The Story Tellers' Talent
or what makes a great author. Since we are in the winter doldrums between the pre Christmas releases and the spring releases starting in March, I’ve been looking new reading material. While I’ve scored on some backlist books by various authors that I like, I’ve also been trying new authors, both regular published and self published. Most of them lack that certain something that keeps me engaged. I can already hear some of the pro indie types shutting down their minds saying “Oh this is just another anti-indie rant”, but that’s not the point or intent of the post.
The authors on my favorite author list have that certain talent for engaging me on an emotional level. They make me care about the characters and what is happening. The characters are believable, not card board cutouts who are there to move the action along. Most authors, both regular published and indie published, lack this talent.
To use an example from a different area of entertainment, I point to the last Star Wars movie, Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith. In that movie, Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. For me, it was completely unbelievable. Skywalker goes from Jedi to killing other Jedi and little kids in a blink of the eye, just because he’s going through some sort of teenage angst. Yea, right. In comparison, I look at a Josh Whedon creation, Dr Horrible’s sing along blog. (If you haven’t seen it, give it a shot, It’s worth watching). In what is essentially a throw away 40 minute show, you totally get how a somewhat dorky want to be bad guy really does becomes evil. That’s talent.
One of the books that I bought was the first of the Monster Squad books by Heath Stallcup. It seemed to be popular (they have even made it into an audio book) and got good reviews. I actually first noticed it on audible.com. At first glance, it’s a Monster Hunter (Larry Correia’s best selling series) knock off. Larry Correia started as an indie and still publishes some books as an indie and is one of my favorite authors.
Return of the Phoenix is not a bad book, but it never engaged me. It lacks the spark that pulls me in. He tries to engage on an emotional level, for example, one character is introduced trying to deliver a present to his kid’s birthday party and being stopped by his ex. That ought to be emotionally engaging, but it just seemed pro forma, at least to me. I compare that to the first chapter of Monster Hunters, which immediately draws the reader in.
Another book that I picked up was Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. Stroud writes for a younger audience (this one is listed for middle school), but he knows how to draw the reader in. I had read his Bartimaeus series and really enjoyed it. He has that spark.
Of course, one of the reasons that my favorite author’s list is so short (as least the ones who are still actively writing) is that the story teller’s talent isn’t very common and most of the better authors tend to write anywhere from a couple books a year to a book every couple of years. That makes for some lean months when none of them have anything coming out.
I would be interested to hear what others think about favored authors and if they see a similar difference between authors. Of course, I'm sure that some have a totally different view about such things, which is fine. It would be a terrible thing if we all agreed.
