Quote:
Originally Posted by wayrad
It wasn't the style that got to me so much as the fact that every single plot development hinged on one or more characters behaving with incredible stupidity...
|
The late SF writer/editor Damon Knight talked about First Order and Second Order Idiot Plots. A First Order Idiot Plot only works because the protagonist is an idiot. A Second Order Idiot Plot only works because everyone in the book is an idiot. Thinking about it, "Magic Kingdom" might qualify as Second Order.
Someone in another forum once asked if there were Third Order Idiot Plots that required the
readers to be idiots. I said "Yes, they're called Star Trek novels...", grinned, ducked, and ran.
______
Dennis