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Feb. 24th, 2011 03:30 pmWriting
So, today is the Big Birthday Party (TM) you've all been waiting for: DDO turns 5!!!!! Lots of fun stuff going on in-game, so now would be a perfect time to start playing if you haven't already! And, if you're looking for the perfect gift to celebrate the occasion, might I suggest pre-ordering a copy of the first DDO tie-in novel, The Shard Axe? I hear it's pretty good. Heh.
Also, just a reminder, I'll be at ConDor in San Diego this weekend. My schedule is here, so if you're in the area, stop by and say hi!
Finally, I wanted to elaborate a bit on something I talked about in both of the interviews I did about The Shard Axe (Massively and DDOcast). Since I'm sure you've all already read/heard both interviews (heh), you may recall that I talked about failure, and how we respond to it, being one of the themes I'm trying to explore in the book.
I will no doubt earn instant scorn with the following admission, but I'm a big Gordon Lightfoot fan. There is a verse from his song "If You Could Read My Mind" that has stuck with me since the very first time I heard it (or at least since the first time I heard it after realizing I wanted to become a writer):
"If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
When you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail.
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take."
But heroes often fail.
What makes someone a hero? The fact that they succeeded in some crazy, dangerous, world-saving quest? Or the fact that they attempted it at all? Is the hero the guy who gets the girl at the end of the story? Or is he the one who sacrifices everything to ensure that the girl makes it out alive, even if it's without him?
Frodo is the hero of The Lord of the Rings, right? I mean, he's the one who gets the Ring to Mt. Doom, isn't he? Only, at the end, he decides not to destroy it. He succumbs to the Ring's power. If not for Gollum, the story wouldn't have had a very happy ending (well, unless you're Sauron, heh).
But heroes often fail.
So is Gollum the real hero, then? Maybe it's Semper Fi Sam? Or all those gathered in front of the Black Gate, knowing they are sacrificing themselves just to give Frodo a chance to succeed at his task -- a chance the hobbit, unbeknownst to them, ultimately squanders?
Or is it really Frodo, after all? Because he got the Ring where it needed to be, so that it could be destroyed, by the one who'd held it the longest, and who might have been the only one truly capable of doing so (a fate, it could be argued, that Gandalf, who'd helped set the whole thing in motion, had perhaps foreseen all along).
Frodo failed...or did he? Is he a hero? Does whether or not he's a hero have anything at all to do with whether or not he succeeded in his quest?
The Shard Axe isn't about a quest, or a ring, or a halfling, but it does grapple with some of these same questions. Does it answer any of them? Well, you'll have to pick up a copy when it comes out and find that one out for yourself. Heh.
Everything Else
Bank of America is the Devil's puling mistress. Just in case you were wondering.
So, today is the Big Birthday Party (TM) you've all been waiting for: DDO turns 5!!!!! Lots of fun stuff going on in-game, so now would be a perfect time to start playing if you haven't already! And, if you're looking for the perfect gift to celebrate the occasion, might I suggest pre-ordering a copy of the first DDO tie-in novel, The Shard Axe? I hear it's pretty good. Heh.
Also, just a reminder, I'll be at ConDor in San Diego this weekend. My schedule is here, so if you're in the area, stop by and say hi!
Finally, I wanted to elaborate a bit on something I talked about in both of the interviews I did about The Shard Axe (Massively and DDOcast). Since I'm sure you've all already read/heard both interviews (heh), you may recall that I talked about failure, and how we respond to it, being one of the themes I'm trying to explore in the book.
I will no doubt earn instant scorn with the following admission, but I'm a big Gordon Lightfoot fan. There is a verse from his song "If You Could Read My Mind" that has stuck with me since the very first time I heard it (or at least since the first time I heard it after realizing I wanted to become a writer):
"If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
When you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail.
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take."
But heroes often fail.
What makes someone a hero? The fact that they succeeded in some crazy, dangerous, world-saving quest? Or the fact that they attempted it at all? Is the hero the guy who gets the girl at the end of the story? Or is he the one who sacrifices everything to ensure that the girl makes it out alive, even if it's without him?
Frodo is the hero of The Lord of the Rings, right? I mean, he's the one who gets the Ring to Mt. Doom, isn't he? Only, at the end, he decides not to destroy it. He succumbs to the Ring's power. If not for Gollum, the story wouldn't have had a very happy ending (well, unless you're Sauron, heh).
But heroes often fail.
So is Gollum the real hero, then? Maybe it's Semper Fi Sam? Or all those gathered in front of the Black Gate, knowing they are sacrificing themselves just to give Frodo a chance to succeed at his task -- a chance the hobbit, unbeknownst to them, ultimately squanders?
Or is it really Frodo, after all? Because he got the Ring where it needed to be, so that it could be destroyed, by the one who'd held it the longest, and who might have been the only one truly capable of doing so (a fate, it could be argued, that Gandalf, who'd helped set the whole thing in motion, had perhaps foreseen all along).
Frodo failed...or did he? Is he a hero? Does whether or not he's a hero have anything at all to do with whether or not he succeeded in his quest?
The Shard Axe isn't about a quest, or a ring, or a halfling, but it does grapple with some of these same questions. Does it answer any of them? Well, you'll have to pick up a copy when it comes out and find that one out for yourself. Heh.
Everything Else
Bank of America is the Devil's puling mistress. Just in case you were wondering.
