McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
What makes people put down a book (goodreads)
trboturtle:
--- Quote from: Snowleopard on July 22, 2013, 06:07:08 PM ---Re: The first one, Neuro.
Yes, all characters have functions but in this one book - it was so blatantly obvious that
a certain character was just being set up to be killed that it annoyed me - I guess because
she came off like a paper target. No real depth to her.
--- End quote ---
But you just decribed aq large slice of English murder mysteries. I've read a lot of those type, in which you're fairly sure who's going to get killed withing the first few chapter (if it's not on the back of the book cover), usually through interaction with the people around them (who then become the suspects.)
Craig
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: trboturtle on March 26, 2014, 08:56:59 PM ---But you just decribed aq large slice of English murder mysteries. I've read a lot of those type, in which you're fairly sure who's going to get killed withing the first few chapter (if it's not on the back of the book cover), usually through interaction with the people around them (who then become the suspects.)
--- End quote ---
There is, indeed, a term in horror criticism for such characters: shreddies.
meg_evonne:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on July 22, 2013, 02:31:47 AM ---fwiw, my first choice is "a book that treats me like an idiot".
--- End quote ---
Interesting thread... Agree to this one. Definitely have difficulty figuring out why some authors don't get this. Reading a book is a joint activity. No reason to force feed an author's heavy opinion & conclusions at the end of chapters or (as I've seen) ending of paragraphs. It is far better to have the reader active. You have to let your work fly and let the reader put their own end caps on things. I've pointed this out to a couple critique partners but they still don't get the difference. Perhaps it's my personal preference or I'm not explaining it right.
Eire:
--- Quote --- You have to let your work fly and let the reader put their own end caps on things.
--- End quote ---
On the other hand lots of people say that Nabokov supported paedophiles- granted, mostly those who were prejudiced from the start, but still.
I must say that I often have the problem with historical fiction, mainly with the way most of the authors handle values dissonance- and I don't day about things like 300 that just take some fancy tokens from the past but so called "historical fiction". No matter time and culture, the protagonist will always have morals strangely resembling those preached by liberal upper middle class from USA- and I have an impression that lots of them either
a) didn't do research
b) did, but was afraid that the audience will react like those amazon reviewers who complained that "Kristin Lavransdattir" would be a better book had the heroes not thinking that much about religion.
I know it's risky topic that requires a lots of skill to make a protagonist likeable in spite of having different morals than reader, but it's possible. I understand that Melanie Wilkens wasn't abolitionist and that Mammy considered herself a better caste than field slaves. Petronius of Quo Vadis while being considered by his slaves as exceptionally patient and understanding man didn't hesitate to order corporal punishment when one of them didn't obey him on spot. Heroines of Lisa See couldn't be more different from modern Western women, yet they are interesting characters whose characteristic perfectly fit their time and background.
I don't say that character can't have some modern morals- Sometimes skilled writer can sneak them by presenting it as an extraordinary- like Judge Dee who gave shelter to rape victim and later married her to keep silent bad tongues (on the other hand he wasn't above using tortures while serving justice).
On the other side of the spectrum we have that guy from Patriot, pure as freshly washed clothes who see like a transplant from XXI century.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Eire on March 27, 2014, 03:56:13 PM ---I must say that I often have the problem with historical fiction, mainly with the way most of the authors handle values dissonance- and I don't day about things like 300 that just take some fancy tokens from the past but so called "historical fiction". No matter time and culture, the protagonist will always have morals strangely resembling those preached by liberal upper middle class from USA-
--- End quote ---
That sounds to me like you're not reading the really top-end historical fiction like Patrick O'Brian and Dorothy Dunnett, then.
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