Game of (Writing) Thrones

About a year and a half ago, I said goodbye to my trusty writing chair. After I acquired it in 2004, the chair survived two moves, seven novels, and several dozen short stories. It also lived to tell the tale after my brother and I almost killed each other while putting the blasted thing together (weren't not exactly engineers).

Toward the end of its days, Old Reliable looked like this:


That chair, which lasted nearly eight years, had to be replaced. We took Old Reliable to Goodwill in hopes that someone could fix it up and make something out of it. We played "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes...it was an emotional time.

After fighting fits of uncontrollable tears, I finally bought a replacement. I assembled New Chair myself, expecting Old Reliable's successor to last just as long. It appears, though, that the daily process of butt-in-chair writing was too much for New Chair to handle. The fabric ripped and it started leaning to the right after about a year and a half. Here's how it looked:


Sure, it doesn't look that bad. Just try sitting in it. The snowman, by the way, is a sign that winter is coming for New Chair. It's getting a sendoff as well:


I don't know why Spock isn't there--we sent him an invitation. And before you get any fancy pants, J.J. Abrams-rehash ideas, we didn't launch the chair toward the Genesis Planet. Right out the torpedo tube for this one. No "Amazing Grace"--just pure explodey.

Old Reliable's gone. New Chair's a distant memory of inferior craftsmanship and space debris. What's next?

I have to have somewhere to sit when I write. I need a place to work on rewrites for III Crimsonstreak and polish The Franchise. Here it is:


I don't know what to call it yet. I just hope it's more like Old Reliable and less like New Chair. Because New Chair is a disappointment, like the Xbox One reveal and the Star Wars prequels. And Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

(This post was partially inspired by Cathy Day's piece on Writing Machines & Writing Spaces)

Some quick updates

Nothing major to report, but here are a few quick updates on my writing endeavors.

-The Live and Let Undead anthology is complete with my short story "Sparky Save the World" included

-I'm still waiting on a final cover for I, Crimsonstreak -- we're three months away from launch if you can believe it!

-I haven't written anything new in the last couple weeks, but I'm working on fine-tuning my novel The Franchise; I think this one has big-time potential, but it needs several coats of paint

-My Kindle has a cracked screen and is currently unusable; this is a common problem (Google it!), and I expect it to be resolved swiftly

-Currently on my reading list: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

Studicus Selects 2011

A while back, I abandoned my longtime Blogger nickname "Studicus" to become "Matt Adams." The thinking, of course was to better promote my writing by no longer posting via a pseudonym. It was actually kind of a tough decision because some college pals and I started a collective blog in 2005 called The Flying Trapeezius.

Those days were fun!

In order to keep writing, I decided I had to leave TFT and all three of its readers and replace it with My Kingdom for a Novel and its three readers. Yet, a tradition is a tradition...and for every year except 2006, I made a "best of" list called "Studicus Selects."

So here we go!

(You can check out the Studicus Selects archives below. Scroll past the links for this year's picks)

Studicus Selects 2010
Studicus Selects 2009
Studicus Selects 2008
Studicus Selects 2007
Studicus Selects 2005

Best Tech Gadget: Amazon's Kindle. Really, it's not even close. The other gadget I purchased this year was a rather buggy Motorola Atrix 4G, so the Kindle wins by default. This is a great device. I understand it's a dedicated e-reader and things like the iPad and Kindle Fire are far superior pieces of tech that sparkle and shine and play pretty videos. However, the Kindle is simple to use and no one can match Amazon's content pipeline. From a reading standpoint, it doesn't hurt my eyes because there's no backlighting. From a writing standpoint, it's great because I can email my manuscripts to the device and read my works in progress without sitting in front of the computer for hours.

Most Awesome Blog Moment: Ernie Cline, author of the bestselling book Ready Player One agreed to do an interview that I could post along with my review for the book. I thought it was really neat for him to take the time out of his schedule to do that, especially since my blog is in its infancy. It should be a reminder to all writers: no matter how insignificant a blog/interview request may seem, even if you don't think it will reach many readers, you may as well do it. After all, you have to win this battle one fan at a time. You can read the review and interview with Ernie Cline here.

Most Satisfying Moment of the Year: Without a doubt, it was the email I received at 9:49 pm on July 19. I had submitted my novel I, Crimsonstreak to Candlemark & Gleam, a small press operating out of Vermont. It was kind of a Hail Mary because I didn't think anyone would be interested in the book. I was surprised, however, when I received an email saying C&G wanted to acquire the novel (after a few revisions, of course). It was a defining moment in my young writing career; a moment I'll always remember. The book is due out in May 2012. You can read more about the journey from first draft to contract here.

Best Early Anniversary Trip, Historical Category: In July, my wife and I took some vacation time and spent a week in Springfield, Illinois as an early fifth anniversary gift. I'm sure that's the very first place people think of when they think of a vacation spot. Anyway, we saw the Lincoln Museum and our 16th president's home. It was a fantastic trip (we even caught a showing of Captain America!) made even more fantastic thanks to cameos from traveling buddies Green Lantern and Superman.

Favorite Summer Movie: Without a doubt, Captain America. I loved it! The film was by far my favorite of the movies I saw this summer. Everything just seemed to "click" in this one. After a few cinematic disappointments (X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Green Lantern), it was great to see a movie come together so awesomely! I liked it so much, I blogged my 20 Favorite Cap Moments.

Most Irritating Earworm: As much as I loved Cap, "The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan" was stuck in my head for weeks.



But this category is a tie! I saw a video for Selena Gomez's opus "I Love You Like a Love Song." It is easily the most irritating song I've heard all year. And for a month, it wouldn't leave my head.

The fact that I know the words--ALL of them--makes me want to hurt myself.
Best Discovery, Xbox 360: I've thoroughly enjoyed the Marvel Pinball tables for Pinball FX. I really like the Wolverine and Spidey tables. Blade is a nice change of pace, but I'd like to punch the Iron Man table in the face. Seriously. It's an irritating table to play. Perhaps there exist pinball wizards who love it, but I'm not a big fan.

Biggest Letdown, Sports: The Butler Bulldogs made it to their second consecutive national championship game, but couldn't pull off the upset against UConn. The frustrating thing about the loss was the feeling that Butler just had an "off" day. UConn played well, no doubt, but Butler was atrocious from the field, putting on a shooting performance that was historic in its futility. It was heartbreaking to see a team that had accomplished so much have such a terrible game.

Biggest Letdown, Writing Career: After having three stories accepted in various anthologies, the publisher cancelled two out of the three anthos. This was disappointing because I loved those stories and was looking forward to seeing them in print. On the plus side, one anthology forged ahead and will get published soon. The editor of one of the cancelled books found another publisher, but it's going to be released much later than originally thought. Still, a release is better than no release.

Most Insane Undertaking, Reading Category: I heard such good things about the Game of Thrones series on HBO that I decided I'd read the books. I heard they were long and had seen the paperbacks in the bookstore, but nothing really prepared me for the size and scope of the books. I borrowed them via a Kindle library loan...and wow. I had just 21 days to finish a 1,000-page book. I'm a fast reader, but trying to "race" through a book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series wasn't one of my best ideas. You can read my review for A Game of Thrones here.

Most Insane Moments, Indiana Hoosiers and Indianapolis Colts Category: These are both probably too recent to include in a year-ender, but Christian Watford's shot that propelled IU over top-ranked Kentucky was one of the year's best sports moments.

I still have this on my DVR.
My hapless Colts also managed to get a win last night, prompting this strange scene in which Reggie Wayne and Dan Orlovsky tried to give each other the ball after they connected on a late touchdown to seal the team's second win.

In a season in which nothing has gone right, this was a nice moment.
That's my brief review of the year that was 2011. These are exciting days ahead on the blog. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of Empire State for my Kindle and will have an interview with author Adam Christopher soon. You can expect the "ABC's of Crimsonstreak," a series that will continue the legacy of my "ABC's of Writing" and "ABC's of Star Wars." I'm sure my publisher and I will have some awesome treats as the publication of I, Crimsonstreak draws closer.

And of course...we'll be watching for the return of Super-Manning!

I sure hope he's able to return. If he can't...you can expect lots of inconsolable crying and a terrible video montage set to "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

A Song of Ice and Words I Don't Want to See Again

A few weeks ago, I embarked on a journey to read George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. For the most part, I've enjoyed the series (my review of A Game of Thrones is here), but it is loooooooong. In addition, I've found a few phrases and words I never want to see again...although considering I have three books left in the series (A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons), I'm convinced we shall meet again.

Here are my five worst offenders so far:

Ser. Martin tries to set his fantasy world apart from our own medieval history, which is fine by me. After all, this is a fantasy book. So we see a number of names that could "almost" be from the English language (or another real-world language), but have a different spelling. In the series, "sir" doesn't indicate a knight; the word "ser" does. I'm more than half a million words into this series, and I still can't get used to this. I blame my background in Spanish (I studied it in both high school and college); "ser" means "to be," not "a knight."

Something with a "ling" to it. Lordling, wildling, sweetling. Ick. Especially sweetling. They're the equivalent of diminutives or terms of endearment. I don't care for them.

Craven. Meaning "cowardly," this word and its derivatives appear too many times in the series. A quick search through the Kindle shows "craven" appears 27 times in A Clash of Kings and 43 times in A Storm of Swords. When you're reading a book that's so long and detailed, a word like this shouldn't stick out, but it certainly does.

Boiled leather. Not being a master of arms, I don't have a lot of context for this method of armor plating. However, it seems nearly everyone is dressed in "boiled leather" at one time or another.

Corn...corn...corn. Stupid birds. Seriously. SHUT. UP.

REVIEW: A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones is the first book in George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. I've known about these books for a while, and by that I mean I've nearly fainted when noticing their doorstop-perfect build while browsing for books at the bookstore. Seriously, if you had to use a paperback to kill a man, pick up a George R.R. Martin book. The first book was released in 1996, which means I'm really getting a jump on this thing (it's okay; I was late on The Godfather, too). No doubt, the popularity of the HBO series (which I have not seen) also piqued my curiosity.

To try to condense the plot of A Game of Thrones would be a fool's task. Thankfully, you've come to the right place. Using the viewpoints of multiple characters (I think there are eight main ones), George R.R. Martin treats us to a sweeping tale of love, lust, vengeance, betrayal, duty, honor, family, power, redemption, and pretty much every other theme you can think of.

The Stark family, I think, is really the focus of the book. Ned Stark is the lord of Winterfell, a bleak, wintery land that could give Hoth a run for its money. When his friend King Robert comes to ask Lord Stark to take on the duties as his number-two (the King's Hand), Ned reluctantly agrees. The decision is a pivotal one, setting up a series of moves and counter-moves that take the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and move characters around like chess pieces.

King Robert was once a brave and bold man, but now he is no true king. After marrying a woman from the shifty Lannister family, the king grows fat, belligerent, and unobservant. He enlists Ned as help, taking Lord Stark away from Winterfell and moving him south. Let's just say a lot of bad things happen (one of Ned's sons suffers a grievous injury, it turns out King Robert's former King's Hand was murdered by one of the Lannisters, Ned and his family are branded as traitors, succession of the King's line comes under question, Ned's bastard son--hated by his wife but loved by Ned--joins a dangerous group of rangers tasked with keeping watch of evil forces north of a barrier called the Wall).

Meanwhile, in a different book, the former royal family displaced by King Robert's line struggles to gain a foothold. The Targaryen family was cast out as rulers after a mad king...um...went crazy. King Robert led a rebellion against him...and most of the Targaryen line was wiped out, save two surviving heirs, Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen. Viserys, who's kind of a spoiled, idiotic brat, arranges to sell his sister as wife to Khal Drogo, the powerful leader of a wild people called the Dothraki. Daenerys' story is one of pain, suffering, more pain, more suffering, loss, and rebirth. Seriously, nothing good happens to her. Then again, nothing good happens to anyone in A Game of Thrones.

The book has several subplots, most of them compelling. There's the journey of Ned's brave bastard son Jon Snow; the emergence of Ned's oldest trueborn son Robb as a pivotal figure in the Seven Kingdoms. The other Stark children have their own cruel adventures as well. The dwarf of the Lannister clan--Tyrion--also plays a large role in the events that unfold, as do the machinations of his sister (King Robert's wife) and brother (Jaime "The Kingslayer").

Old families clash; old allegiances whither and die while others are forged anew.

Winter is coming...and it is good.

LOVED

-Tyrion the Imp; this guy gets most of the good lines and provides all of the book's scant levity with his wit
-Epic, sweeping scope
-Complex, well-developed world that feels real and steeped in history
-No character is safe from injury or death--you never know what's going to happen
-Really felt like there were strong characterizations for most of the principles
-Ned Stark, damn him, is one honorable man (as are his sons...even the bastard Jon Snow)
-Most of the plots and subplots are deftly juggled and intertwined
-Direwolves!
-Main houses all managed to seem unique

DIDN'T LOVE

-I wish someone would strangle the blasted crows and ravens; "corn, corn, corn!"
-Don't expect to laugh at the wacky antics of the Stark family
-A sense of hopelessness runs throughout the whole book
-The length; good God, the length...not for the faint of heart
-A lot...and I mean A LOT...of characters to juggle and keep straight
-Prepare for medieval sex that is both crazy and comical
-"Ser" in place of "sir"--my mind couldn't get used to this even after 800,000 pages

THE VERDICT

I don't read a lot of fantasy books. Sweeping tales of kings and knights hold a certain appeal, but I've never really been into those types of stories. In this case, I thought I'd try something different.

To my utter surprise and shock...A Game of Thrones gets a scintillating 5 out of 5 on the Ray Liotta Quality Meter (what is this?).

Crimsonstreak 2 & A Game of Thrones

It was a hectic week at work, which made it difficult to get any blogging done in addition to my writing. I spent most of my time this week working on my Crimsonstreak sequel or reading Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire.

As far as Crimsonstreak 2 goes, I'm off and running. By the end of the day, I'll have cracked the 60,000 word mark as the first draft starts to come to a close. I wrote the first Crimsonstreak fairly quickly, and the sequel is coming along nicely. I think the first draft of this one will be much more polished than the first draft of the original book. You can chalk that up to experience and becoming a better writer. Truly, my writing in 2011 is superior to my writing in 2007 in every way.

The sequel's plot is getting a little out of control, some characters are underused, and I'm worried that some of the lunacy is a little too "out there." I have several different factions in this book, and when I go through and revise, I think I'll have to streamline. I also wanted to have a bunch of interstellar cops like the Green Lanterns, so I added them to this book. I'm not sure it's an entirely successful venture, but the only thing I can do is keep writing to see where the idea goes.

The first book plays with the conventions of parallel worlds/alternate dimensions, but the sequel absolutely blows them out. I'm not going to reveal much of the plot (partially because of secrecy and partially because this is still the first draft), but let's just say the Crimsonstreak universe employs a lot of variable realities/timelines. It's fun, but also exhausting to track. The nice thing about parallel universes is the ability to see the different possibilities of what a character may have become. It also allows me to bring back (in limited form) a character who didn't survive the first book.

The first draft is approximately 75% done. I'm shooting for 80,000 words for the main adventure. It's currently missing some character vignettes (the first book is filled with these mini-scenes, which I feel give the main character and the others a little more depth). I imagine these little flashback scenes will end up adding four or five thousand words to the main story.

After the main narrative is complete, I'm going to start working on the "extra" material. The first book is unique in that it includes a ton of meta-fiction. The first-person perspective of Crimsonstreak makes it difficult to talk about other characters without feeling forced. To combat that, I wrote a bunch of newspaper & magazine articles, character journal entries, and bios to fill in some of the gaps. The material was a blast to write! For the sequel, this material isn't quite as necessary (returning characters like Colonel Chaos, Miss Lightspeed, and the Crusading Comet will already be familiar to those who've read the first book). However, with a three-year gap between the events that conclude Crimsonstreak and the beginning of Crimsonstreak 2, I have some opportunities to outline major developments in the story world that only get a passing mention in the book. I'll probably drum up some more character bios as well.

I'm trying to get as much work done on the sequel as I can. I anticipate receiving revision notes for I, Crimsonstreak very soon, and those will pretty much take over my life for a month or two.

I'm also trying to power through Game of Thrones, which I've found very enjoyable. I remember looking at all the books in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga in the bookstore a long time ago and saying, "There's no way I could ever read that." Well, thanks to the advent of Kindle library lending, I'm giving it a chance. I'm more of a science fiction guy than a fantasy-slash-medieval world fan, but the writing is excellent and the characters are wonderfully realized. It's just hard to juggle reading such a long book, working on my own writing, and going to work.

Ah, but that's what most writers have to do. I've heard the HBO series is very good, and thought I'd give the books a shot. When I'm finished, I hope to catch the HBO series on DVD.

So far, this is about all that's going on in my corner of the writing world. I have several short stories sitting idle on my computer right now. I also have a list of story ideas in my trusty notebook, but right now it's time to focus on my Crimsonstreak sequel and catch up on some reading.