Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I don’t think Tolkein’s writing is bad. It’s very good. Just not the kind of stuff I want to read. I’m not into sitting through a great deal of setup at the front of the story, whether it’s a prologue with historical/background setup content relating to world of the story (which a lot of prologues in fantasy seem to be) or part and parcel of the story itself (as in The Hobbit). I usually skip prologues if I read a few sentences and it reads like a history lesson or setup. The only prologue I actually ever read was in one of Val’s books–it was a scene, and it actually was important to the story but wouldn’t fit in the narrative of the book–she showed a pertinent event, not just did a summary of it, and I honestly don’t think she could have successfully summarized it without losing the strength/punch of the information she needed to convey.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~I don’t so much forget that certain older books were written when there were different expectations for prose (like with the Tolkein books), but I do take offense when someone tells me I “should read AUTHOR beause his books are classics, especially because, as a writer, I must be familiar with the classics.” I’ve tried reading several classics and haven’t been able to get into them, and that doesn’t make me a poor writer or an ignorant reader. It just means the books I’ve tried to read weren’t to my taste and I feel my opinion should be respected once I’ve explained that, yes, I have tried reading the suggested classic but simply realized it’s not my type of writing.
(BTW, no one here at FM has ever been so pushy, it’s RL people I’ve talked to who’ve been that way.)
Also, I’ve come across several classics (mainly in SF) with plotting structures and styles similar to those expected today (story doesn’t do a lot of setup at the opening but starts at the point of change for the MC, has good characterization and builds description into the narrative without diverging onto tangents of detailed description exclusive of the plot). Thus, as a result, I’ve read more classic sf than I have classic fantasy (especially since Tolkein is touted as ULTIMATE CLASSIC FANTASY FICTION by nearly every fantasy reader I’ve come across–yes, I undertand, but surely there were other fantasy stories written about the same time).
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~While I wouldn’t precisely call it vomit-inducing writing, I did try reading The Hobbit some years ago (late 90’s) and, while the opening description was fantastic and beautiful, it ultimately turned me off. I didn’t really care about the scene-setting. I wanted the story. I didn’t make it thorugh the opening description–didn’t wallbang the book, but I certainly didn’t finish reading it either.
Apparently, the epic format is not for me, and I’ve resisted and will continue to resist WoT because I’ve heard too much about its slow pacing and attention to detail.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~Sounds like it’ll be fun to write.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~I know where to look for the edit options, but not the specific codes OO uses for paragraph and page breaks.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~Does anybody know the coding OO uses? I’d like to try this myself.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~Sounds interesting–and challenging to write. Good luck with it!
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~I just want to thank you (Zette, Mar, and Jean) for all the work you’ve done getting the new site going. I think it’s fantastic, a lot cleaner than the last site, and somewhat easier to navigate. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~If you’d had “Water” “Soft Drinks” and “Other,” Coffee might still be in second place.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~I forgot about that. I tend to write for myself, too. I mean, I kind of have to or I lose the fun of the writing.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~Thanks, Zette. I didn’t know about the “not only, but also” pairing, at least not on a conscious level. May have used it without being aware of it in some of my writing.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~Thank you so much, Zette for keeping the site going. It takes dedication and love to manage and support such an endeavor as this, and it shows you care.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~I had this idea for a thriller or crime novel. There’s this killer, and he just LOVES blood. The scene I typed up came from the serial killer’s 1st person pov, but it could be handled any way. It was just particularly intriguing to me to tell it at least in part from his pov, and I got a real good look at his obsession with blood. I titled the scene-thing Coagulate. I don’t read the thriller/crime genre much any more, so I’m not as familiar with the tropes, and I’m not into going into detail in research so I couldn’t write the detective’s pov, so this might be a fun thing for someone else to write.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~You could also write “As she ran to the door, she tripped over the rumpled rug by the stairs.” I also have to go through with an eye to where I’ve started several sentences in a row with the same word and vary them, but it’s another thing I’m learning to catch as I write.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~There are times I consciously slow down in order to add detail to a scene as I write, and then other times when I add more stuff on read through when I realize it’s not as complete as it could be. I’m getting better at adding it as I go,though.
Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
~*~
Member since 1998.
~*~