c) if so... Have you ever tried to read (parts of) of the translations of your books in said languages? d) if so... Were you pleased with the translation? Not just writing wise, but also in the way the translator handled specific terminology, such as the... ehm... *realises she doesn't know the original term* the name for the 'mutated people/creatures' from the Braided Path books? Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with the translation of the Braided Path books! Sandra van de Ven, the Dutch translator that worked on them, did a pretty fine job. Other foreign fantasy authors I've read books of haven't been so lucky, though. Weis & Hickman, for example, got stuck with a translator who I suspect of having translated one of my favourite bookseries using an online translating service. She didn't even bother to read the first two books when she was set to work on the third! She got ALL the established names, titles and terminology wrong! *starts fuming again and is forced to take a break to cool off* *comes back bearing with an icecream cone ;D * Another thing I noticed while I was browsing this thread, was that you mentioned the ease with which you pick out names for your characters. I couldn't imagine that being easy! I've been brooding over the name of the lead female character in a project of my own for four years now, and the lead male went by three other names before I finally found one that sounded nice *and* appropriate. Oh, that brings me right to the other thing I was curious about: It's fairly obvious for anyone who knows what to look for that there are many references to Asian culture in the Braided Path books. The names, too, constantly remind me of what little I know of the Japanese language. There are a few exceptions, though; Lucia (an existing Italian name), Anais (an existing French name), Zaelis and Purloch (reminiscent of typical germanic/anglo-saxon/celtic/whatever-that-tribe-was-called names), Rahn and a few more. QUESTION 2 I was wondering if there was any system or underlying reason in these exceptions. Because if there was anything that bothered me (being the language freak I am) in the Braided Path books, it was this slight inconsistency. If this is somehow touched upon in the third part (which I've only just started reading), I'm sorry to bother you, though. ^_^;; How obvious is it by now that I want to become either a writer or a translator? QUESTION 3 Something of a personal question, since I'd like to get published one day, once I feel I've improved enough and can write decent action scenes and have stopped writing mile-long sentences that give people headaches... But I'm terribly protective when it comes to the way I express my creativity. So I was wondering... how evil are editors? <.< >.> I mean, really? Do editors ever want you to change things you really love - like Kaiku/Sazazu's name, but worse or bigger? And... that's it, I guess... No, wait it isn't. Just one more thing and I'll stop rambling, I promise. *TACKLEGLOMPS CHRIS TEH AUTHOR* You wrote women! You wrote fighting, thinking, friendshipping, foeing, loving, sexing, smart, strong, independent women!! In lead roles!!! Whaaa, do you have any idea how hard it is to find such characters? *TACKLEGLOMPS AGAIN*
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valca
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Post by valca on Apr 18, 2007 4:19:11 GMT -5
A couple of possibly slightly spoilerish questions about the end of the Braided Path Trilogy
1) What else can high level sisters in the order do? (Having seen invisibility and teleportation if I recall correctly) 2) What does happen when a sister in the order has a child?
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Post by Seregwen on Apr 18, 2007 9:42:06 GMT -5
In Alaizabel Cray, was Thaniel's mother murdered by a wych-kin? Or was she killed by Catfoot Joe or Stitch-Face? I think that you wrote that she was somewhat unhappy, and since Stitch-Face seems to have a tendency to target unhappy or unfortunate women, he seems to be the best bet. I know Thaniel's mother was killed in Whitechapel, but I have no idea if that's in Stitch-Face's territory or not.
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 18, 2007 17:08:03 GMT -5
Hey! Welcome! a) I can just about read in Spanish now, but I'm only tackling manga at the mo, otherwise, no. b) Yeah, I have a copy of all the translated editions. The Dutch Braided Path covers are cool. But the Japanese (double-book, fully illustrated!!!) version of Poison is my favourite. Oh yes. c) I have, then I realised it's silly because I can't understand it. d) Don't know. A German friend of mine who's a translator has told me horror stories though, and Maliris seems to think the German Alaizabel is awful What can ya do? I just feel lucky they get translated at all. IIRC the more European names were 'old' names harking back from Quraal which was (although you never got to see it) a Germanic-style theocracy. The peeps in Saramyr fled, first to Okhamba and later to Saramyr. Saramyrrhic names (more Japanese) like Kaiku and Reki evolved later as the language changed, but they still use the old names too. It's like how in England we still use names like John and Alfred, like, 1500 years later or something like that... but I'm pretty sure in the dark ages nobody was called Krystal or Sharntel. I think it's explained briefly in Bk3 somewhere. Editors are all different. Some make you work more than others! And yeah, sometimes they do want you to change big things. You have to learn to slay your babies if you wanna write: that perfect scene that is TEH BOMB in your head is useless if it only exists because you think it's cool... I've had to cut loads of stuff like that before. There was a whole BOOK I had to cut before I rewrote it to become Weavers and that had some rockin' scenes in. But all the good stuff tends to get reused somewhere... Anyway, editors are good for you. When you think you're too big for editors (looks at certain bestselling authors) then you start writing vervyrveryevveyrrvyrvyevyev long books veryvyyrveyvdrearyveevrambling because nobody will tell you that massive boring scene you're writing is actually crap. Wait for the next one (BRAIDED PATH KINDA SPOILERY THINGS BELOW.......) I'm afraid I shall have to shout AHA! and disappear in a cloud of orange-scented smoke to both those questions (though how I can disappear twice in succession is beyond me). Sorry. You never know, I might come back to TBP one day, and I gotta have some secrets left (like the Weave-whales etc... although you're really supposed to make up your own mind about them...) Y'know, I really don't remember! She wasn't killed by Stitch-face, that's for sure. I think she was just killed by a mugger, since in London back in the day you stood about a 1 in 3 chance of getting mugged just hanging out your washing in the morning (nowadays it's more like 1 in 5, and the muggers have to pay tax on what they rob off you). Or maybe it was a wych-kin? Someone help, it's been like 6 or 7 years since I read that book, and that was only because I was writing it
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