The 7 Writer Types You Should Avoid Becoming

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Hitch

[...]Well, I do think that there's still a difference, in the mind of most readers, between slaying of domestic pets as a device [...]

Anything that stands out as a plot device is poorly done, it doesn't really matter what it is.

In one novel I read (a crime/forensic thing) a burning cat is thrown into the heroine's home. This is, of course, very distressing for all involved - including the reader - but it turns out not to have been the heroine's cat. Yes, it was a plot device (isn't it possible to, retrospectively, identify almost anything in a story as a device?), but not too obviously so. It was all part of the building tensions against our heroine. The reader expected it to be the heroine's cat and actually gains some relief in finding it wasn't so, which gives them some additional affinity with the heroine.

As a writer I look at this with some curiosity. I wonder what the author first saw. Was it really as we saw in the published book, or did it start out as the heroine's cat and was then later changed to soften the impact on the reader. Maybe the additional (clever, I think) emotional twist was always there. ... One of the downsides of writing is spending far to much time thinking about such things.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by gmw

Anything that stands out as a plot device is poorly done, it doesn't really matter what it is.

(snippage)

As a writer I look at this with some curiosity. I wonder what the author first saw. Was it really as we saw in the published book, or did it start out as the heroine's cat and was then later changed to soften the impact on the reader. Maybe the additional (clever, I think) emotional twist was always there. ... One of the downsides of writing is spending far to much time thinking about such things.

Gotta say...I wouldn't be a crapload relieved no matter whose cat it was. Ok, so, it's not the heroine's cat, presumably, with which the audience had developed an affinity, but, still...how's it so much better if it's some other poor bastard's cat, or some feral cat? YUCK.

There's already so much animal cruelty in the world...I don't know why we have to make it worse by putting it in alleged entertainment, and yes, I say that as someone who once tossed an entire novel's concept, blueprint (outline), etc., because I couldn't get there from here, without including it. But...well, that's my individual choice, and I'm the only one bound by it.


Hitch

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Gotta say...I wouldn't be a crapload relieved no matter whose cat it was. Ok, so, it's not the heroine's cat, presumably, with which the audience had developed an affinity, but, still...how's it so much better if it's some other poor bastard's cat, or some feral cat? YUCK.

Sure, no one is expected to be happy about it, as such. But it is something that plays against people's weakness for emphasising their immediate situation (do they feel better or worse off now than they did a moment ago). It's also a common PR stunt used by governments and by companies. Tell everyone something really bad is going to happen, let them all get upset over it, then appear to relent and say it's only going to be half as bad and everyone feels better.

It's the same principle as hitting your head against a brick wall. Why do it? Because it feels so good when you stop.

(I'm wondering if I've stumbled over some sort of ultimate truth about fiction . I mean, what do we do but put our protagonists in peril of one sort or another, apply lots of stress and strain to them and the reader, and then - usually - we give them a way out and everyone feels good at the end. This, despite all the mayhem, and often outright tragedy, that happened along the way. Is fiction just another way to hit our heads against a brick wall?)

Originally Posted by Hitch

There's already so much animal cruelty in the world...I don't know why we have to make it worse by putting it in alleged entertainment, and yes, I say that as someone who once tossed an entire novel's concept, blueprint (outline), etc., because I couldn't get there from here, without including it. But...well, that's my individual choice, and I'm the only one bound by it.

But the "already so much" argument applies to violence against humans too. Indeed, by this argument we probably should see more animal cruelty in books, if we expect them to be any sort of reflection of society.

[E.M.DuBois]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As a reader, one thing that turns me off is reading the description of a book and it says something like "For fans of ABC & XYZ, you'll love this."

8. The writer who has to be compared to some other writer.

For a time, I was really paranoid about my work being compared to Harry Potter or Star Wars, and therefore scrapped entire works from my Apocalypse Chronicles Series just because of that. I wanted to be unique and unprecedented in my work. By the time I was done cutting how anything that sounded familiar to either two titles, I was left with a few paragraphs of the first novel. Throw Supernatural into the mix, and I couldn't have even hade those paragraphs.

But then I did things like watched the intros to the Star Wars Special Edition trilogy and other documentaries about it, as well as really delved into the lore Rowling based her novels on. Heck, Lucas had gone through a hundred convolutes and weird (even for Star Wars) ideas before settling on what the Force was. And Rowling cherry-picked Merlin's mythology to make it seem less Christian so it'd fit into the world she was creating. It occurred to me that I could use the elements I had wanted to, and still make them unique enough to distinguish from titles that had been done before.

Now I'm not as afraid to be compared to other authors, because I know what sets me apart from them. I'd rather not be, but I definitely don't feel the need to have my work compared to theirs to falsely lure in an audience.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois

For a time, I was really paranoid about my work being compared to Harry Potter or Star Wars, and therefore scrapped entire works from my Apocalypse Chronicles Series just because of that. I wanted to be unique and unprecedented in my work. By the time I was done cutting how anything that sounded familiar to either two titles, I was left with a few paragraphs of the first novel. Throw Supernatural into the mix, and I couldn't have even hade those paragraphs.

But then I did things like watched the intros to the Star Wars Special Edition trilogy and other documentaries about it, as well as really delved into the lore Rowling based her novels on. Heck, Lucas had gone through a hundred convolutes and weird (even for Star Wars) ideas before settling on what the Force was. And Rowling cherry-picked Merlin's mythology to make it seem less Christian so it'd fit into the world she was creating. It occurred to me that I could use the elements I had wanted to, and still make them unique enough to distinguish from titles that had been done before.

Now I'm not as afraid to be compared to other authors, because I know what sets me apart from them. I'd rather not be, but I definitely don't feel the need to have my work compared to theirs to falsely lure in an audience.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by E.M.DuBois

For a time, I was really paranoid about my work being compared to Harry Potter or Star Wars, and therefore scrapped entire works from my Apocalypse Chronicles Series just because of that. I wanted to be unique and unprecedented in my work. By the time I was done cutting how anything that sounded familiar to either two titles, I was left with a few paragraphs of the first novel. Throw Supernatural into the mix, and I couldn't have even hade those paragraphs.

But then I did things like watched the intros to the Star Wars Special Edition trilogy and other documentaries about it, as well as really delved into the lore Rowling based her novels on. Heck, Lucas had gone through a hundred convolutes and weird (even for Star Wars) ideas before settling on what the Force was. And Rowling cherry-picked Merlin's mythology to make it seem less Christian so it'd fit into the world she was creating. It occurred to me that I could use the elements I had wanted to, and still make them unique enough to distinguish from titles that had been done before.

Now I'm not as afraid to be compared to other authors, because I know what sets me apart from them. I'd rather not be, but I definitely don't feel the need to have my work compared to theirs to falsely lure in an audience.

If others are comparing your work positively to someone else that is great.
It is the authors that compare themselves to big name authors that annoy readers.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

If others are comparing your work positively to someone else that is great.
It is the authors that compare themselves to big name authors that annoy readers.

It's only in the recent world of unfiltered mass self e-publishing that I have come to see this as a problem.
In the old BPH world, I always saw it as simply the publisher's way of clarifying the genre for me. "If you like Star Wars..." or "for fans of Tom Clancy..." was simply, like appropriate cover art, a way of quickly finding books I might like.
It's only in the ocean of dreck we swim through now where such phrases immediately make me think "I know Star Wars, sir, and you are no Star Wars."

I don't mean to say that BPH gate-kept books always lived up to the comparisons, anymore than a great cover meant a great book. Only that it didn't seem inappropriate, or boastful, or like a mark of unoriginality.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ApK

It's only in the recent world of unfiltered mass self e-publishing that I have come to see this as a problem.
In the old BPH world, I always saw it as simply the publisher's way of clarifying the genre for me. "If you like Star Wars..." or "for fans of Tom Clancy..." was simply, like appropriate cover art, a way of quickly finding books I might like.
It's only in the ocean of dreck we swim through now where such phrases immediately make me think "I know Star Wars, sir, and you are no Star Wars."

I don't mean to say that BPH gate-kept books always lived up to the comparisons, anymore than a great cover meant a great book. Only that it didn't seem inappropriate, or boastful, or like a mark of unoriginality.

I can even handle the "If you like JK Rowling, you'll like this" stuff. It's better than the "This book will make you laugh/cry/howl like a jackal" crap. That's an instant "no, thanks," from me. I don't want the author presumptuously telling me how much I'm going to love his work, that's exceedingly offputting. EXCEEDINGLY.


Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I'm not gonna lie--I'm the same way. Kill 50 guys, meh. Kill THE CAT? And you're on my sh*tlist for life, no redemption possible. ;-)

Hitch

tempting offer to kill the cat. But actually, I'd rather kill people who make poorly coded and/or poorly formatted eBooks. That means most people who make eBooks would be dead. I'm tired of the same stupid coding.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I can even handle the "If you like JK Rowling, you'll like this" stuff. It's better than the "This book will make you laugh/cry/howl like a jackal" crap. That's an instant "no, thanks," from me. I don't want the author presumptuously telling me how much I'm going to love his work, that's exceedingly offputting. EXCEEDINGLY.


Hitch

I find "If you liked xyz", to be a move on to the next book's listing. Another thing that turns me off is when the description move review than description.

[arjaybe]

What number are we up to? Or should that be, to what number are we up? Oh, hell,

N+1. The writer who spends more time listening to readers than they do writing.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

What number are we up to? Or should that be, to what number are we up? Oh, hell,

N+1. The writer who spends more time listening to readers than they do writing.

[Dutchbook]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

10. The writer who doesn't realize the cover is absolute crap (most self-published eBook at Amazon)

Why should the cover matter?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Dutchbook

Why should the cover matter?

First impressions.
If the cover looks like it was done by a 4 year old, I will pass.

Unless it is a children's book written and illustrated by a 4 year old.
Sorry but if the cover looks homemade, I figure the author spent about as much time on making sure the book is readable.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Dutchbook

Why should the cover matter?

Is that a rhetorical question?

For reference, this is a great place to start: http://www.creativindie.com/8-cover-...-buying-books/

Even though we make our shekels, at my biz, formatting eBooks, I tell clients that if they HAVE TO choose, choose a commercial cover design(er) over professional formatting.

Before I got into the biz, I had a friend who was a book shepherd. She told me that cover design was THE most important thing, in a book. I guffawed and said that was ridiculous, the BOOK mattered.

I was wrong. In 3500+ eBooks, I've learned that great covers can sell mediocre books, mediocre covers can sink great books, and a horrible cover is instant book book-i-cide. Seriously. I can prove it, using a series of books done by a client, just based on the covers. It's MIND-boggling.

A bad cover=instant death for a self-pubbed book.

Hitch