How TV fandom, and fanfic, ruined my perfectly good hobby of reading

[indyhat]

(Yes, I wrote an essay. Weird, I know. Moving on.)

So I have some vacation time. And there are bookstores. And I spend maybe three or four hours of said vacation time just browsing the shelves, picking up books that I've heard of, or whose authors I've heard of, and checking them out: is this the kind of book I'm in the mood for?

Comments

[c_quinn]

but the second the author starts writing in the first person as a fictional character, for some reason this seems to be a license to toss out gratuitous adverbs and produce acutely self-conscious prose (these two things are not unrelated, IMO).

I do agree with this. First person is exceedingly difficult to master because it 1). ensures the reader that the narrator will survive and therefore removes all suspense, 2). often relies on cliches, proverbs and other over-used sentiments while trying to appear "normal", 3). offers unreliable views of all other characters since their thoughts are denied and the perspective is skewed.

I don't think having realistic dialog or narrative voice should be too much to ask

Again: agreed. Dialogue drives all stories, for me. If the characters ring false, then the plot will as well. People stutter; they pause; they use contractions. They do not offer perfect, formal sentences (unless it's some alien world where they're trying to sneak into our planet and have learned English from Puritan texts. That's acceptable).

but I think we are living in a golden age of television right now

We really are. Television is finally compelling again.

Yes, it does occur to me that perhaps I should be reading screenplays instead of novels.

Or writing a screenplay. For CE and Milo. I'm just saying.

This is completely lazy, but why struggle to make new friends when you have such good ones already?

I do understand this (and have followed the pattern to an extent as the majority of my reading seems to be fandom-based recently). But I'm not opposed to new characters. I ask only that they be compelling.

To which end: what should I be reading?

Comic books. Seriously. Dialogue and pretty pictures! Whoo-hoo!

Okay, okay. There's plot too.

[indyhat]

First person is exceedingly difficult to master because it 1). ensures the reader that the narrator will survive and therefore removes all suspense, 2). often relies on cliches, proverbs and other over-used sentiments while trying to appear "normal", 3). offers unreliable views of all other characters since their thoughts are denied and the perspective is skewed.

I don't mind the lack of reliability; after all, any narrative that takes place from one character's POV is going to be biased; that's okay. What I mind is where the first-person narrative overreaches into omniscience while pretending not to. And yeah, cliché. Aiii.

Dialogue drives all stories, for me. If the characters ring false, then the plot will as well. People stutter; they pause; they use contractions. They do not offer perfect, formal sentences

See, there is work I'll let off the hook on that score, but it's largely televisual. The West Wing. House. Deadwood. Not very much stuttering goes on, and yet long, intricate, devastating, funny sentences are delivered in a believable way. Translating that to written fiction, though, this often grates. No idea why one is okay and the other isn't, except that maybe it's really hard to write dialog that's parsable by the reader into something naturalistic without looking like that's what you're trying to do.

Or writing a screenplay. For CE and Milo. I'm just saying.

*g* I do think about writing screenplays, but I'm very, very bad at plot. Very bad. But sure, when I've written it, you can cast it for me :)

I'm not opposed to new characters. I ask only that they be compelling.

Me neither, and yes, they must be. In fact I think I want characters to be plausible first, compelling second - if I can't believe in them, I most likely won't find them compelling at all.

Comic books. Seriously. Dialogue and pretty pictures! Whoo-hoo!

*laughs* I've read a few. Mostly Sandman. And ElfQuest. I was young and impressionable, okay?. Thing is, I prefer moral greyness, and comics have a tendency to have bad guys who, though they may be interesting, are still fairly definitively Bad Guys. One of the things I like so much about works like The Wire and Generation Kill is that they leave pretty much all judgement about who is bad/good/morally grey up to the viewer, presenting a world that's complicated and not irreducible to "bad" or "good. I freaking love that.

[c_quinn]

But sure, when I've written it, you can cast it for me :)

I've already got the cast in mind so get to it. ;)

And ElfQuest. I was young and impressionable, okay?.

... Dude.

Thing is, I prefer moral greyness, and comics have a tendency to have bad guys who, though they may be interesting, are still fairly definitively Bad Guys.

I'm going to have to give you a list of things to read then. You need to broaden your horizons (which may be an innuendo. I'm not sure).

[indyhat]

I've already got the cast in mind so get to it. ;)

Hee.

... Dude.

Did I mention young and impressionable? And in love with the guy who introduced me to them. Boy, am I over that. On both counts.

I'm going to have to give you a list of things to read then. You need to broaden your horizons (which may be an innuendo. I'm not sure).

*snerk* Go ahead! I suspect I'd like The Dark Knight, f'rex, though I've never really been blown away by language use in a graphic novel the way I am by essays and screenplays.