About the author...Hullo, I'm a 21 year-old male from Queensland, Australia. I enjoy Acid Pops.
A lot of my creativity is fuelled by my resentment for Christopher Paolini and his ridiculous Inheritance trilogy. I would like to get my own trilogy published and sent to #1 on the New York Times' Bestsellers List for 87 weeks, so then I could walk up to him at some fancy self-congratulatory authors' conference and say, 'Hey...hey, buddy. You know that book you wrote? Eragon, I think it was? Yeah, I liked it better when it was called Star Wars and wasn't a waste of my time. BAM!'
Then, with a swish of my cloak, I would disintegrate into a cloud of vampire bats, cackling insanely while people like Anne McCaffrey and Terry Pratchett looked on, saying 'My God, he's right!'
About the books...
As of December 10th, 2006, I began work on Undiscovery, the first book in the Tales from Majesmuír trilogy, after a while spent mapping out the story, creating a unique fantasy world (no mean feat), and dreaming up absurd character names in my spare time. As a writer, I have five golden rules:
1) My mythology will never have precedent over my narrative.
2) Readers will never be burdened by chapter-long infodumps.
3) Character descriptions will never be longer than a paragraph, and will certainly never feature the words 'perfectly formed'. There are stories here -- critically acclaimed stories, mark you -- that devote their entire prologue to the high cheekbones, pert breasts and almond-shaped eyes of their leading ladies, and I - am - SICK OF IT!
4) My writing will never lapse inexplicably into Shakespearean prose, like so many fantasy stories do for the sake of sounding airy and high-minded. Prithee, gentle reader, ill do I speak of such folly. Oh, whoops.
5) Lastly, if nothing else can be said of my writing, be assured that you will never, ever see a spelling mistak.
On the world of Majesmuír...
Majesmuír formed in my mind after watching the BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (since I'm so manly) and reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion at the same time (though admittedly only for the pictures). I decided to combine the sensibilities of 19th Century etiquette and architecture with the more traditional fantasy fare of mountains, mystic ruins and ancient Orders - with sexy results.
List of things you will never find in Majesmuír:
1) Elves & Dwarves -- J.R.R. did them, he did them properly, and that's the last we should've heard from them.
2) Names that have apostrophes in them -- Ra'zac. Zar'roc. Do these apostrophes exist because the actual names are too cumbersome to pronounce in their entirety? Why not just give them a different name altogether?
3) Hokey ancient languages -- Let's face facts. My familiarity with European mythology begins and ends with Disney's adaptation of Hercules. I'm not going to waste my time inventing a dialect steeped in Norse or Celtic tradition, because nobody cares.
On the character of Guilliam Wartrude...
Guilliam, to me, represents the ultimate subversion (or perversion?) of the archetypal hero character. Popular culture has seen a string of so-called "flawed heroes" in recent times: men of moral complexity who have a dark past and a tortured soul. But they're still so damn good looking, which makes their shortcomings tolerable, even desirable to the viewing public.
Not Guilliam.
Guilliam exists because I asked the question, "What would happen if the fate of the entire world was put in the hands of one of those morbidly obese and selfish little whiners you see on SuperNanny?" I created him because, frankly, I'm fed up with the feathery good looks and inerrant nobility of the Eragons and the Legolases (or Legolii, as the plural must surely be) and all of the other doe-eyed do-gooders, of which there are thousands here at FictionPress.
The character of Guilliam (as he is right now) is quite difficult to write for, because it's almost impossible to empathise with him. But a there's change in store for young Guill, brought about by loss, hardship, betrayal...even love. Bear with him, won't you? He doesn't know any better.
On my readers...
I'll just come right out and say that reviews - positive or negative - are my lifeblood. I kid you not, there is an IV drip plugged into my USB drive for me to download your very words of praise or scorn into my waiting veins. I'm not above asking people for advice or direction, and will cheerfully respond to any and all feedback, if you'd like me to.
So I guess that's it, at least for the time being. My name's Hiptobbi Square. Welcome to Majesmuír. :)
FictionPress.com - let the words flow
