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api call girl posted:Like, have you considered maybe that's a personal problem of yours rather than some failure of his? No because it's literally his biggest criticism. He even admits he's horrible at making up names, I can look it up if you want but yeah he admits it. I only know this because I followed him through his making of the last 3 Wheel of Time books.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 04:07 |
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# ? Apr 27, 2024 17:44 |
Fair to Midland posted:No because it's literally his biggest criticism. He even admits he's horrible and making up names, I can look it up if you want but yeah he admits it. Fantasy naming has an incredibly low bar. And you're saying for you he doesn't even clear that.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 04:11 |
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api call girl posted:Fantasy naming has an incredibly low bar. And you're saying for you he doesn't even clear that. No I'm saying he himself has said he doesn't clear that. e: And I know anyone can call bullshit, which is fair, it's in http://www.theoryland.com/wheel-of-time-interview-search.php somewhere. e2: Oh poo poo I didn't realize this quote site had more than one page. quote:“How . . .” Dalinar said. “You fell into a chasm!” quote:“You have quite the clever tongue on you!” quote:“We actually killed the thing.” http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/16482835-words-of-radiance Okay sorry I'm done, tl;dr like his stories hate his dialogue/humor. Honestly can't wait for more short stories cause I think those are his strengths. Fair to Midland fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Apr 13, 2014 |
# ? Apr 13, 2014 04:13 |
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api call girl posted:Like, have you considered maybe that's a personal problem of yours rather than some failure of his? Like, really? Really??
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 04:50 |
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Fair to Midland posted:Warbreaker spoilers
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 04:53 |
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Fair to Midland posted:No I'm saying he himself has said he doesn't clear that. Aw, come on! Gaz's line at the end is one of the few genuinely good jokes. I thought it was perfectly understated, the terrible lead-up notwithstanding.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 05:42 |
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What's wrong with the names now? Maybe I'm just jaded to fantasy lit having terrible names (quite likely, I read a shitton of bad fantasy), but his names seem fine to me.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 08:56 |
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I just finished Warbreaker, and wow that was pretty good. I kept thinking I had things figured out, and then I would either read it spelled out like it was perfectly obvious all along or discover that I was terribly, gloriously wrong. And this was even after accidentally reading some spoilers from this thread.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 13:57 |
thespaceinvader posted:What's wrong with the names now? Maybe I'm just jaded to fantasy lit having terrible names (quite likely, I read a shitton of bad fantasy), but his names seem fine to me. Have to agree. Whole lot of humorless monsters in this thread, and people have dumb as hell names in real life, I don't really expect fantasy to be any better. I'm pretty happy if there are visible themes in related names and they're not just random strings of syllables.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 14:09 |
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The only names in Sanderson's books that have made me roll my eyes are Wax and Wayne in Alloy of Law. Maybe Newcago in Steelheart too? Other than that he seems mostly fine for naming, far better than many other fantasy authors I have read.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 14:37 |
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Xachariah posted:The only names in Sanderson's books that have made me roll my eyes are Wax and Wayne in Alloy of Law. Maybe Newcago in Steelheart too? Other than that he seems mostly fine for naming, far better than many other fantasy authors I have read. Sanderson talks a bit about names in WoK here: http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/06/10/writing-excuses-7-24-project-in-depth-way-of-kings/ And I'm pretty forgiving of names as well. Fantasy names are a tough thing though, since you want them to be a little alien but still "feel right". He's doing better than most D&D players at least.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 14:57 |
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thespaceinvader posted:What's wrong with the names now? Maybe I'm just jaded to fantasy lit having terrible names (quite likely, I read a shitton of bad fantasy), but his names seem fine to me. Eh, he has a lot of problems with making them meaningful. When you look at Dalinar, Kaladin or Shallan nothing really comes out and says which ones are noble or where they're from. If you're doing real names then it's easy to infer something about Pierre, Rachel and Jim Bob.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 15:42 |
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NovemberMike posted:Eh, he has a lot of problems with making them meaningful. When you look at Dalinar, Kaladin or Shallan nothing really comes out and says which ones are noble or where they're from. If you're doing real names then it's easy to infer something about Pierre, Rachel and Jim Bob. Well the problem with those specific names is they ARE all noble vorin names.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 15:47 |
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If he'd made the lower class names more obviously asymmetric it may have helped, but the palindrome thing is pretty useful for judging names by.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 16:14 |
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Keep in mind people are now naming their children khaliseei
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 16:24 |
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Rumda posted:Well the problem with those specific names is they ARE all noble vorin names. It's even mentioned several times that Kaladin has a name that more closely matches the names that lighteyes have.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 17:06 |
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Fezz posted:It's even mentioned several times that Kaladin has a name that more closely matches the names that lighteyes have. And as bipolar as he is it shreds him up in his low moments.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 17:08 |
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Brandon Sanderson: Unfunny Dialogue and Horrible Names
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 17:20 |
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Xachariah posted:The only names in Sanderson's books that have made me roll my eyes are Wax and Wayne in Alloy of Law. Maybe Newcago in Steelheart too? Other than that he seems mostly fine for naming, far better than many other fantasy authors I have read. I thought Wax and Wayne was kind of clever, I didn't even notice the joke until I was talking to one of my friends about it and we both realized at the same time. Also, was anyone surprised that Sanderson had Adolin mention that he's "shat in his shardplate" in WoR? Yeah, I mean, he didn't say "poo poo" per se, but it's the first really profane thing I've seen in his books.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 22:14 |
Ugly In The Morning posted:Also, was anyone surprised that Sanderson had Adolin mention that he's "shat in his shardplate" in WoR? Yeah, I mean, he didn't say "poo poo" per se, but it's the first really profane thing I've seen in his books. Very, but not for the reason you think. It's a simple reality that even happens in sports, especially things like marathons, but it's usually completely ignored in real life, let alone in fantasy novels, so it was interesting to see it become visible for a bit.
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# ? Apr 13, 2014 22:28 |
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I'm just happy this thread finally shut up about anime.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 02:10 |
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adebisi lives posted:I'm just happy this thread finally shut up about anime. Szeth is the Vegeta of Stormlight
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 09:57 |
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Rumda posted:Well the problem with those specific names is they ARE all noble vorin names. Right, and all the names I chose are pretty traditional Christian names. I didn't go into Li or Abdul or Mtembe or Miyamoto territory. One of the problems is that he tends to give people one word names and a last name if they're related to other people. Think about Taravingian, is that a first name or a last name? Is it supposed to be Vorin? Or the Kholin family, how is it that a large and powerful noble family like that has two branches (Dalinar and Gavilar->Elhokar)? What was Kaladain's last name? Even if he was a commoner he'd likely have something about his parent's profession unless every single person has a different first name (as it appears they do, Sanderson doesn't seem to repeat names often).
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 14:00 |
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NovemberMike posted:Or the Kholin family, how is it that a large and powerful noble family like that has two branches (Dalinar and Gavilar->Elhokar)? Dalinar and Gavilar are brothers. Does that help?
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 14:07 |
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NovemberMike posted:Right, and all the names I chose are pretty traditional Christian names. I didn't go into Li or Abdul or Mtembe or Miyamoto territory. Lots of cultures didn't do the last name thing though. Kaladin might have been just "Kaladin son of Lirin" officially, while not having a last name. The only last names we see are house names and that might be intentional. Hell, Kaladin has a proper last name now too, it's Stormblessed. Edit:vvvv that's not even szeth's last name! He takes it to avoid shaming his father, traditionally it would be Szeth Son <DAD'S NAME> egg tats fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Apr 14, 2014 |
# ? Apr 14, 2014 14:50 |
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NovemberMike posted:Right, and all the names I chose are pretty traditional Christian names. I didn't go into Li or Abdul or Mtembe or Miyamoto territory. Taravangian is the king of a Vorin city-state so it's probably a Vorin name. Gavilar was the Alethi king, Elhokar was his son, Jasnah was Gavilar's daughter and Dalinar was his younger brother. Kaladin's last name hasn't been mentioned, and as a "darkeyes" he probably doesn't have a real one for all we know. As far as I can tell last names are only for certain lighteyes and sorta the Shin. Szeth being Szeth-son-son-Vallano. By the way does anyone else tend to see Szeth as Jet Li? Started WoK again since it's been a while and can't shake the image.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 14:56 |
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Xachariah posted:By the way does anyone else tend to see Szeth as Jet Li? Started WoK again since it's been a while and can't shake the image. It's funny because Szeth is the one character who doesn't look Asian. His people have big, round Caucasian eyes.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 14:58 |
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NovemberMike posted:Right, and all the names I chose are pretty traditional Christian names. I didn't go into Li or Abdul or Mtembe or Miyamoto territory. Ehm, you lost me here. Obviously the only people with a family name are people in a renowned family. Kaladin, Lopen, Moash, Gaz and all the other darkeyes don't have a family name. Which is pretty normal, really. Commoners only got lastnames in real life in the 19th century (code Napoleon)*. Taravingian is also a first name and may or may not have a family name, but since there is no reason for us to know his family name (since he has no family) I can't say I care. *) well, we don't really know, when there were multiple people with the same name people would automatically refer to one or the other using occupation and the name of the father and stuff and you could perhaps consider this their lastname (although this lastname could change multiple times over their lifetime and depend on circumstances/location + you could have multiple and/or nicknames), but that's besides the point. Kaladin, Moash, etc aren't referred by their occupation and/or name of the father because they're the only one with that name around, as would have happened in real life before the 19th century among commoners. If Sanderson had used the same name for 2 people, we (you) would be calling him lazy and stupid for doing so. edit: apparantly how recent family names (for everyone, not just the elite) are varies a lot from country to country, but it was generally only after the 17th century. Walh Hara fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Apr 14, 2014 |
# ? Apr 14, 2014 15:03 |
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Walh Hara posted:Taravingian ...(since he has no family) That at least may not be true (though who can tell with him) in the first part of WoK Jasnah soulcasts a fallen stone which was trapping a granddaughter along with servants.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 15:14 |
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senae posted:Edit:vvvv that's not even szeth's last name! He takes it to avoid shaming his father, traditionally it would be Szeth Son <DAD'S NAME> Yeah Szeth-son-Naruto (okay Neturo but he's anime as gently caress OK).
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 15:19 |
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Walh Hara posted:
Hrm. I was under the impression that the Domesday Book established family names for everyone in England at that time, grabbing whatever descriptor people were using at the time (like "Smith", or "Steven's Son") and locking it in forever. I don't know about the rest of Europe.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 15:42 |
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Iunnrais posted:Hrm. I was under the impression that the Domesday Book established family names for everyone in England at that time, grabbing whatever descriptor people were using at the time (like "Smith", or "Steven's Son") and locking it in forever. I don't know about the rest of Europe. England is a very big exception (edit: if this is true). edit: I don't think that's true. Quotes from wikipedia (horrible source, but too lazy to find primary source): "As Domesday Book normally records only the Christian name of an under-tenant, it is not possible to search for the surnames of families claiming a Norman origin; but much has been done, and is still being done, to identify the under-tenants, the great bulk of whom bear foreign Christian names." Walh Hara fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Apr 14, 2014 |
# ? Apr 14, 2014 16:32 |
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Ithaqua posted:It's funny because Szeth is the one character who doesn't look Asian. His people have big, round Caucasian eyes. Clearly Szeth is Bourne-era Matt Damon.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 18:00 |
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Ithaqua posted:It's funny because Szeth is the one character who doesn't look Asian. His people have big, round Caucasian eyes. Pretty sure this is Szeth
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 19:00 |
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Infinite Karma posted:Pretty sure this is Szeth Get M. Night to direct the Stormlight movie I'm rereading the Mistborn books, and got to the part in Final Empire where Demoux appears, and apparently he's one of the three dudes who show up looking for Hoid in Way of Kings. However I'm pretty sure someone said Stormlight Archives start off either just after or just before Alloy of Law, which is several centuries after the trilogy, so either worldhopping ignores time and space or that info was incorrect.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 22:23 |
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Finally got Words of Radiance on Friday Finished it this morning. gently caress. I should have paced myself. I feel so empty now.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 22:26 |
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Illuyankas posted:I'm rereading the Mistborn books, and got to the part in Final Empire where Demoux appears, and apparently he's one of the three dudes who show up looking for Hoid in Way of Kings. However I'm pretty sure someone said Stormlight Archives start off either just after or just before Alloy of Law, which is several centuries after the trilogy, so either worldhopping ignores time and space or that info was incorrect. Pay attention to a story Rock tells in a bar in Words of Radiance.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 22:50 |
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Tunicate posted:Pay attention to a story Rock tells in a bar in Words of Radiance. I assumed that was Hoid that he tells the story about. Time dilation, maybe? Demoux is an Atium burner, so maybe he got chummy with Harmony and got atium feruchemy, so can do what the lord ruler does.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 23:01 |
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Lobsterpillar posted:I assumed that was Hoid that he tells the story about. Time dilation, maybe? I thought he was a full Mistborn, since he was sick for 16 days instead of one.
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# ? Apr 14, 2014 23:10 |
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# ? Apr 27, 2024 17:44 |
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Lobsterpillar posted:I assumed that was Hoid that he tells the story about. Time dilation, maybe? Tunicate fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Apr 14, 2014 |
# ? Apr 14, 2014 23:36 |