Thread: Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?
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Old 08-22-2014, 05:34 PM   #20515
Rev. Bob
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luffy View Post
Sorry for all that mess. I'm used to expressing my opinion without anyone (on other sites) noticing my presence. I'll try to spruce up. I did think wistful was a relevant word somewhat. Not that I do.

My secret inclination is to be judgmental against members that don't share my taste in books. It's a tendency I try hard to fight. I didn't intend to ruffle any feathers.
Imagine that I came up to you and called you a squonk. What does that mean? Is it an insult, a compliment, or a simple description? You ask me, and I say I didn't want to use a more aggressive word, but "squonk" is relevant to what I meant. Would that be at all enlightening?

In short, you still haven't said what you mean, and that's what's starting to ruffle my feathers. I would rather someone insult me to my face than tap-dance around dropping vague hints.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luffy
You seem to agree with me about evil in UF books.
I'm not so sure about that. See, I classify books based on content and intent. Dracula is horror, because it intends to horrify. The title character is an evil, scary, supernatural force that opposes and preys upon the human heroes. The Dracula Tape is urban fantasy, because it happens in the (relatvely) modern day and the title character is a supernatural being with a sense of honor and a rough way of handling those who oppose him. Same story, same events, two different intentions, two different genres. Recast the latter book so that it takes place in the Middle Ages, and it switches from urban fantasy to dark fantasy.

Thus, saying that UF features sympathetic supernaturals seems axiomatic to me. If they're not sympathetic, it's not UF - it's horror. (And yes, for this purpose, I'm lumping UF and Paranormal Romance together. It's a blurry, subjective line anyway; for me, it's a question of how important the romance is to the story.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luffy
I rebel against the same juvenile writing that maybe you find in chick lit.
There is a difference between juvenile writing (an immature prose style), writing for an audience of juveniles (YA), light writing (breezy rather than heavy), and bad writing (incompetent).

I can't stand bad writing, such as when someone mixes up homophones or can't use punctuation. The book I'm reading right now has a decent story but suffers from that sort of technical problem; the (self-published) author needs to hire a copyeditor to go over her manuscript. Juvenile writing can grate on me unless it fits the story, such as when a book's written in first person from the point of view of an immature character. I see nothing wrong with the other two options, and usually associate light writing with chick lit. (As opposed to dense or heavy writing, which I associate with nonfiction and Tolkienesque fantasy.)
Last edited by Rev. Bob; 08-22-2014 at 05:37 PM.
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