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Post by nicholai441 on Nov 29, 2008 3:57:30 GMT -5
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Post by lisajane on Nov 29, 2008 5:15:23 GMT -5
That's really neat.
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setrida
Full Member
It's a fool who plays it cool by making this world a little colder.
Posts: 157
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Post by setrida on Dec 12, 2008 0:03:47 GMT -5
Alrighty, y'all. I have a question. You ready? Okay, so if you're just typing along, all merry, and you throw in a reference to some other copyrighted work, like, say, the latest Indiana Jones movie or some such thing, what do you do so you aren't violating copyright laws? Or is that copyright, if it's just a mention? 'Cause I make a ton of references to random things when I'm writing and that would be bad if I was copyrighting and didn't even know it... So, if Chris, or anyone else who happens to know the answer, can tell me, that'd be absolutely fantastic.
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Post by Chris Wooding on Dec 12, 2008 5:54:19 GMT -5
Just a quickie... I'm supposed to be working! AFAIK you can reference anything you want - it's not a copyright violation to reference a brand / film / whatever. You only violate copyright when you lift out a chunk of it to use for yourself - like if you used some of the Indiana Jones script. Look at South Park or Family Guy or any Kevin Smith film... they reference all over the place, quite cruelly in most cases, and I'm sure they're not being granted legal clearance by all the people they're making fun of. Especially in the recent South Park skit with Lucas and Spielberg doing a Deliverance on Indy...
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shadowslayer
Full Member
I'm proud of myself, I can make everyone mad at once
Posts: 218
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Post by shadowslayer on Dec 12, 2008 20:25:59 GMT -5
I think you can reference it but not copy it, I read the real beginning at all books, like some books say you can take a bit out for reviews or some say with permition or just plan no
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setrida
Full Member
It's a fool who plays it cool by making this world a little colder.
Posts: 157
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Post by setrida on Dec 13, 2008 0:38:12 GMT -5
Sweet! I knda guessed that, but it's good to know I'm not a future fugitive or something . Just kidding. But thanks for answering (to both Chris and Shadowslayer).
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cubed
Junior Member
Posts: 83
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Post by cubed on Dec 20, 2008 18:53:46 GMT -5
Hey Chris, what do you use to avoid info dumping? How do you decide when to reveal world building, and when not to? It's really hard for me to find a line in my own writing between telling enough and telling too much, keeping the reader's interest.
I've never felt in any of your books that I've read, that you were dumping a load of info out of laziness.
Thanks.
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Post by Chris Wooding on Dec 21, 2008 3:41:13 GMT -5
Ah, infodumping... the bane of the fantasy author's life.
To be fair, it took me a while to get the hang of it - witness the horrendous infodump in the second chapter of Weavers when I ramble off on a disquisition about the ins and outs of the Saramyrrhic language - but in general the best and easiest rule to follow is the old 'show, not tell' thing. That, and you always make sure something else is going on in the scene so you're only delivering information in the background.
Example: you want to tell everyone about your awesome planes you've thought of. So what you do is have one of your characters arguing with the engineer in the hangar about how his plane stalled in the sky (which you will have shown us earlier). That way, the dialogue gives us lots of information about the way these planes fly, you can describe all the planes that are sitting around nearby, and most importantly, something interesting is going on in the foreground (the argument). And the argument itself can be used to reveal interesting things about the characters.
When infodumping, be oblique. If it ever sounds like you're explaining something to the reader then there's probably a better way to do it. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but when you HAVE to infodump, try and keep it to a paragraph or so.
And lastly, remember that there are two schools of thought of infodumping. Editors hate it, but the average fantasy reader doesn't really care that much. There are massively successful fantasy series (which shall remain nameless) that are horrendously bloated with infodumping. Some people seem to like it...
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Post by shyviolet on Dec 21, 2008 3:46:38 GMT -5
I liked the infodump about the language. As long as it's elegantly written it's nice to see that the author has thought about more than just the parts of the world that directly relate to the plot. Yea verily it doth make it more believable. Unless you suck and have lots of contradictions or plot holes, then it just lets people know that you didn't think it through properly.
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Post by Chris Wooding on Dec 21, 2008 4:19:04 GMT -5
It could have been done a lot better, is all. The reader would still get the information, but it would be delivered in such a way that all the action didn't screech to a halt.
As to the other questions I still haven't answered on this thread:
Nicholai, that's very thoughtful but as zemira says, I don't give out my address details. As to gaming, I think I answered that before but yes, I did have an XBox 360 but I just got a PS3 as my XBox is so loud it sounds like a Lear Jet idling under my TV and I was getting sick of it. Now I have the blessed hush of a PS3 (and Blu-ray!).
As to first and last names... um... I have no thoughts at all on that. I just come up with names. Usually they tend to sound a bit like the character (ie no foxy assassin called Amelia Grimes) but that's about it.
I've seen loads of the Studio Ghibli films, and sure, it would be great to see one of my books as an anime. To be fair though, CGI can be brilliant as long as it's done right; nowadays it's much more sophisticated, and it also animates much more smoothly than hand-done drawings. Even though Ghibli are brilliant and all, there are still always bits where things get jerky or static. So, in answer, depends on who's doing it!
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Post by lisajane on Dec 21, 2008 6:48:14 GMT -5
my XBox is so loud it sounds like a Lear Jet idling under my TV and I was getting sick of it. I think all XBox 360s are like that... mine sounds rather the same and then echoed off the walls and wooden floorboards. But then it eventually becomes background noise.
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Post by Raihor on Dec 21, 2008 8:49:46 GMT -5
Not to mention the Xboxs' tendancy to die at random points. You can say what you like, but you can never beat a PC when it comes to gaming! Well, for certain genres anyways.
Now for a question regarding Storm Theif (which I recently started re-reading): When did you come up with the whole 'Storm Theif' myth that the people of Orokos go on about? I mean, was it in your head since the beginning or did the idea come to you half-way through or something?
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cubed
Junior Member
Posts: 83
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Post by cubed on Dec 21, 2008 13:05:27 GMT -5
There are massively successful fantasy series (which shall remain nameless) that are horrendously bloated with infodumping. Some people seem to like it... WOT? I'm betting that's the one
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Post by kaiku on Dec 21, 2008 14:55:46 GMT -5
I think all XBox 360s are like that... mine sounds rather the same and then echoed off the walls and wooden floorboards. But then it eventually becomes background noise. Yeah, I don't notice the noise mine makes until I turn it off. Then it seems far too quiet without it... I think it's just one of those things you get used to the more you play on it.
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Post by Raihor on Dec 21, 2008 18:51:54 GMT -5
Kinda like the noise my PC makes. I don't notice until the deathly silence caused by turning it off...
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