I never thought that I would ever really care for fantasy novels, but I've come to thoroughly enjoy the Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin.
A fantasy novel in the modern sense includes stories created which take place in an entirely different world where fantastic elements such as dragons, elves, and magic live. It is strongly influenced by the supernatural, though each author is able to take a traditional tale and alter it in their own way. Ultimately creating a world of their own right down to the laws of physics.
I've read such works before, such as the Hobbit, but found the writing to be tedious and slow. Though perhaps the writing styles I enjoy have changed I believe I can simply appreciate the ability to create more now.
Fantasy author's are able to use their imaginations, they escape into a world all their own, which many people are unable to flex into adulthood. For instance this particular series, which has five books has over 300 people with all of their family connections. On top of this each family has their own crest, coat of arms, and motto.
Martin has also developed at least four different religions for his over 300 people, while they populate different countries, each with their own climate.
It's actually overwhelming when you think about it. He's spent countless hours thinking of how each person would develop and his characters are all vastly different.
The story is told from different people's points of view, which includes 31 different characters. Each has their own thinking pattern, different ways to respond to situations, as well as character strengths and flaws.
I was online attempting to discover how many people he has involved in his series, which came up with a game asking you to name 300 of the most mentioned people in the series. Having read three books I thought I might be able to do fairly well, which after naming 75, remembering the nicknames of about 5 others I was at a loss. So to simply be able to keep everyone and everything straight in the story when you're writing it must be ridiculously difficult. Obviously not impossible, but that was my first thought when thinking on it.
Fantasy writers even go so far as to create entire new languages for their characters to use. Martin has only developed a few words for each of the different languages and has used them in ways to reveal almost epic revelations to the reader.
Other authors, however, such as J.R.R. Tolkein developed multiple, complete languages for his works. Though the vocabulary is restricted to the words he used, Tolkein did include grammatical rules which people could actually follow and learn. The Elvish language being one of Tolkein's creations now comes with a website dedicated to learning how to read, write, and speak the completely imagined language.
My only small worry is that Martin will be unable to finish his series because it is so comprehensive. The first novel was published in 1996 with his fifth book being published in 2011, meaning he has taken fifteen years to tell the story thus far.
In addition to the books, HBO has taken on telling the story through a television series. It will be going into its fourth season and has done, basically, one season per book. Therefore, I'm thinking Martin may be rushed if his next two books each take five years, which previous ones have.
Last year I didn't read very much. Sitting and writing everyday as a career path was enough reading I could take. It was quite something to often go home with tired eyes, I'd think of reading but decide to do something else. This year, however, I've gotten back into it, I must have gotten used to being around so many words all the time, and am very glad I did as I thoroughly enjoy engaging in well written books and being taken on a journey in someone else's world just for a moment.
Similar to watching a movie and being caught up in the storyline, a book is much more. Each and every person reading will create their own world from the words. Though the same things happen time and again, the plot never changes it's up to each reader to see the image through the words. A person described in the book may look slightly different or the entire setting may be imagined in a different way from one person to the next.
