(no subject)

[graculus]

First off, happy new year to all - I know for some of the people reading this, bits of 2008 seriously sucked, so my wish for 2009 is that the best of 2008 is the worst any of us have to put up with this time around!

Now, as anyone who's been reading my inane drivel for a while knows, I'm a voracious reader and my two favourite genres are crime and science fiction/fantasy (I conflate the latter because it really isn't two separate genres and hasn't been since forever, in my opinion, which is the only one that really counts around here...).

When I was at school, I had a major issue with English Lit and the dissection of storylines, to the point where I ended up getting booted from the class - this was, however, a move that backfired more on my teacher when I subsequently picked up an A in English Language. Now it seems that writing myself has created the monster my English teacher always wanted me to be. No more can I accept the shoddily-written or the badly-edited for the sake of getting my genre fix and I can only blame it on trying to put the stuff together myself.

I've been doing reviews on my Vox account, and I haven't caught up with myself yet, but the book I finished last night is a prime example. The book in question being The Summoner by Gail Z Martin, book 1 of a 2 book series. In itself, the book is pretty good and the author creates a raft of engaging characters, even if she does succumb to the tendency to have everyone be handsome or beautiful as well as competence personnified.

My main problem with the story is that the author doesn't seem to be satisfied. We start off with our common or garden second son of the royal family who has this quirk that he can see and speak with ghosts. Our boy has an older brother is a bit of a psychopath who then kills dad, which means our hero goes on the run, accompanied by loyal retainers.

Our hero subsequently learns that he's actually the heir to his grandmother's wizardly powers - so far so good - but that still isn't enough! We then have to have magic amulets and hidden royalty and magic swords thrown in to the mix in an 'oh, and by the way you're going to need this gizmo as well...' manner that started to get a little bit vexing. By the end of the first 600 pages, all I wanted to say to the author was: have some faith in your characters, dude!

I guess it's not just me, but has anyone else been hit with the picky stick since sitting down at the keyboard proper? I can't be the only one, can I?

Comments

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Nope, not at all. A good premise does not necessarily mean the writer is competent enough to tackle it. Or has more than basic storytelling skills.

Sounds like Gail Martin should have spread the gizmo wealth around!

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I think that's the most frustrating thing, when someone comes up with an excellent premise and then overdoes it in some way, either because they just haven't got the ability to go with it or because their editor doesn't beat them as hard as they ought. The number of books I have read where the author uses five words when one word do...

As for the gizmo greediness, it's totally bizarre. Here we are with a guy who's got this ability and then she sets it up so he gets the teaching he needs to control it properly and suddenly it's all magic swords and amulets!

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year to you too.

I hope 2009 is a good year for you.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I'm looking enviously at how productive you've been in 2008 and hope that good streak continues for you - all the best to you and yours for the new year!

BTW, I couldn't help biting my lip the other day when someone told me about their friend's new baby who they'd called Lacey... ;)

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much indeed. I appreciate that.

*Chuckles quietly in the corner* I can imagine that.

[rhade-rad.livejournal.com]

Certainly not. I too got bored by Eng Lit classes and despite all the best efforts of my teachers refused point blank to do A level as I hated the O level course so much. They couldn't understand why someone who enjoyed reading so much and asked them for Shakespeare texts not on the curriculum wasn't interested. And I didn't explain that it was the choice of reading material for the courses (One of HG Wells social commentary novels and two long John Masefield poems). I guess I didn't have the confidence then to support my opinion of both writers as second if not third rate.

Starting writing has made me a lot more critical; particularly in my case of plays I see at the Almeida. As I see them more than once, I get past initial impressions to seeing the plot holes and character inconsistencies, which does lead to some interesting discussions with my fellow ushers, as well as occasionally the cast *G*.

I now keep picking up those books and putting them back on the shelf after reading the back blurb and a few pages. Following your example and raiding the library has been so good in not lumbering me with stuff which should be pulped.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I just didn't see the point of Eng Lit and still don't, the way it seems to be taught (though I have to keep quiet about that around my university English lecturer friend, or he gets annoyed...). Why spend all that time dissecting stories in such a tedious way? I just couldn't make the connection between what they were trying to teach me and what I've learned now from experience.

As for set texts, don't even get me started on Aldous Huxley! :P

Libraries are a godsend, and I've also been using ReadItSwapIt (http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/TheLibrary.aspx) for other stuff - for a thin paperback it'll often work out cheaper than an inter-library request.

[cycnus39]

Oh, yes, the picky stick and me are old friends. I used to read a lot of fiction but now I can't stand the stuff. Everything seems so flawed. Even authors and books I thought brilliant are now mediocre at best. It was a progressive illness. First it was "Hmmm, that was a bit silly/stupid/crappy" until I got "Christ, it's worse than bad fan fic". I don't see why anyone else should get away with flaws in their writing when I don't. ;-)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, the picky stick and me are old friends.

You? Picky? Say it ain't so! :P

Everything seems so flawed. Even authors and books I thought brilliant are now mediocre at best.

I don't know if I'm quite as far gone as that, since I still come across stuff and think 'you bastard, I wish I'd thought of that!'.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

No, you're not a alone. :::sigh::: Aside from books, I am also too critical of films and movies. It's especially hard when my buds are squeeing over the hotness of their shiny new show and all I can see is how poorly it's written and how the writer was saving money on his shrink by working out his daddy issues with a character. So I'm left with, "yeah, that actor is hot."

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Good heavens, I think telly and movies are even worse!

I'm still able to suspend to some extent, though I tend to have nothing but scorn for people who can't see past hotness to the difficulties with characters or plotlines. Hence my scepticism over SG 90210.

That may also be affected by my being part of UNCLE fandom, where pretty much everyone gleefully accepts that the storylines are pants and the gizmos worse, but still loves the show despite that. That's more of an attitude I can get behind.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I am also too critical of films

*G* I can't believe my friends still want to see movies with me. I can't put up with the crap writing, the crap plotting, the crap dialog, the popular idea of what makes a "hero," the blatant rampant sexism ... I'm no fun at all at movies.

[siluria]

Picky stick?! Hell yes. I wish I could go back to the days where I read everything without being thrown out of fic at the littlest things, and I wish I could write without comparing everything I do to others.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

The gag reflex is there for a good reason, to stop you overdosing on crap fic. ;)

As for the writing side of things, I think it's human nature to compare to others though in my experience most writers, usually wrongly, seem to think they're better than everyone else with very little reason. That goes for fandom and pro writers, because some of the stuff that people get paid to produce wouldn't get past a fannish audience.

[siluria]

Gag reflex - never thought of it like that!!! ;)

I go the other way, I think I'm worse than most writers :) I'm not sure which is the best trait really!!

[graculus.livejournal.com]

How can you be worse than most writers when so many struggle to string a coherent sentence together? ;)

[siluria]

It's called lack of confidence and not wanting to sound cocky :)

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I just get pickier as I get older. I've been writing my whole life (editing for more than 20 years) but I don't remember thinking, when I was, you know, 20 or 25, "this isn't very well written" about published works. But on the rare occasions I read fiction now, boy - I want to have at the damn' thing with a red pen big time, if I can even stand it. There is a strong tendency for severely formulaic writing (well, hell, romance novels had that market cornered for decades, didn't they, and they always sold well, so why shouldn't other genres follow suit?), which I don't mind in fanfic, but I don't want to pay for it.