Re: Which book sounds most compelling?

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:15:58 +1300, zeborah@xxxxxxxxx (Zeborah) wrote:

Jonathan L Cunningham <spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:07:05 -0400, "Brian M. Scott"
<b.scott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:46:01 GMT, Jonathan L Cunningham
<spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:49e23379.22954757@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> in
rec.arts.sf.composition:

BOOK FOUR: A member of the Imperial Court of Borgim couldn't possibly
be anything less than perfect, so the empire's newest lord couldn't
possibly be an oversized ex-sailor with a salty tongue, a down-to-earth
attitude, and a forceful disposition. Nor could his dislike of courtly
affairs have made him the target of malicious gossip, gotten him engaged
to the wrong girl, or forced him to sing before the entire court. Most
particularly, he could not have brought forbidden magic into the court
or endangered the life of the emperor, because that isn't just less than
perfect -- it's high treason.

I'd be tempted to say "because that wouldn't be just less than perfect
-- it would be high treason".

The main problem with this one is that while it introduces the situation
and tone it doesn't give any clue what he's going to do about it:
situation but not story.

Too cutesy. Why not just say something like:

The empire's newest lord [name?] is an oversized ex-sailor with a salty
tongue, a down-to-earth attitude and a foreceful disposition. His
dislike of court etiquette have made him enemies who have put him into a
difficult situation, including an unwanted engagement, and a public
singing performance which will make him a laughing stock [or will it?].
On top of all that, he has brought forbidden magic to court, which is a
crime punishable by death, if found out.

Because it utterly fails to suggest the book's tone, which
is the heart of its attraction.

Or the thing that would put me off reading it.

But having read *some* of Michelle's work, I disagree that it suggests
the book's tone: I doubt the book is so badly written.

It does suggest the book's tone, and the book's not at all badly
written, though it's certainly not to everyone's taste.

Ok, I stand corrected.

Note: I actually *like* Michelle's writing, and plots, and
characterisation - what I've seen of them. My difficulties with her
writing lie elsewhere. But I *don't* like the three sentence summary
quoted above. I repeat - I don't think it suggests the book's tone:

You can't have an informed opinion on that if you haven't read that
particular book. The other books of hers that I've read don't have the
same tone.

True. I think this tone is probably a minority taste. A very minority
taste. I could be wrong about that, too, but see below.

if
it does, I definitely wouldn't want to read the book.

That's quite possible.

More than likely, I would say. A pity.

I'm digressing slightly (or more than slightly), but I perceive a real
risk that people will take one set of opinions too seriously. So I'd
like to offer some thoughts for discussion. I will discuss Michelle's
writing, and Brian's comments, and mine and yours, as a concrete
example, but I think it is more general too.

As I see it, and I'm voicing this as a point worthy of discussion, not a
certainty, quite a few of the regular posters here have idiosynractic
tastes. I, too, but our idiosyncratic tastes are not all in the same
direction.

In the nature of things, with a core of vociferous posters who, to a
certain extent, share a taste, this can cause a coterie to develop. One
which need not, and probably /does not/, reflect the majority view (of
book buyers in general).

In particular, ISTM that Brian's tastes are of a particular sort, which
is why I felt it necessary to respond to his comments. Moreover, they
are an extremum in a direction away from "mass market" tastes, if such a
thing can be defined, in which direction a lof of rasfc denizens can
also be found, but perhaps to a lesser extent. There is no doubt that
Brian is very knowledgeable about language and perhaps, to a lesser
extent, this is true to many others reading rasfc, yourself included.
And this, I believe, affects your appreciation of writing.

Now, ISTM that Michelle has a lot of talent, but that her writing is
very much in a style that reflects (a) her own preferences, and (b) her
writing friends and clique (including non-writers, probably), and
possibly (c) the sort of feedback she gets from rasfc.

Also, again a personal opinion, it is not a style with a huge mass
market appeal. This wouldn't matter if she had already been picked up by
a big publisher, nor if she didn't care about publication, nor if her
style were irreducibly of minority appeal (accepting for the sake of
example that I am correct in this diagnosis).

This personal opinion is the one I am least certain about. Maybe this
style is much more popular than I imagine. But I remain, for the moment,
of the belief that something /similar/ to this style could be popular,
but the actual style is too much for the majority. I don't think that is
condescending: rasfc is a self-selected group. It's collective taste is
bound to be off-centre.

But if, as I believe, relatively trivial modifications to her style
would greatly enhance it's appeal, make it more accessible, without
losing her distinctive voice, then if they are within the scope of what
Michelle *might* write, we are not helping her by giving only praise for
what she has written. We should be pointing out what (we perceive as)
the things that detract from mass market appeal. To do otherwise is to
ask her to write for an audience of one - oneself.

This is not a useful way to critique.

That said, it sounds like the particular novel in question cannot be
"salvaged" for the mass market, if I may put it so crudely. Only such
discerning palates as yours and Brian's will be able to appreciate the
subtle flavours, and mere plebs like me will spit it out. OTOH, perhaps
that suggests it is not the right piece to submit to the agents'
competition?

Summary: what is the purpose of a crit? Is it to express our own
preferences, and push the writer in that direction, or is it to try and
help the writer achieve /her/ objectives, whatever those might be?

Jonathan

--
"If common sense were a reliable guide, we wouldn't need
science in the first place." Amanda Gefter, New Scientist.
.

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