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obeying the king
Apr. 16th, 2014 10:10 pmSo why do you obey the king after all?
( Read more... )the theory and practice of succession
Apr. 13th, 2014 08:21 pmSo why on earth is this man here your overlord by succession? Whether king or noble?
( Read more... )promises, promises
Feb. 24th, 2014 11:22 pmPromises are a lot more important in a lot of cultures than the readers may expect at once.
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feudal, former times, and force
Sep. 11th, 2013 09:15 pmhmmm -- with all those politics swirling about and leading to battle, the question arises of how the nobles can raise forces.
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Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History by Emiko Ohnuk-Tierney
An in-depth look at the meanings the cherry blossoms has held in Japanese history, the efforts to unify the country with a modern ideology, the selective use of cherry blossoms in World War II.
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An in-depth look at the meanings the cherry blossoms has held in Japanese history, the efforts to unify the country with a modern ideology, the selective use of cherry blossoms in World War II.
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loyalty and other problems
Aug. 5th, 2013 09:29 pmAh, the delights of ripping off an idea because you think the writer who had it first did a poor job of it.
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stealing backstory/background
Jul. 15th, 2013 10:52 pmAh, the stealing of notions. How much fun it is. How much work it takes, filing off the serial numbers before the story is your own. . . .
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lucky on loyalty
Jul. 11th, 2013 09:26 pmOdd thing in my reading lately: a number of stories making good use of feudal, or almost feudal, loyalties.
Now, there's no denying that this makes a wonderful plot device for supplying even a down-and-out noble with forces and cannon fodder in general, who are willing to do the difficult or impossible in aid of the noble.
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Now, there's no denying that this makes a wonderful plot device for supplying even a down-and-out noble with forces and cannon fodder in general, who are willing to do the difficult or impossible in aid of the noble.
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philosophical observations about theme
Jul. 10th, 2013 08:23 pmBy which I mean not the theme the unity of which Aristotle praised so highly and so wisely, but what your English teacher taught -- which is certainly an aspect of Aristotle's.
I don't see many works whose major failure lies in a break down in theme, but it can be done.
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I don't see many works whose major failure lies in a break down in theme, but it can be done.
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courts of the Middle Ages
Jun. 6th, 2013 09:41 pmWas reading a collection of Poul Anderson's works, and philosophically contemplating the feudal futuristic world of one, and then thinking, no, that's not right. . .
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working up the religion
Mar. 3rd, 2013 06:50 pmI still advise, when world-building a religion, to start with the story and its setting and work your way backwards. (Taking into account stuff like this.)
It does not mean you are out of the wood, because you have to work your way backwards. On the other hand, the biggest problem I see in fantasy is writers who start with the religious practices they know, and slap the religion they want on top of them. It's not the religion that's the problem. It's that the foundations are all wrong.
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It does not mean you are out of the wood, because you have to work your way backwards. On the other hand, the biggest problem I see in fantasy is writers who start with the religious practices they know, and slap the religion they want on top of them. It's not the religion that's the problem. It's that the foundations are all wrong.
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