Another sign of an amateure writer

[seraphania]

We all know CP is not a wise old storyteller. Far from it, really. There are several signs of this, ones that we have pointed out:

- Every synonym of "said" being used

- "Lush" descriptions that really only detract from the novel.

- Thesaurus rape D:

There is one, though, that really irks me. As a writer, and a young one at that, I've already

Comments

[subieko]

That's a good point. Inheritance would be much improved by some fairly simple edits, like trimming the prose and cutting out some scenes that don't do much. But if a writer gets too attached to his prose, then he won't be able to edit it properly...

[subieko]

But that would mean The CELEBRITY Child Prodigy ACTUALLY THROWING AWAY SOMETHING THAT ISSUED FROM HIS AUGUST LIPS (or through His Celebrity Fingers).

(Years ago, I actually had a collaboration attempt fall through when I found out that "collaboration" meant I was only to record word-for-word what issued from The Great Genius's August Lips and Be Thankful for it. He still hasn't published. I have.)

Again, this is what you get when a beginning writer is Cursed with Immediate Runaway Success.

[scavokretlaw]

I'd be really interested to get my hands on a copy of the originally published Eragon - although from what I've heard, there aren't a lot of differences between it and the Knopf version, except several of the more egregious errors have been rectified

[babycharmander]

If a scene doesn't help the plot move along, or at least show another side of a character or something relatively useful for the story, it shouldn't be there.

I disagree, to a degree. I recall in the book The Last Unicorn, there were some scenes and chapters that really had no significance to the story, but were still interesting. For example, there was one scene (or was it an entire chapter?) where a bird saw the unicorn, and went to go tell his mate, only to wind up getting into an argument with her. These characters were never seen again and their actions had no effect on anything in the story. But despite this, I didn't think the chapter was pointless or bad; on the contrary, I liked it.

[be_themoon]

Honestly, only a really good author can pull things like that off. A really good author. I've seen some that tried it and failed miserably.

[scavokretlaw]

True, but:

1. There are exceptions to every rule. Doesn't mean the rules aren't there for a reason.
2. You should learn how and why you should follow the rules, before you start to break them.

[seraphania]

That's a good example, and I wish that I've read the book. Fortunately there is a distinct difference between The Last Unicorn and Inheritance. And it's a bit of a grey area, anyways. I suppose the bottom line is this: will it make the story better? Will it add flavor, voice, or at least tell the reader more about the world? Or is it just another scene to show how amazing the hero *is*?

Thanks for the comment, though. Wish I could read the book.

[be_themoon]

For drabbles, I often just write out a rough draft and that's more or less how it goes up, because they're just little fanfic pieces that I do for myself mostly. When it comes to my actual stories though, I often edit a chapter three or four times before I move onto the next, and I have yet to like a story enough to return and do the full editing, though my last NaNo seems fairly promising... I really dread editing it though, because I know, I KNOW that it will take approximately three billion hours to get it into any decent shape and make the characters work and figure out the plot more thoroughly.

Paolini should have waited and kept writing and then re-read his stuff after a year's absence and seen what he thought of it then. My reaction generally goes like this - "... nobody must ever see this! Ever!" *hides frantically*

I still always keep it though. XD

[axilet]

YES
I've written a bunch of crap that will never make it into the final draft. Though, like you, I can't bear to delete anything--I save it all into a file marked 'scraps' =D I have a rather packrat mentality--it's the same with every piece of junk I've ever owned XD
I agree CP's books are pretty rough draft-y. It has the "Oh, look, I just thought of a cool idea and am going to insert it in w/o thinking too much" stuff plus the overly purple prose that I indulge in myself when writing drafts just because they sound nice. >.> Here's to hoping that CP finds the courage to throw out *hundreds* of pages.

Though, like you, I can't bear to delete anything...

[axilet]

And apparently neither can Precious Pao-Pao the Child Prodigy (TM).

Only difference is, he's a Best-selling CELEBRITY Author and can override anything his "editor" does to improve his Masterpiece.