OK readers, I have a bit of a rant. But first for those waiting or the next installment of The Knights of Darkness, I have it written, I've had to rewrite Batman's part because I've been writing the whole thing in first person, but for whatever reason little Bruce's part was being told from the nanny s point of view; as good as it was, not what I wanted.
RANT!
I started to read a short story a couple weeks ago and I had to stop due to an aggravated case of "WHAT AM I READING!?!
It was a post apocalyptic Sci-Fi where humans as we know them are gone, but have been genetically altered into trees that bleed human blood so that the dominate alien species (that now inhabits earth) can drink it. It's fun to see new and unique takes on earth and the future, but that's not what blew my mind; what did though was the constant referrals to human "pre-tree" history references from two to three hundred years past, AND THEN POINTING OUT THAT ALL CONTEXT FOR THE REFERENCES WAS LOST! One example is. "He hunkered in like an extinct moose, what ever that was" What? If your narrator doesn't know what a moose is then how does he know it can hunker? another example is "The chyhmera relied on what the humans called gorilla tactics, what ever a gorilla was? I have often wondered where that term came from." again, what...?
Now listen, I know what the author is doing, he is painting the imagery using recognizable things. He is catering to us, so that our brains automatically shows us what he is talking about quickly. This is common practice among writers everywhere and is highly suggested. HOWEVER don't pander then pretend you don't know what your talking about. This author clearly used his terms, and descriptions correctly, then insulted us by making the characters oblivious to what they are saying. WE KNOW BETTER!
I couldn't read any more. (I read two chapters of this) and if this rant has any point at all it would be this; IF YOU ARE A WRITER PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR DESCRIPTIONS. If you are going to use a word like "hunker" in a sentence remember that most people know what that is and what it looks like without further imagery. "He hunkered in for what looked to be a long night." also remember that if you are writing about a future where nothing we recognize is left then you have to work harder. Its a fact, sci-fi is one of the hardest genres to write about. Thanks to Star Wars and star trek we are super critical about the science behind what you are building. what this author did poorly was done very well in a favorite movie of mine named Demolition Man.
If you have never seen it you should. Its a powerhouse action flick set in the future pitting Sgt. John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) against sociopath Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) after they had been cryogenically frozen for 70 years. The character Sandra Bullock plays (Lieutenant Lenina Huxley)is a peace officer who is a history buff. She is the one who suggests defrosting Spartan after the uber violent bad guy escapes cryo prison. She confidently references the past a lot and most the the people around her don't know what shes talking about. Once Spartan's back in action she ramps up her references and its fun to watch him correct her. Its clever and fun writing and a great way to correct the problem of referencing things in a world where it no longer exists.
Let's use descriptive words in our descriptions. Lets use what we know in terms of common knowledge in our descriptions. Lets also get to the point so we can get on with the plot. Lets be smart and clever about how we do this. Lets have fun and not write in ways that distract from our point.
RANT!
I started to read a short story a couple weeks ago and I had to stop due to an aggravated case of "WHAT AM I READING!?!
It was a post apocalyptic Sci-Fi where humans as we know them are gone, but have been genetically altered into trees that bleed human blood so that the dominate alien species (that now inhabits earth) can drink it. It's fun to see new and unique takes on earth and the future, but that's not what blew my mind; what did though was the constant referrals to human "pre-tree" history references from two to three hundred years past, AND THEN POINTING OUT THAT ALL CONTEXT FOR THE REFERENCES WAS LOST! One example is. "He hunkered in like an extinct moose, what ever that was" What? If your narrator doesn't know what a moose is then how does he know it can hunker? another example is "The chyhmera relied on what the humans called gorilla tactics, what ever a gorilla was? I have often wondered where that term came from." again, what...?
Now listen, I know what the author is doing, he is painting the imagery using recognizable things. He is catering to us, so that our brains automatically shows us what he is talking about quickly. This is common practice among writers everywhere and is highly suggested. HOWEVER don't pander then pretend you don't know what your talking about. This author clearly used his terms, and descriptions correctly, then insulted us by making the characters oblivious to what they are saying. WE KNOW BETTER!
I couldn't read any more. (I read two chapters of this) and if this rant has any point at all it would be this; IF YOU ARE A WRITER PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR DESCRIPTIONS. If you are going to use a word like "hunker" in a sentence remember that most people know what that is and what it looks like without further imagery. "He hunkered in for what looked to be a long night." also remember that if you are writing about a future where nothing we recognize is left then you have to work harder. Its a fact, sci-fi is one of the hardest genres to write about. Thanks to Star Wars and star trek we are super critical about the science behind what you are building. what this author did poorly was done very well in a favorite movie of mine named Demolition Man.
If you have never seen it you should. Its a powerhouse action flick set in the future pitting Sgt. John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) against sociopath Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) after they had been cryogenically frozen for 70 years. The character Sandra Bullock plays (Lieutenant Lenina Huxley)is a peace officer who is a history buff. She is the one who suggests defrosting Spartan after the uber violent bad guy escapes cryo prison. She confidently references the past a lot and most the the people around her don't know what shes talking about. Once Spartan's back in action she ramps up her references and its fun to watch him correct her. Its clever and fun writing and a great way to correct the problem of referencing things in a world where it no longer exists.
Let's use descriptive words in our descriptions. Lets use what we know in terms of common knowledge in our descriptions. Lets also get to the point so we can get on with the plot. Lets be smart and clever about how we do this. Lets have fun and not write in ways that distract from our point.
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