Games and Gastar

"Game of Thrones"

This blog post is having a bit of fun with the two lead characters of the Gastar novellas, the assassin Shevata and her “it’s complicated” antagonist Zermon, Demon Lord of Hell.  Together they take a tour of Westeros and quick trip to Essos, with Shevata showing Zermon GRRM’s fascinating, terrific world and main characters.

Zermon walked aside Shevata looking around with curiosity.  “Are you sure nobody can see us?”

“Nobody can.  The vampire whom I stole the scroll from says it will last long enough for the tour.”

They entered the gates of King’s Landing.  Zermon sniffed, rearing back his huge demonic horned head.  “It stinks in here.”  Shevata ignored him.  They made their way toward the Red Keep.  A very short man tripped on Zermon’s hoof, apologized, and kept moving.  “What was that?” 

“Shh!  He’s a dwarf, don’t bother him.”  The King was outside the Sept with his young betrothed.  Shevata pointed.  “That’s King Joffrey and Margarey.  They will get married soon.” 

Zermon frowned.  “That kid, who I’ve been hearing about is KING?” (Laughs) “What a stupid world!  Ever heard of revolution, murder, mutiny, the basics of ridding a country of bad Kings?”

Shevata gestured to quiet him.  “That was done with the Mad King, who was worse than Joffrey.  I think.”  She pointed.  “There’s his mother, Queen Cersei.” 

Zermon looked at her.  “She reminds me of my first wife.  I spent some time getting rid of her.  I…”

“Enough, let’s go.”  Shevata turned to leave the city.  “Let’s cross the narrow sea.”  They soon arrived at Yunkai. 

“More weird smells and who are these people? Does anyone wear CLOTHES in this world?”  Zermon grimaced.

“We’re not here to see the people.”  She pointed at a beautiful silver-haired woman in the distance surrounded by three dragons.  “Those dragons are her children.”

“Hmm..I despise dragons and these look like the dumb type.  It will be funny when they eat her.”

“Zermon, they won’t eat their mother and she’s immune to fire.”  Zermon’s eyes glowed.  “I like her.”

“Let’s get out of here before you get more stupid.”  They crossed back to Westeros to the Ice Wall.  Shevata looked up at the massive structure.  “Men are sentenced here for life to guard here.”

Zermon sniffed.  “Bull.  This is where they dispose of the disposable.”  Shevata shrugged, since he had a point.  They went south to Winterfell.  “It was taken by a trusted friend, then taken again by a murdering torturing bastard.  I’m suggesting that he go to your special services at the right time.”

Zermon smiled.  “I’m up for resurrections and burnings anytime.”

They went further south to Dragonstone.  “Weird place.” Zermon tapped a hoof on the ground.  “Volcanic.”

“It’s said dragons were raised here.  The rightful King by law is Stannis, who lives here.  He lost a war to Joffrey.”  Shevata looked at the dragon carvings.

“So this world is about getting that weird looking chair?”  Shevata nodded.

“There’s one more person I want you to see.  A red haired woman walked by.  “She’s a priestess, worshipping a God of Light.  What she really does is burn people alive for her…religion.”  Shevata made a sour face.

Zermon’s eyes narrowed.  “But..is..she immune to fire like the dragon girl?”

Shevata raised her bow.  “Let’s find out.”

On Saving Sansa

Sansa Stark "Game of Thrones"

As the first season of “Game of Thrones” reeled me in and the series “A Song of Ice and Fire” committed me to the GRRM asylum of permanent unapologetic Thronealholics, as I’ve blogged in the past:  What gives strength to stories?  Answer:  The characters.  Strong characterization will be a winner in my mind.  Side tales, beautifully written backdrops, dynamite film effects lay empty without compelling characters the reader/viewer can relate to in some way, by a protagonist, a lovable drunk, a scary bad dude, and well, yes, there’s always the damsel in distress. 

I’ll be brutally honest:  The only character I disliked almost a much, as Joffrey in Season One “Game of Thrones” was the idiot Sansa Stark.  OK, I’m dodging tomatoes, (or worse) but let me explain.  As a star-struck dumb teenager, she couldn’t see evil when it stood before her, I get that.  When she got her wolf killed because she had no backbone, she was outwitted by a woman miles out of her league in Queen Cersei.  I have a huge problem with dog death, but not Sansa.  At King’s Landing, she goes back to Joffrey, the stupid girl he calls her because she earned it.  I get it that teenagers make mistakes.  But at age thirteen or eighty, I’m not going to love someone that killed my dog!  Then she runs her big mouth and outs Ned to Cersei, but he did it also, so Sansa isn’t directly responsible for her father’s death.  She just made it easier.

As the series continues, we see Sansa get rescued by the Hound, protected by Shae, then marries Tyrion, the smartest and wealthiest guy in Westeros, save his fascist father.  By watching the series move along, I don’t bond with Sansa much at all.  Like Lady Oleanna said, “No, she isn’t very interesting.”

Alas, Sansa is a little more interesting.   In ASOIAF, she is the witness of the goings-on in King’s Landing, so she’s an important POV character.  I won’t spoil, but her situation changes and slowly, as much as she resists, she becomes smarter and realizes someone may not always be around to save her.  It only took five books for her to learn that after her family was wiped out…twice. 

Why am I beating on poor Sansa, hasn’t Joffrey done enough?  Answer: Yes.  GRRM put a naïve damsel in distress in his epic, which is a relevant character that I think will grow and turn the plot at an important time.  Already, she’s changed the politics of Westeros by becoming a Lannister.  As a writer of a strong female heroine, weak females grate on me, but that’s OK.  Sansa’s OK.  Teenagers do make mistakes when they are young.  When I think of Sansa, I think of Daenerys eating the horse heart at her age.  Could she have done that?  To quote Oleanna “Question for the philosophers.”

On Driving Blog Traffic

Wiki image

As my writer journey continues, sometimes I find myself on the other side of the coin.  Instead of thrashing about in the blogosphere grabbing any life preservers I can to stay afloat, sometimes new bloggers ask me how to get started in blogging. 

To do a quick re-hash of some past articles, I had good advice from The Blog Farm early on about blogging.  The basic rule is posting something for viewers to see (as in a photograph) or read (as in an article).  Anyone is welcome to visit my early posts of this blog, where you’ll see links, videos, and not much of anything. 

Like any stubborn person, of course I had to argue with the expert, like I knew something about blogging?  What am I to post?  Answer:  You’re a writer Stupid, so write something!  So I did. My “New Author” series of articles started my journey as a blogger for reading, writing, and creativity, and I haven’t looked back since.

So for some analysis based on my experience alone, and I’ll make a note many more sophisticated and widely read bloggers are out there.  I’m not small potatoes; sunflower seeds may be a better representation for vegetable comparisons.   What I’ve found that drives blog traffic is original work.  Links might as well come directly from Twitter; you offer a viewer nothing by a link only as a blog post.  The experts say to create a “brand” so readers will know what you are about, be it reading, cooking, book reviewing, or artistic design.   Therefore, the way to do that is to post, yes, I’m writing it again, original work, or a guest post, keeping in the “brand” of the blog.

What doesn’t drive blog traffic?   I’ve learned a bit from doing.  As sad it is to say, and I won’t stop doing it, but book reviews of new authors do not drive traffic.  Why?  Simple:  Nobody knows the writers.  It doesn’t mean I’ll stop reviewing, as I like doing it , though I’m taking a break to finish my third book.  Also, articles hit and miss, which is expected from any writer.  I can spend hours on one article and get “meh” from readers going by traffic, and crank out an article about a bestselling novel and see the traffic peak.  Famous books and stories help blog traffic.  Reason:  Because they are famous, to state the obvious.

A better question:  Does retweeting lead to more blog traffic?  Answer:  Yes and no.  Before clicking off, let me explain.  Most of the time, blogs have a “core” of readers.  Retweets are great to increase the exposure, but the exposure may not be your audience.  Going back to “branding” your tweeps may have different interests than anothers tweeps.  So the exposure is great, and potentially can drive traffic, but when it comes down to just numbers, it’s not a direct correspondence between the number of tweeps seeing your tweet and the number that actually read your article.  It’s doesn’t mean retweeting doesn’t help; of course we all want retweeting!  But I’ve learned to distance myself from the expectation that 20K tweets will add 1000 hits to my blog, which is not always the case.

So writers again go forth and write awesome blog articles.  I love blogging and am a late discoverer to the awesome recipe blogs.  Though the articles compared to novels have a shorter half-life, we live in a “now” culture, so think it, write it, post it, and we’ll read it. 

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On Those Tolkien Prototypes

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

I remember as a kid reading “Mother Goose” and fantasizing about weird critters and why that woman had so many kids that lived in a shoe.  My Mom gave me art books for entertainment in the gravel road isolation of rural Mississippi, where AM radio was unreliable. I didn’t realize my favorite painting “Starry Night” was by one of the greatest painters of all time, Vincent Van Gogh. 

Therefore, I had an idea of “elf,” “dragon,” and “magic” before I ever read the Tolkien classic “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings,” which I didn’t get around to until college.  Like other Dark Fantasy fans, I love the story and consider it a must for fiction readers.  The main message of this masterpiece screams loud to even the casual reader:  The smallest can be brave and make the biggest impact in good vs. evil.  In other words, it’s a wonderful “underdog” story, where little Hobbits save Middle Earth from the horrors of Sauron.  (But the hairy feet, with all due respect, Mr. Tolkien?).  Never mind.

So there’s the “before” and “after” LOTR for fantasy:  Once one has crossed the LOTR, there’s no going back.  The education is now a solid bachelor’s degree in Elves, Dwarves, Half-Elves, Dragons, Orcs, Wizards, Hobbits, Wraiths (Nazgul), Ents, Upper Demons (Balrog), and special humans (Aragorn).   After the experience of this epic, we not only know the story, we know the characters, and know the creatures, and have re-learned whatever we thought they might have been before.

So is this a bad thing? Answer:  No.  Tokien gave us more than just a great read with LOTR; it’s legacy rings loud today as it is still widely read, made very popular in films, role playing games, and inspires we writers to use such characters in a variety of ways as we weave our own fantasy in our stories.  So when I tweet “Orc” most know what I’m talking about.  “Elf” most writers think of Tolkien’s elves (may be exceptions), and probably the most controversial is “Dragon,” since these fascinating mythical creatures are in so many world cultures.  Meaning, Eastern dragons are not necessarily talking dragons, and are not necessarily dragons that carry riders.  Even with the dragon variables, Tokien still gave us an unforgettable dragon in Smaug.

I haven’t come so far in my writing journey that I have forgotten or put aside the work of Tolkien.  I have my gripes, like the lack of female characters and the poorly understood goal of Sauron.  These days, as a GRRM reader, I don’t consider “A Song of Ice and Fire” a new LOTR.  Why would one epic stand against another?  No, epics stand out on their own as detailed fantastic stories with well-developed characters, complex plots and sophisticated backgrounds.  Regardless of the next big popular series, the Tolkien prototype will always be with us.

On Losing the Good Guys

"Game of Thrones" Red Wedding

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As a follow up to my article “On Why Ned Stark’s Die” GRRM continued to remind us in the HBO series “Game of Thrones” and the books “A Song of Ice and Fire” that losing Ned was only the beginning of an avalanche of tragedy for House Stark.  Against the powerful Lannisters, the corrupt Baratheons, the absentee Targaryen, who finds them all as her enemy, there’s not much left after the infamous “Red Wedding.”

Instead of going back and use the second major Stark wipe out to be a “lever” for the story, this time I think Martin is reeling in the results of bad decisions of youth coupled with competent adversaries.  Robb Stark, only sixteen in “A Song of Ice and Fire” married the wrong girl because he had a sexual encounter/fell in love with her and did the honorable thing, a similar line of thinking of his father Ned.  Afterwards he had the gall to ask Lord Frey for his men to assist in his war.  As we feel sympathy for Robb, he found out the hard way battles alone cannot win wars.  Politics do matter, and he didn’t speculate the actions of the Freys or the formidable Lannisters. (In ASOIAF, Robb’s wife wasn’t from Volantis, her family was Tywin Lannister’s bannermen, so  imagine the situation these lovebirds put their families in).

My brother argues with me constantly about ASOIAF, saying the good guys lose too often.  But do they?  I say no, they lose, but more Starks are surviving than Targaryens (not exactly the same). Also, if you believe the direwolves and the Stark kids are connected, look what happened to them.  The young Stark boys and Jon Snow have their direwolves with them and are doing better (won’t spoil here) than Robb, who distanced himself from Greywind, Sansa got Lady killed, and Arya is on hard times after having to give up Nymeria.  More factors than the direwolves involve the fate of the Starks, but as a fiction reader, I think they play a role.

What about the bad guys?  Do they ever lose?  I won’t spoil with information in the books, but if I did, it wouldn’t add much.  Winter IS coming.  The Stark enemies know it, but they don’t really believe it.  Even Tyrion “The Inp” knows about Daenerys and her dragons but he cares as little about three dragons as his selfish sister does.  Though Martin will make we readers work for every inch of this story, Winter WILL come and the bad guys will experience it while the Stark spirits will not have to, and the young Starks will grow up and remember what happened to their family.

On Understanding BadAsses

"Dirty Harry"

I’ll go ahead and ask forgiveness for my first profane word in a blog article, and I’ll respectfully invite any reader that can provide a synonym for “Badass.”  Meaning, another word for a character that will mow down other characters without letting little details like honor and justice getting in the way; vigilante is a close description, but placing the law into one’s on hands is vigilance; doing it well is badass.  For this article, I'm keeping "Badass" for protagonist characters.

Once a fan mentions “Badass” the interpretation is almost instantaneous in fiction:  Martial arts, big guns (BFG 9000 in the game “Doom” anyone?), or other “wicked skilz” as a fan of my books mentioned in a review.  Badasses defeat the bad guys and make no apologies as they make our dreams come true as we read fiction; we want the A-hole bad guys to pay and pay BIG.  So let’s “kick-butt” and rub them out.

So for some analysis on these popular characters:  One “Badass” is not equal.  Meaning, these characters often have more depth than a zest for being a killing machine.  Some have lost friends/family important to him/her to the antagonist; so revenge is an important and popular motivator for the Badass.  What else can create a Badass?  What’s so terrible about a character that finds murderers a bit more distasteful than the justice system and jailing isn’t enough?  How about child soldiers, as in my Badass character Shevata’s case?  She was raised to kill lawbreakers by death orders; so rubbing out killers is business as usual for her. How about a Badass that’s just so tough there’s not alternative?  My example would be the cartoon “The Tick” hilarious when he found the ocean not so bad, just a bit “sharky.”

I see criticisms of Badasses.  Some say they’re cliché, over-used, chick girls kick butt need depth, but really?  OK, maybe cliché sometimes, I’ll give the critics that.  But even Badasses can have weak spots, which can be compelling drivers of a story’s plot.  Somewhere along the way, most Badasses I’ve seen or read about get kicked down by the antagonist usually, and find their way back to smear the bad guy into the ground.

Writers, if you have Badasses in your story, I think for the most part readers want is to make them feel.  Give them a human element, or make them grow into it.  If you give them a bit of substance, the action will go a long way.  Action and/or strong plot turning is what every reader expects of a Badass.