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You are viewing the most recent 20 entries June 14th, 200410:33 pm: Rant on gay and lesbian characters in fantasy, for <lj user
And ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tavalya_ra. And troubadour118. And bbhtryoink. And lots of other people. (Warning: Vicious, big-time spoilers for Lackey's Last Herald-Mage and Arrows trilogies, the first book of Fiona Patton's Branion series, S. M. Stirling's and Shirley Meier's Fifth Millennium books, and Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series. Minor spoilers for Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint). ( Gay and lesbian characters in fantasy )Well. Certainly had a lot more to say about that than I thought I did. And I think that’s the longest rant I’ve ever written. Tags: fantasy rants spring 2004, rants on gender
June 12th, 200410:39 pm: And are your characters sane today? (for <lj user
Unless your characters really are all loons, I hope so. For the sake of the story, as well as your readers. ( Why would any sane person... )In some fantasies, the only way to explain most people's behavior is that the local asylum birthday bash let out early. And it shouldn't be that way. Tags: characterization: protagonists, fantasy rants spring 2004
June 10th, 200410:08 pm: My problem isn't (necessarily) Marion Zimmer Bradley (for <lj user
It's that she's so widely imitated, and she has so much in her work that can get dumbed down so easily, and that she started imitating herself (if there was any difference in basic plot between Lady of Avalon and The Mists of Avalon I couldn't tell what it was). ( So here's why I never, ever want to write like Marion Zimmer Bradley )It's odd that the novels I like most by Bradley- Stormqueen!, The World Wreckers, and The Heritage of Hastur- are ones that I've been told are very conventional and not her best work. I don't know. I find them far less conventional than what she did with the other things, if only because she has so many imitators now that she's become convention. Tags: author-specific rants, fantasy rants spring 2004, stupid clichés rants
June 7th, 200411:05 pm: Stupid plots rant, for <lj user
Well, I’ve had my say about the Quest plot (twice), but, as dawnkiller pointed out, that’s not the only overused (and often terminally stupid) plot in fantasy. There’s also “Let’s defeat the Dark Lord!” And “Let’s get the heir his throne back, never mind the usurper is doing a fine job of ruling in his place!” And, usually, “Let’s do both at once!” Yes, Tolkien did both at once, and yes, he did a good job with it. ( But most fantasy authors are not Tolkien, and they really shouldn’t start believing the blurbs on the backs of their own books )Feel appropriately snarly now. I hate the “royal heirs raised as peasants” plotline more than anything in the world, but save-the-world plots in general make me want to bite them. Tags: author-specific rants, fantasy rants spring 2004, rants on plotting
June 3rd, 200410:57 pm: Well, this would have been earlier and longer...
But first I was delayed by a REAL LIVE FIRE in the apartment above mine, which took some time. And then I decided that really, this is another of those common-sense things that more people should know about, so this is just a little list. ( Things to do with viewpoint that make Limyaael cry )Too many stories make me want to reach for seasick medication lately. They need trimming, or even the axe that the firemen used to chop through my neighbor's door. Tags: fantasy rants spring 2004, rants on viewpoint
June 1st, 200407:51 pm: Instilling perceptiveness in a character.
And here I go being declamatory again. And using examples from my favorite authors to show how some people get around the pitfalls. ( Well, I think it's hard )I've been thinking quite a lot about this lately- probably because I've noticed that the stories I most love are those where the author makes me see both the characters' thoughts and the limitations of those thoughts, where everyone is a full and deeply complex person, though we may share only one of those minds. Tags: fantasy rants spring 2004, rants on empathy
May 21st, 200401:12 pm: Author's Darlings, and murdering them in their cradles.
Author's Darlings are not, for me, the same as Canon Mary Sues. Canon Mary Sues I consider those characters whose perceptions are perfectly in accord with objective reality, who are always right, who don't make mistakes. Author's Darlings are the characters who, when I read them, make me able to hear the author going, "Teehee! Isn't he cute?" in the background, or "Awww! Isn't she wonderful?" in the background. No, they are not cute. They are not wonderful. They need to die now, and people need to learn the difference between loving their characters and falling in love with their characters. To show more clearly what I mean, I'll use a character who could so easily have been an Author's Darling, but instead turned out pretty damn good: Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos. ( An Author's Darling this way comes... )Having seen enough truly creepy character obsessions in fandom, I have no desire to see more in fantasy fiction. Tags: author's darlings, fantasy rants spring 2004, stupid clichés rants
May 20th, 200411:14 pm: The 'proper' uses of language.
Writing is like sheer exultant fire when it goes well. And did I mention that I really like having new music? I got the Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, and Kate Price CD's I ordered as end-of-finals presents today. Whoo-hoo! Anyway, this is less a rant than a list of "This is how I really like to see language used in fantasy fiction." And of course the usual, "Yes, if an author is skilled enough he/she can get away with anything" disclaimer applies. My liking of authors with really spare styles like Glen Cook proves that. It's just that a) I see a lot more authors who can't get away with it than ones who can, and b) the authors I treasure most use language very well and in what I think are the right ways. ( Ways I really like to see language used )There's a lot of fantasy I consider okay, some I consider good, but very little I consider great and will reread- and all of the great authors know what they are doing with language. I just rather quite wish Kay would stop it with his "very." Tags: fantasy rants spring 2004, rants on style
May 17th, 200412:01 pm: Rant on abuse of abused characters.
This was inspired by trying to read Diana Pharoah Francis’s Path of Fate last night, which I won’t be finishing. It’s an excellent lesson in how not to begin a fantasy book. In six pages, we have angsty monologues, plucky!orphaned!heroine, infodumps, “As you know, Bob…” conversations, and the bully who, of course, only exists to make the heroine’s life miserable. The bully makes even less sense in context, since he’s apparently been chosen to be part of an order of good people. Blecch. ( Why I find it hard to read fantasy stories with abused heroes and heroines )Strange how there are authors I will let get away with anything, even melodrama (like Kay and Martin), as long as they show that the suffering the characters go through is not the only thing that matters. Tags: characterization: protagonists, fantasy rants spring 2004, stupid clichés rants
May 7th, 200409:37 pm: How can you tell the characters from the world?
Yes, I meant to rant next about male characters, but this has been on my mind a lot lately. (And this one is even less rantish than the others. I need a name for them other than that. Essay? Maybe, but I associate essays with school. And research. And obscure academic arguments). ( If you can really tell the dancer from the dance... )Well, um. That got into things I didn't expect it to get into. Tags: fantasy rants spring 2004, themes i turn to
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