| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Mar 2013 : 14:00:40
|
I prefer less detailed fight scenes myself... I get bored with any fight that lasts more than a page or so, unless it's a protracted combat encounter with multiple people on each side. It doesn't matter if it's BattleMechs, blasters, or swords -- individual combat scenes can drag on and on.
I recall once reading a FR novel, and thinking some of the combat maneuvers didn't make sense. I grabbed a couple GJ Joe figures and tried to recreate the scene, line by line. And I still couldn't make it make sense... |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
 |
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 23 Mar 2013 : 18:00:01
|
Dennis, glad you found it interesting.
Wooly, if I err, it's probably on the side of going on too long sometimes. I do think, though, that in a FR fight, where you often have people throwing spells, monsters with strange abilities, etc., there's often more to talk about than if I were just writing about two guys throwing punches at one another. |
|
|
|
The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31777 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2013 : 01:01:19
|
Traditionally, if the fight scene doesn't involve any characters I'm particular attached to, or that I hold dearly in my heart, then I'd prefer it confined to just the one page. Two pages if it's a larger than average tavern-brawl. Epic conflicts and combat on grand battlefields aren't something that can be confined to just the one page, so I'd expect these to run from anywhere between four-to-five pages to about twenty or thirty pages in some instances I've read.
If there's a lot of dialogue thrown about during the fight scene, then confining it to just a page is difficult, and can usually mean that the scene will last maybe longer. I don't have any issues with that. It's just the intense back and forth of a written fight scene that runs longer than a page that I'll usually end up just skimming through. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
|
|
|
Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2013 : 02:28:13
|
Agreed, Sage. It isn't just the fight scenes that matter, more than that, it's the characters doing them. If they're those I hardly care for, then all battles involving them will simply bore me. But if they're done by the characters whom I favor and if the fight scenes bring out not just their raw power or genius but also flesh out a great deal of their personality, then I'm all in. |
Every beginning has an end. |
|
|
|
LastStand
Learned Scribe
130 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2013 : 07:59:32
|
quote:
Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Apparently, The Spectral Blaze really is out of print. I've asked the publisher about going back to press but have yet to hear one way or the other.
You can still get it as either an audiobook or an ebook. If you don't have a device that will read ebooks, you can download the Kindle or NOOK App to your computer for free.
Thanks for the speedy reply, and apologies. I see the question has been addressed a few posts ago.
I will definitely invest in the audio or ebook, since I really want to continue the series. The nagging feeling of having book 1, 2, 4 and 5 on my book shelf is a problem though. Hopefully I can find a copy at a bookstore or another website as well. =) |
"Don't. The battlegrounds that you and I have returned from alive are too different."
~ Claymore ch106 |
|
|
|
Xar Zarath
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
552 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2013 : 04:57:00
|
Hi RLB, recently I finished Prophet of the Dead, and it was good. Too bad there weren't a lot of scenes with Lod, would have liked to know him better. A few questions for you if you dont mind.
1)After the Sundering is done, will you begin with another BOTG book. I hope to read more on them, and if you decide to do another book, will old enemies like Alasklerbanbastos and Lod return? or will it be more about Jhesrhi?
2)This is about Gestanius the ally of Tchazzar and Skuthosin, was the dragon a she or a he? and was it a blue or green? (descriptions in Whisper of Venom and The Spectral Blaze especially spectral blaze were confusing to say the least) |
Everything ends where it begins. Period.
|
|
|
|
Xar Zarath
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
552 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2013 : 04:57:52
|
sorry it double posted so i had to edit this one... |
Everything ends where it begins. Period.
|
Edited by - Xar Zarath on 25 Mar 2013 04:58:58 |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2013 : 12:34:53
|
After The Sundering, there will be more Brotherhood novels, but I don't know the timetable yet, nor do I know exactly what the next one will be about. I knew what it was going to be about before WotC planned the Sundering, but at this point, it remains to be seen if the next couple books I had in my head will still work just as I had them mapped out. It may be that some tinkering with the plots is necessary. Suffice it to say, you will see Jhesrhi's situation address in time. Also Cera's future as a Chessentan priestess and Khouryn's exile from his people. As for the Brotherhood's old enemies, you never know when they'll resurface.
Gestanius is a blue female. If I slipped and stated this incorrectly at some point, sorry about that. One thing about her, though, is that she's isn't a standard dragon. She's a fiendish dragon, and if her description and abilities seem different than the normal, that's the reason why. |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2013 : 04:05:13
|
In 2011, I self-published The Impostor #1: Half a Hero, the first volume in a post-apocalyptic superhero series. I'm finally getting #2 written. If you'd like to see a sample, it's here:
http://rleebyers.livejournal.com |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
|
|
Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 30 Mar 2013 : 17:34:08
|
quote:
Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
"ANTI-Realism in SF/F" is my new post to The Night Bazaar.
http://night-bazaar.com/anti-realism-in-sff.html
A fine essay, Richard.
As many say, “Some rules are to be followed, some to be broken.” The hard part is determining which to follow and which to break and how to justify it. |
Every beginning has an end. |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 30 Mar 2013 : 19:14:11
|
| Thank you, Dennis. I agree that a writer has a far better chance of breaking the rules successfully if he understand what they are and why these exist and has a specific reason for going against them. |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2013 : 17:14:41
|
Here's more info on the 2013 Gen Con Writer's Symposium:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Author List Released for 2013 Gen Con Writer’s Symposium
INDIANAPOLIS (April 2nd, 2013) – The Gen Con Writer’s Symposium recently released the list of participating authors for 2013, and it includes some of the greatest science fiction, fantasy, and media tie-in writers working today. More than fifty talented authors and experts will participate in the panels planned for this year’s Writer’s Symposium, including Guests of Honor Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon.
Participating authors include:
Saladin Ahmed, Lou Anders, Brad Beaulieu, Donald J. Bingle, Dylan Birtolo, Maurice Broaddus, Jennifer Brozek, Richard Lee Byers, Wesley Chu, Lawrence C. Connolly, Larry Correia, Larry Dixon, Maxwell Alexander Drake, Erin M. Evans, Dave Farland, Matt Forbeck, Jaym Gates, Paul Genesse, Geoffrey Girard, Jerry Gordon, Dave Gross, Sarah Hans, John Helfers, Jim C. Hines, William H. Horner III, Kerrie L. Hughes, Howard Andrew Jones, Gary Kloster, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Kristoff, Mercedes Lackey, James Lowder, Scott Lynch, Ari Marmell, Robert Mosher, Daniel Myers, Chris Pierson, Patrick Rothfuss, Jason Sanford, Ken Scholes, Erik Scott de Bie, Lucy A. Snyder, Mike Stackpole, George Strayton, James L. Sutter, Kelly Swails, Marc Tassin, Howard Tayler, Monica Valentinelli, Elizabeth Vaughan, Gregory A. Wilson
This collection of talented writers includes New York Times bestsellers, USA Today bestsellers, and winners of numerous prestigious literary awards. This year alone, Writer’s Symposium panelists received eight nominations for the coveted Hugo and Nebula awards.
“We’re extremely excited,” said Marc Tassin, the Gen Con Literary Coordinator and the Symposium organizer. “The list of authors that have signed on to participate this year is quite incredible. This year’s Symposium is an unprecedented opportunity for both experienced and beginning writers to learn from some of the greatest writing talents out there today.”
"Having participated in numerous writing seminars both in and out of genre over the years, I am stunned by both the caliber of the participants and sheer size of the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium," said Lou Anders, Hugo award-winning Editorial Director of Pyr books. "I'm not sure anyone quite realizes that this symposium has quietly built itself into one of the largest and most impressive writing symposiums in the field. Anyone with an interest in writing science fiction and fantasy literature, whether media tie-in or not, should definitely have this on their radar."
A full event list for the Symposium is scheduled for release later this month. Tickets to Gen Con are available at www.gencon.com .
For more information, please contact Marc Tassin ( contact@genconwriters.com ).
About the Writer’s Symposium: The Gen Con Writer’s Symposium is one of the largest writing conferences in the world. Established in 1995, it offers more than 110 hours of events for both new and experienced authors. The Symposium features more than fifty authors and has served as a springboard for the careers of many accomplished writers. The Symposium will be held August 15th to 18th, 2013, in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of the annual Gen Con gaming convention. For more information on the Symposium, visit www.genconwriters.com .
About Gen Con: Gen Con, LLC produces the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, sci-fi and adventure game convention in North America. It was acquired in 2002 by former CEO and founder of Wizards of the Coast Peter Adkison, who owns the company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Gen Con is a consumer and trade experience dedicated to gaming culture and community. www.gencon.com
|
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2013 : 05:22:29
|
| I'll be doing a live chat at paizo.com at 7 PM PST on Thursday, April 4th. |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 04 Apr 2013 : 14:03:59
|
The fast way to my live chat at 7 PST tonight (Thursday, April 4.) After you get there, join PFTales:
http://chat.dmtools.org |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2013 : 20:27:00
|
For anyone who might be interested, here's another preview excerpt from The Impostor # 2: The Blood Machine, my next self-published ebook collection of post-apocalyptic superhero stories. Here we see the supervillain Svergr (real name Pervis Underwood) coping with the vicissitudes of life in a world overrun by alien invaders where he and his gang are contending with them and a rival supercriminal gang for control of a city in ruins:
The civilians in the parking lot were working hard shoveling the dirt the dump trucks had left into wheelbarrows, rolling it inside the Home Depot, unloading it, and then coming back for more. Growing up in the hills, Pervis had despised that kind of mindless, repetitive chore, and it was obvious these city people, who mostly weren’t used to it, hated it even more. Grubby, hot, and tired as they were, some of them still found the energy to glower at their guards, or up at the armored supervillain doing his own work on the roof, when they thought no one was looking.
Pervis understood their resentment, but they wanted to go on eating after the food in the groceries and houses ran out, didn’t they? If so, they needed to farm, and they’d be safer doing it indoors, under sunlamps, where the wasps wouldn’t see. They were lucky the store with its gardening center stocked with seeds, fertilizer, and tools was just a short distance from “Camp Two” where the WMDs had herded them together to live.
Maybe they were pissed off partly because of the weapon system Pervis was installing on the roof. If they thought it was to keep them in line, well, they’re weren’t completely wrong. But mostly it was a defense against the aliens.
The tricky part wasn’t making missiles and guns that would shoot by remote control. It was camouflaging them so the bugs wouldn’t spot them when flying around on routine reconnaissance. Despite dissecting their dead bodies and examining the monitors in their airships, Pervis still didn’t really know how their eyes worked, what colors and shapes popped out at them and what they were likely to miss.
Clicking a cable into a port, he reflected that he could have used some help from the Abductee. The guy was creepy, but there was nobody better at the Frankenstein side of outlaw science. Unfortunately, the last Pervis had heard, the Abductee had been in Manila trafficking in human organs with custom specials available for those who could afford them. Even if he’d survived the invasion—
Pervis’s armor beeped three times, two short notes and then a long one.
The signal meant his radar and camera array had detected something flying in WMD airspace. Naturally, it detected wasps all the time, but he’d programmed the system to discriminate between routine and significant events. At the moment, it thought it was registering one of the latter.
He snapped the faceplate of his helmet shut and said, “Display.” Luminous green words, numbers, and a map with a trajectory traced on it flowed and flickered in front of his eyes. “Visual.”
The inner surface of the faceplate cleared for a few moments as the system tried to obey the command. He understood the delay. The array was still unfinished, with plenty of holes in it, and didn’t have cameras where he needed them. Finally it served up a glimpse of a snakelike shape twisting through the air.
Pervis looked over the edge of the building at the people below. “Get inside!” he shouted.
Everyone, even the gang members, stared back at him stupidly.
“Now!” he bellowed, using the microphone in the helmet to amplify his voice.
That got them scrambling. He pivoted back to the weapon system he’d been hooking up. Could he get it fully operational by the time the flyer came into range? Doubtful; concentrate on arming the SAMs and forget the
maser.
As he worked, he commanded other rooftop systems to target the threat. But like the cameras, most were poorly positioned to do so, and when one did launch a missile or fire a beam weapon, the shot either missed or failed to do much damage.
The flyer wasn’t approaching along the safest route by dumb luck. Somebody had scouted the defense network to find out where the gaps were.
Of course, no aerial route was shielded from the view or attentions of the hive ship floating above the city, and for once, Svergr would have been glad to see the insects launch a battle squadron. They didn’t, though. Maybe they somehow realized one group of humans was on its way to attack another and were all for it.
That left it all on Pervis. The guards’ AKs and other guns wouldn’t do jack to the thing that was coming, and the other superpowered WMDs were too far away to reach the Home Depot in the moments remaining.
Its gray steel scales gleaming a little even on an overcast day, the AURA Skyserpent emerged from among the taller buildings of midtown. As long from its nose to the tip of its tail as the home-improvement store, it looked like everybody’s mental picture of a sea serpent and moved like one, too, writhing and swimming through the air.
The closer it came, the better Pervis’s chances of hitting it where it was vulnerable. But it was still hundreds of yards away when a pair of its own missiles dropped into view under the sculpted dragon-like head that was actually the cockpit. Then he had to shoot and hope he was quicker on the draw.
The four missiles in the SAM launchers streaked upward. By itself, the automated targeting worked pretty well, but interfacing with the system right here on the battlefield, Svergr figured he could improve its aim, and no one could argue based on the results. The Skyserpent’s head vanished in a burst of flame. The ground-shaking, glass-shattering boom and pressure wave rocked him back an instant later.
He grinned, and motors whirred as the SAM battery loaded the next four missiles in its magazines. Then, however, the world vanished in a searing flash.
|
|
|
|
Xar Zarath
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
552 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2013 : 13:43:52
|
Hi Richard, been wanting to ask you this question for some time just not gotten around to it yet (until now)
In The Masked Witches and Prophet of the Dead, the Raumviran ghoul Pevkalondra has a pearl eye, since it was never explained further, if you had to write about it what sort of powers would the eye have held? Thanks! |
Everything ends where it begins. Period.
|
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 10 Apr 2013 : 14:18:58
|
| Xar: If I had really gotten into it, I would have made it function like a normal eye and perhaps made it also function like a =1 Ring of Protection or something like that. It clearly doesn't do anything too amazing, or we would see her bust out those powers during the course of the story. |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2013 : 14:37:31
|
Anybody watch the debut episode of Da Vinci's Demons on Starz last night? (If you missed it, you can see it via the link.) Da Vinci is a universal genius (obviously) and a master swordsman who uses his skills to offend the oppressed. He's insolent to authority and has troubling mysteries in his past and an amusing rogue for a sidekick. By the end of the pilot, a good secret society has told him to find a lost book of secret knowledge that an evil secret society is also trying to obtain. In short, if you like the pulps, comics, Indiana Jones, sword and sorcery, or pretty much any kind of fantastic adventure, you might like this.
http://www.starz.com/originals/davincisdemons |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2013 : 14:44:12
|
| Whoops! As you may have guessed, in the preceding description, I meant DEFEND, not OFFEND. |
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
|
|
Arcanus
Senior Scribe
485 Posts |
Posted - 22 Apr 2013 : 19:54:45
|
Some interesting points Richard, I have to disagree with one though.
You say that Superman would never leave earth as he did in Superman Returns. He may love his adopted home but he knows that it's not his true home. Most adopted people search out their origins, even if they have very low expectations of success. Superman is no different from us in that regard, he knew there was virtually no hope of finding anything left of his home world, but he still had to go. It's nice to think that even Superman can be totally ruled by his heart and not his mind.
|
|
|
|
Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 22 Apr 2013 : 20:15:33
|
I respectfully disagree, Arcanus. I think Superman is consistently portrayed as so altruistic that he wouldn't leave Earth unprotected for a period of years to fulfill a purely personal yearning.
This irritated the hell out of me when I first saw the movie because it's such an easy fix. All the writers had to do was establish that Superman didn't EXPECT to be gone anywhere near that long. But some sort of accident delayed his return. He flew too close to a black hole and got caught in a time dilation effect. Or a meteor hit his ship, he crashed on an alien world, and it took him years to make repairs. Whatever. |
|
|
|
Arcanus
Senior Scribe
485 Posts |
Posted - 22 Apr 2013 : 20:43:00
|
I see it as Superman being more human. The very fact that he is an alien tells him that the earth was there before him and it will be there after him. Given this knowledge he feels he can leave us to our own devices for a while.
Sometimes you just have to do what you feel is right for you.
On the plus side, he did come back with a nice new cape lol. |
|
|
|
Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2013 : 04:55:03
|
I agree with Arcanus. Even heroes need time for themselves. And I think Superman is no exception. |
Every beginning has an end. |
|
|
|
silverwolfer
Senior Scribe
789 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2013 : 07:15:07
|
| :O I really want to know what god , the ghost pally served/worshiped :(. That has always been one of those things, that I didn't want to fall into the reader fills in the blanks spot, but more of , well some god coming back, or a excellent way to maybe have Helms old Goddess lover come back, and bring helm back to **hint hint..wink wink ** |
Edited by - silverwolfer on 23 Apr 2013 07:17:00 |
|
|
|
silverwolfer
Senior Scribe
789 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2013 : 07:17:40
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
I agree with Arcanus. Even heroes need time for themselves. And I think Superman is no exception.
fortress of solitude .... |
|
|
|
Arcanus
Senior Scribe
485 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2013 : 07:45:38
|
quote:
Originally posted by silverwolfer
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
I agree with Arcanus. Even heroes need time for themselves. And I think Superman is no exception.
fortress of solitude ....
Comparable to having video and some relics of a past you have never known. It would only inspire the need for the real thing. |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Questions for Richard Lee Byers
