ASOIAF ruined other fiction books for me.

[Talleyrand]

Speaking of bad historical fiction I've been catching up on Vikings and while it's fun Athelstan's plot wouldn't be out of place in a crappy novel

Spoiler

He's an English monk who becomes a badass viking warrior and best friends with a legendary viking King then becomes friends with and has loads of chats with the King of Wessex and then bangs said King's daughter in law and is secretly Alfred the Great's dad.

 

[Ser Ronan Storm]

Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle is probably the best character-driven series I've ever read. It's YA, and I know YA gets a deserved wrap for being a realm of cheap vampire fiction and silly love triangles, but this series contains none of that shite. Just brutally honest and deep characterization.

As for GRRM, A Song of Ice and Fire ruined my own fiction writing, not just other fiction stories I tried to read. Hear me out, because this is kinda bizarre. My first exposure to GRRM was reading the synopsis on the back of the paperback of A Feast For Crows shortly after it was released. I remember the description of a war between rival houses standing out, and maybe it influenced me, but I passed on the book for something else and life went on. In the following years, I completed a very terrible first draft of The Autumn King, the first volume in a fantasy series I arrogantly thought I could write. My fantasy world was a medieval European setting featuring warring kingdoms made up of many powerful families. The plot focused more on the political intrigue and strife than on the schemes of the world-ending cabal of religious sorcerers. One plot point even featured the mother and eldest son of the "good" family being murdered at a wedding as a rival of the wedding's host initiates a bloody coupe.

Enter 2012. My roommate forces me to watch Season 1 of Game Of Thrones. I'm hooked. There were only slight similarities to my work. I too had a Littlefinger-esque character, but I had no moments like Bran flying from a tower or Ned's beheading. My dragons were gods sleeping beneath the earth, waiting to be awoken, but I did have a Dany, forced to travel to through the frozen wastes of the edge of the world to marry a man she has never met, for the promise of an army for her father.

Upon finishing Season 1, I had a few months before Season 2 premiered and I was addicted, so I devoured the book series. And the more I read, the more depressed I became, because my story was too similar to GRRM's, and his was infinitely better than mine. So I burned the physical copy of my rough draft, and the notes and manuscript and maps are still on my computer, but I haven't looked at them in 4 years. Just can't bring myself to do it.

[The Marquis de Leech]

2 hours ago, Ser Ronan Storm said:

Upon finishing Season 1, I had a few months before Season 2 premiered and I was addicted, so I devoured the book series. And the more I read, the more depressed I became, because my story was too similar to GRRM's, and his was infinitely better than mine. So I burned the physical copy of my rough draft, and the notes and manuscript and maps are still on my computer, but I haven't looked at them in 4 years. Just can't bring myself to do it.

You should come back and see what can be salvaged. I mean, it's not as if you have multi-year seasons too.

[Ser Ronan Storm]

29 minutes ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

You should come back and see what can be salvaged. I mean, it's not as if you have multi-year seasons too.

Haha, that I did not, but I had a Melisandre and a Tywin. Damn, that manuscript would need a lot of reworking. It would probably be better and less rip-offish to narrow the scope, but I love how large the scope in ASOIAF is. Martin created an entire 2.5 continents worth of history. It's hard to resist the urge to do the same, and harder still to make it original or at least different from what he's made.

[SeanF]

15 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

 I really do feel I have to read this book now purely for the humour

It's a bit like Terry Goodkind.  The "good bits" are unintentionally hilarious, but there's a lot of stuff that is just rubbish.

But, she has the advantage over Goodkind that her books are much shorter and she doesn't preach at the reader.

[Gabriele]

On 7/19/2016 at 11:26 AM, SeanF said:

As you might imagine, Piers Gaveston and Prince Edward conform to every gay stereotype imaginable.  They pout, they flounce, they burst into tears, they're obsessed with clothes and jewels, and they're wildly promiscuous.  For good measure, Piers is depicted as a pagan, whose mother was burned as a witch.

There's no sign of Edward, the warrior who fought at Bannockburn "like a lioness deprived of her cubs" or who rushed into a burning pavilion to rescue his wife and servants, or Piers, the champion tournament fighter and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

One approving review on Amazon sums it up.  "I love to get away from dreary historical "facts" when I'm reading a novel."

Dear me, I better don't tell Kathryn Warner who recently published a biography about Edward II about that.

[Gabriele]

10 hours ago, Ser Ronan Storm said:

As for GRRM, A Song of Ice and Fire ruined my own fiction writing, not just other fiction stories I tried to read. Hear me out, because this is kinda bizarre. My first exposure to GRRM was reading the synopsis on the back of the paperback of A Feast For Crows shortly after it was released. I remember the description of a war between rival houses standing out, and maybe it influenced me, but I passed on the book for something else and life went on. In the following years, I completed a very terrible first draft of The Autumn King, the first volume in a fantasy series I arrogantly thought I could write. My fantasy world was a medieval European setting featuring warring kingdoms made up of many powerful families. The plot focused more on the political intrigue and strife than on the schemes of the world-ending cabal of religious sorcerers. One plot point even featured the mother and eldest son of the "good" family being murdered at a wedding as a rival of the wedding's host initiates a bloody coupe.

Well, mediaeval Europe was like that, so any Fantasy that filches from history should have those elements. Marriages were made for gain, and that could well be some sort of military pact/assisstance; and the girl was often brought up in the family of the future husband. There are several examples of bloody weddings, too. I wouldn't worry about similar events, as long as the characters are different. 

[SeanF]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 5:01 PM, Gabriele said:

Dear me, I better don't tell Kathryn Warner who recently published a biography about Edward II about that.

Actually, it was Kathryn Warner who flagged up Emily Purdy's works of literature on her website (not approvingly, I might add).

[Suzanna Stormborn]

I agree with the OP.

Other authors are wonderful IMO, Cornwell, Tolkien, Marion Zimmer-Bradley, Douglas Adams, T.H White........ But I do believe Martin to be the one I have the strongest feelings for....Lol I dont think I have ever wanted something more than I want Winds of Winter to come out.

[peterbound]

I think the natural 'post george' path looks like this: 

Morgan, Abercrombie, Hobb, Abraham, Corey.  The paths diverge after that one, you can either start the Ericsson or Bakker roads.  Be careful though, either way lies madness.   

[Darth Richard II]

I feel like there's something missing there but as I'm tired as fuck I can't think of what.

[williamjm]

16 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

I feel like there's something missing there but as I'm tired as fuck I can't think of what.

I'd think The Lies of Locke Lamora would have to figure highly on the traditional post-GRRM path.

[HexMachina]

17 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

I feel like there's something missing there but as I'm tired as fuck I can't think of what.

Lawrence. Pratchett (possibly). Cornwell.

[Darth Richard II]

Lawrence was the big one. How COULD you pete?

[Darth Richard II]

4 hours ago, Triskan said:

Pardon my ignorance, but who is Lawrence?

 

ETA:  Oh, Mark Lawrence, duh.  I've even read one of his.

He's he main human protagonist of the Temeraire novels!

[Gasp of Many Reeds]

On 8/4/2016 at 10:18 PM, williamjm said:

I'd think The Lies of Locke Lamora would have to figure highly on the traditional post-GRRM path.

Currently reading coincidentally. Good stuff.

[polishgenius]

On 04/08/2016 at 11:54 PM, Darth Richard II said:

Lawrence was the big one. How COULD you pete?

No, Stover is the big one.

[Darth Richard II]

Alas, no one outside these forums knows who Stover is, and if they do, its because of Star Wars. Doesn't help that the books are impossible to find in any print format.

[The Arthur Smith]

Sorry that i'm very late to the party and seeing that we talked some of historical literature fictions, the only thing i can say is do not touch Phillip Gregory's books. You guys may be familiar with The White Queen tv show that is based on Gregory's Cousin Wars series. If you are expecting some historical accuracy within her novels, you will be highly disappointed, but still will be due to the poor writing and characters. I can read other historical fictions like Gortner's books and The Accursed Kings (which Asoiaf is loosly based on which intrigued me to read it) despite the lack of historical accuracy, but i couldn't handle Gregory's due to how ridiculous she made her characters and how she handle the plot.

On 7/19/2016 at 8:55 AM, SeanF said:

I loved one reviewer on Goodreads who commented on this passage "it hurts us, it hurts us."

The book also contains the immortal line from Henry VIII to Katherine Howard "Honey, go fix me some toast", alongside people saying things like "Hey nonny nonny" "gadzooks" and "marry and anon."

Bwahaha! Thanks for the entertainment! Really need to read that book. Not even The Tudors could get on that level of narm!

[Darth Richard II]

Phillip Gregor is terrible, I agree. What's worse is when she gets all bitchy and tries to defend her shit as historically accurate, its...mind boggling.