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aamalie wrote about characterization within writing and wanting to see some authors do better, I've wanted to write my own post.
Cut for extreme length.
The other day, I was watching either USA or TNT and they had a run of original series starting last week. One of the shows is called Rizzoli and Isles (or something similar). I watched it with my mom who said the show is based on books that she has in the house. I thought the show was all right, so, out of curiosity, I tracked down one of the books with the same characters.
I'm reading it now. It's... okay. The plot is so-so and the characters are interesting. I'm just surprised at how... not good... the writing is. I said the characters were interesting. But that's in spite of the writing. The author uses such broad strokes when she describes them that we don't get to figure anything out about them on our own. For example, she references Dr. Isles (a medical examiner) as someone who is not good with people and sometimes does better with the dead than with the living. Fine, but she hammers the point in every time Dr. Isles is short with someone or has a small disagreement. I also think it would have been a good thing for the author not to mention her problem with living people at all and let the reader figure it out. Figuring stuff like that out makes us feel smart and invested in the story.
Also, the author makes it seem like no one in their right mind would want to be a M.E. and that Dr. Isles just kind of sauntered into Boston and took the job. I just don't really see that happening. First of all, there are a lot of people who want to be a M.E., I think half the students in my classes would take that job in a heartbeat. It's interesting work, the pay is okay, and when you work with the police, you get to feel like a crime fighter. From what I know, M.E. positions are very few and those who get the jobs do so because they have the right connections within county political systems. When I went on a field trip to the M.E. office, we were told not to expect to ever become M.E.'s because it's less about skill and more about who you know. Anyway, it just strikes a wrong chord with me when the author describes police and others as treating the M.E. as strange because she works with dead bodies.
It's also interesting to read this book on the heels of reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I read this because I really liked the movie. I've been looking for it in book stores, but could never find it (I could never remember the authors' names). Finally I asked and was pointed in the direction of... young adult fiction. Doh!
But, whatever, I wanted to read the book. So I bought it and did. It was really good. In fact, I think it completely nailed (some) modern relationships and I think the voice used for the main characters were interesting and fun. The book was better than the movie in a lot of places (and not quite as good in others), but the movie did a good job of capturing what was interesting in the book.
It's striking to see that YA fiction was vastly better written than a popular "adult" novel. I'm sure that young adults are reading their fiction to read about relationships (and love and sex and all of it), so those books have to do that well to survive. But why do "adult" books seem to lose that edge of realistic relationships.
I see this in fanfiction, too. There's a lot of really bad fanfiction out there. However, the stuff that's good, the stuff my f-list writes a lot of the time, is better written than actual published fiction. The stuff I read in communities and on ff.net is often more lyrical, piercing, better composed, and more realistic than even some best sellers. I think it's because fanfiction authors adore their characters and some of us want to do them respect by writing our best for them. I think that good writing in mainstream fiction can get lost when authors only write to tell the story, to get in the facts, to show their research.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting how little I'm liking some mainstream fiction after reading fanfiction.
aamalie wrote about characterization within writing and wanting to see some authors do better, I've wanted to write my own post.Cut for extreme length.
The other day, I was watching either USA or TNT and they had a run of original series starting last week. One of the shows is called Rizzoli and Isles (or something similar). I watched it with my mom who said the show is based on books that she has in the house. I thought the show was all right, so, out of curiosity, I tracked down one of the books with the same characters.
I'm reading it now. It's... okay. The plot is so-so and the characters are interesting. I'm just surprised at how... not good... the writing is. I said the characters were interesting. But that's in spite of the writing. The author uses such broad strokes when she describes them that we don't get to figure anything out about them on our own. For example, she references Dr. Isles (a medical examiner) as someone who is not good with people and sometimes does better with the dead than with the living. Fine, but she hammers the point in every time Dr. Isles is short with someone or has a small disagreement. I also think it would have been a good thing for the author not to mention her problem with living people at all and let the reader figure it out. Figuring stuff like that out makes us feel smart and invested in the story.
Also, the author makes it seem like no one in their right mind would want to be a M.E. and that Dr. Isles just kind of sauntered into Boston and took the job. I just don't really see that happening. First of all, there are a lot of people who want to be a M.E., I think half the students in my classes would take that job in a heartbeat. It's interesting work, the pay is okay, and when you work with the police, you get to feel like a crime fighter. From what I know, M.E. positions are very few and those who get the jobs do so because they have the right connections within county political systems. When I went on a field trip to the M.E. office, we were told not to expect to ever become M.E.'s because it's less about skill and more about who you know. Anyway, it just strikes a wrong chord with me when the author describes police and others as treating the M.E. as strange because she works with dead bodies.
It's also interesting to read this book on the heels of reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I read this because I really liked the movie. I've been looking for it in book stores, but could never find it (I could never remember the authors' names). Finally I asked and was pointed in the direction of... young adult fiction. Doh!
But, whatever, I wanted to read the book. So I bought it and did. It was really good. In fact, I think it completely nailed (some) modern relationships and I think the voice used for the main characters were interesting and fun. The book was better than the movie in a lot of places (and not quite as good in others), but the movie did a good job of capturing what was interesting in the book.
It's striking to see that YA fiction was vastly better written than a popular "adult" novel. I'm sure that young adults are reading their fiction to read about relationships (and love and sex and all of it), so those books have to do that well to survive. But why do "adult" books seem to lose that edge of realistic relationships.
I see this in fanfiction, too. There's a lot of really bad fanfiction out there. However, the stuff that's good, the stuff my f-list writes a lot of the time, is better written than actual published fiction. The stuff I read in communities and on ff.net is often more lyrical, piercing, better composed, and more realistic than even some best sellers. I think it's because fanfiction authors adore their characters and some of us want to do them respect by writing our best for them. I think that good writing in mainstream fiction can get lost when authors only write to tell the story, to get in the facts, to show their research.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting how little I'm liking some mainstream fiction after reading fanfiction.
