Anne Rice and Westeros

My fave author, Anne Rice, referenced Game of Thrones in the recent LA talks with her son Christopher, during the promotion of her latest book in the Vampire Chronicles, Prince Lestat. In the talk, she replied to Christopher's question that generally books like Harry Potter, Vampire Chronicles, the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larssen, tap into some general struggle or journey and that without it, there is not much "meat" for the story to latch on to and thus not make it engaging for readers. Anne said that generally that is true but Game of Thrones broke the mold for having a singular hero undergoing a journey. She said that because the hero whom we thought to be in Book 1/Season 1 was apparently not. I wonder though, if Ned Stark, is George RR Martin's statement on idealism? That it's risky to be seeing life through rose colored glasses in this cynical and practical and at times, user-friendly world that we live in.

Truly Ned for all his faults as a king, was honorable and perhaps even faultless in the eyes of his supporters. And that whatever information he withheld or altered to suit the need for secrecy concerning Jon Snow's true lineage is definitely something he needed to do. I wonder too if in this day and age, Idealism is dead. Has everyone started to become jaded about everything and everyone else. And anyone who holds that kind of thinking or viewpoint will ultimately be sacrificed and thrown into the fire, because for the sole reason that what the majority wants and deems right and proper, matter. That the majority always would rule. And anyone who is not conforming to that should be silenced or learn to keep their views to themselves. Anything else is fodder.

What do you think? 

Sharing the video clip of that talk too here. Enjoy and keep writing.

Writing Streak 2014

As you can see in my past posts, its certainly been a long time since I had one here. Not to make any excuses but life certainly got in the way of writing and the influx of ideas. And even if there were ideas coming in, it was most certainly easier to talk about it and make an outline from it rather than incorporating those ideas in full on paper, as part of a working novel. But luckily for me this August, I somehow allowed myself to be opened once more and inspired and just be all sponge-like and take in in inspiration from wherever and whenever I can. I always reference people to my earlier Prologue post whenever I talk about the current writing endeavor that is currently taking my time and focus. But a prologue as it is, is just that. Nothing beats the full finished work and sent off to an agent in the hopes that it be published. And in order to do that, I must write and carry out the task into full completion. Recently I've added to my current writing task, a side-story that is most certainly more adult and not the regular YA fare that I initially set out to do.

Currently I am on the 15k word mark and if I keep at it, it would most certainly be classified as a Short story and one that I envision to be made available as an e-book. For those who know me, the world of Estelle and the Sentinels have gripped me for quite some time, but I have only recently entertained the possibility of side stories within that world and it is these side stories that have caught my attention and imagination and hence the productivity to show for. The side stories take place in my fictitious magical place called the "Dark District" and it is the stories of the people who live there, been there or continue to come back that have haunted me and propelled me to write once more and connect them to the main story. That is all I have to say for now about it and I do want to be brief about it as well. But to give you an idea what it is, here's a snapshot of my laptop screen. Enjoy and will write again soon.