Sucked In Again
You know, I don't know why I do it. Get going on a book that has a fantastic concept, get pissed off by the terrible writing involved, yet I continue to read the series, hoping it'll get better.
Harry Turtledove. Homeward Bound.
Turtledove is probably the best alternate historian out there. He comes up with some fun ideas for "what if?" and runs with it. He can take a question like "What if the Confederacy won the Civil War?" or "What if aliens land during World War II?" and can turn both ideas into book series a dozen novels long. Makes them all seem somewhat plausible, yet still parallels them to actual history (Confederacy 1930's equals Germany 1930's, alien race equals isolationist empire).
The man can plot out a timeline as well as anyone. But, damn, he can't write a story to save his life. He writes these huge series that could be half as long, if he could just trust his readers to remember what happened a few chapters ago. Every page has SOME sort of reminder about "yeah, this is what happened earlier." And each reminder is repeated about 30 times in each book. Irritating.
He doesn't know how to write dialogue. He has this need to clarify the meaning behind everything that is said by a character. He has every character, no matter what nationality, gender, or race, use the same phrases, phrases that I have NEVER heard before, nor would ever think to use in real life without sounding like an idiot. Can you tell me I'm wrong? You wish you could, but you can't.
But, of course, I'm going to get his next book when it comes out. *sigh* Duped again.
I know this is something that most authors would recoil in horror at, but I think a LOT of writers would be better storytellers if they hired someone else to actually tell their stories. So many mainstream writers, both in books and movies, get an idea in their head to tell, but can't write to save their life.
Turtledove suffers from what I've said above. Piers Anthony is a miserable conversationalist in his Incarnations series. Jerry Jenkins & Tim LaHaye took an always-fruitful concept like The Rapture, in the Left Behind series, and told a globe-spanning, world-changing story that only focused on four or five characters, all of them "good guys." George Lucas attempted to finish his Star Wars masterpiece without allowing one other person to touch his cringe-inducing romantic dialogue.
There are some people who come up with a cool story and say "Man, I want to tell that." Others say "Man, I wish someone would tell that story."
Some people think the first thing, but don't recognize that they should be saying the other.
Yet I keep getting pulled back for the story, even though I hate reading it.
Harry Turtledove. Homeward Bound.
Turtledove is probably the best alternate historian out there. He comes up with some fun ideas for "what if?" and runs with it. He can take a question like "What if the Confederacy won the Civil War?" or "What if aliens land during World War II?" and can turn both ideas into book series a dozen novels long. Makes them all seem somewhat plausible, yet still parallels them to actual history (Confederacy 1930's equals Germany 1930's, alien race equals isolationist empire).
The man can plot out a timeline as well as anyone. But, damn, he can't write a story to save his life. He writes these huge series that could be half as long, if he could just trust his readers to remember what happened a few chapters ago. Every page has SOME sort of reminder about "yeah, this is what happened earlier." And each reminder is repeated about 30 times in each book. Irritating.
He doesn't know how to write dialogue. He has this need to clarify the meaning behind everything that is said by a character. He has every character, no matter what nationality, gender, or race, use the same phrases, phrases that I have NEVER heard before, nor would ever think to use in real life without sounding like an idiot. Can you tell me I'm wrong? You wish you could, but you can't.
But, of course, I'm going to get his next book when it comes out. *sigh* Duped again.
I know this is something that most authors would recoil in horror at, but I think a LOT of writers would be better storytellers if they hired someone else to actually tell their stories. So many mainstream writers, both in books and movies, get an idea in their head to tell, but can't write to save their life.
Turtledove suffers from what I've said above. Piers Anthony is a miserable conversationalist in his Incarnations series. Jerry Jenkins & Tim LaHaye took an always-fruitful concept like The Rapture, in the Left Behind series, and told a globe-spanning, world-changing story that only focused on four or five characters, all of them "good guys." George Lucas attempted to finish his Star Wars masterpiece without allowing one other person to touch his cringe-inducing romantic dialogue.
There are some people who come up with a cool story and say "Man, I want to tell that." Others say "Man, I wish someone would tell that story."
Some people think the first thing, but don't recognize that they should be saying the other.
Yet I keep getting pulled back for the story, even though I hate reading it.
posted by Bill at 3:28 PM
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