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Haha! The good old Jordan debate... The things one misses when they are away from the internet message boards for a while.

I think you're confusing something that has been done before with something that is now cliche. Cliche: 1. a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse. 2. a trite...

Well, how about, character no-no's? 1) Characters that don't share information that would be useful for no reason. 2) Characters that act illogically or against their established character for the purpose of progressing a plot line. 3) Characters that get lucky: - Character rescued at the last...

I've never been able to understand not having time to read. I took two years off after high school to save up money for school (working no less than 60 hours a week) and I had plenty of time to read then. When school started, I still worked 40 hours and carried a full load. Still I had time to...

I probably write anywhere between 200k and 500k a year. Only about 50k - 100k of that being in "final draft" form.

A lot of people suggest reading On Writing by Stephen King. I personally didn't find this book all that helpful--that isn't exactly right. There were helpful tidbits scattered throughout, but overall I think you could save yourself some time (listening to King toot his own horn). The two things...

I'm not quite sure what you mean by alien book, but how about C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy? Or something by Vonnegut? Dick is always a great read as well.

The Mysterious Benedict Society Every now and then I like to read some young adult fantasy. As I'm sure everyone here knows that it's a hit and miss sub-genre. But this book, while not overly original, has been good so far.

My title usually comes later. The first thing I usually do as a writer is write the first draft of something. If it's a short story, I write the first draft straight through and then spend hours and hours revising it. Many times I put a title on it at the end when I know more about the story and...

Honestly, I think we’re just arguing different extremes of the same side of the argument. What you say, Mathius, does make sense and I really do understand what you’re saying, but it can only make sense to a more experience, self-aware, good writer. In other words, the people that don’t need a...

This is a completely fair statement and I don't disagree on any particular point except this: The odds of someone writing a story that has been overused in the fantasy genre recently that turns out to not only be good but is better than what came before (it would have to be otherwise nobody...

I love that quote. :)

I agree with you that the person who wrote that list originally was not out to be helpful. But a list LIKE this could be very helpful to new and experienced writers alike. And you are right in that sometimes (very rarely, though) the story just calls for a genre cliche. They should still be...

Well if he's only as or less long winded as Jordan (who is long winded, though not enough so to make me stop liking his books--with the possible exception of Crossroads of Twilight, but he made up for it with Knife of Dreams) then I'm sure I would like him. I've also been wanting to get into a...

This is good to hear. I have almost picked up the Mistborn series more than once but have been skeptical because I heard Sanderson can be a little too long winded. I'll probably pick it up soon since WoT 12A is on its way.

Basically this is a list of fantasy clichés and clichés should not be used in writing. You both have legitimate points, but the point of this thread, it seems to me, is to expand a writer’s creative horizons. Having much experience with fantasy writers, I know that a vast majority of them are...

Is anybody else keeping up with the ongoing Joss Whedon 'verse comic book titles? Buffy Season 8 at Dark Horse and Angel over at IDW? I've stopped buying Season 8, but I still keep up with it. The Angel title is very good (though the last couple issues were a bit slumpy). Anyone? Anyone?

It seems that at times the person who made that list was making it to be snide rather than helpful. The following 60 items are (what I think to be) the parts of the list that you should focus on as a writer. Meaning, if your story has any of these things, I'd seriously consider reworking it...

Funny. The only things about the list I didn't like were a) the Robert Jordan bashing (there was no need for this) and b) the two items about the length of the book and c) if it were part of a series or not. The Robert Jordan thing can be cut but the other two, after reading the reactions...

I used to hate her names, too. In a lot of fantasy it seems like the author is just making up names to make up names without having any reason except that he or she wants them to sound like fantasy names. I've only read the Farseer trilogy (moving on to Live Ship sometime in the recent future)...