Writer's Block: Twilight becomes you
Nov. 22nd, 2009 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verushka70[Error: unknown template qotd]
I will see New Moon when I get a DVD bootleg or it comes to the $3 bargain theater. Twilight was so bad, I regretted the $3 spent, but it was WAY better than the book Twilight. However, I seriously doubt the movies could EVER be as bad as the books. Stephanie Meyers is a terrible writer. So I'm cheered to hear from critics that New Moon, the movie, is not as bad as Twilight, the movie, which was not good, although it was still way better than the book.
I can't believe Writer's Block is asking about this, but since they asked...
"It was seventy five degrees..." "I was wearing..." "It was in this town..." "I was a little worried about..." "I was suspicious..." I was, I was, I was... this is seriously the worst writing in first person passive I have ever read. Do they have Darwin awards for bad writing that wasn't intentionally bad? Because, if so, Stephanie Meyer should get first place. How about some action verbs in there? "I wore" instead of "I was wearing"; "In this town," instead of "It was in this town"; "I worried" instead of "I was a little worried"; "I asked suspiciously" instead of "I was suspicious" -- come on, this isn't even Fiction Writing 101 quality. If she submitted this for a paper in college she would (and should) get a C or D.
Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire series, the novels behind HBO's True Blood) is WAY MORE COMPETENT a vampire writer than Meyer. Anne Rice is way, WAY more competent than Meyer (although, imo, her first was her best: Interview With The Vampire really has no competition; it's prose may be a bit florid, but the entire thing is written so grippingly and descriptively, it's like an opium hallucination or fever dream.
When I finished Twilight -- and it was an impossible chore; I had to struggle because the prose is so stagnant and stultifyingly boring with it's constant first-person-passive construction -- I realized that now a thousand typing monkeys could get a multi-book publishing deal, too. Because if Stephanie Meyers could on the basis of the novel Twilight, then a thousand monkeys typing at typewriters (or computers, now) certainly can.
Go for Charlaine Harris. Or Anne Rice. Even Laurell K. Hamilton's stuff is better than Meyer (and Hamilton has gotten unbelievably shlocky; the first few Anita Blake vampire-slayer novels were the best, imo, although the last several were the porniest) -- and that's not saying much.
See what *real* vampire writers can do with the story, how their prose and plots pull you in and drag you with, rather than boring you to death and putting you off.
Seriously, I am not seeing New Moon in the theaters unless it's a bargain theater long after New Moon has burnt out at the box office. I don't think I can stomach the fanbase in a first run theater, and I most certainly am not paying $10.00 for a full price movie ticket to go see it. Even naked male abs in the rain, repeatedly, isn't really worth the $10 when I can see that (and so much more) on the Internet, for free.
I will see New Moon when I get a DVD bootleg or it comes to the $3 bargain theater. Twilight was so bad, I regretted the $3 spent, but it was WAY better than the book Twilight. However, I seriously doubt the movies could EVER be as bad as the books. Stephanie Meyers is a terrible writer. So I'm cheered to hear from critics that New Moon, the movie, is not as bad as Twilight, the movie, which was not good, although it was still way better than the book.
I can't believe Writer's Block is asking about this, but since they asked...
"It was seventy five degrees..." "I was wearing..." "It was in this town..." "I was a little worried about..." "I was suspicious..." I was, I was, I was... this is seriously the worst writing in first person passive I have ever read. Do they have Darwin awards for bad writing that wasn't intentionally bad? Because, if so, Stephanie Meyer should get first place. How about some action verbs in there? "I wore" instead of "I was wearing"; "In this town," instead of "It was in this town"; "I worried" instead of "I was a little worried"; "I asked suspiciously" instead of "I was suspicious" -- come on, this isn't even Fiction Writing 101 quality. If she submitted this for a paper in college she would (and should) get a C or D.
Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire series, the novels behind HBO's True Blood) is WAY MORE COMPETENT a vampire writer than Meyer. Anne Rice is way, WAY more competent than Meyer (although, imo, her first was her best: Interview With The Vampire really has no competition; it's prose may be a bit florid, but the entire thing is written so grippingly and descriptively, it's like an opium hallucination or fever dream.
When I finished Twilight -- and it was an impossible chore; I had to struggle because the prose is so stagnant and stultifyingly boring with it's constant first-person-passive construction -- I realized that now a thousand typing monkeys could get a multi-book publishing deal, too. Because if Stephanie Meyers could on the basis of the novel Twilight, then a thousand monkeys typing at typewriters (or computers, now) certainly can.
Go for Charlaine Harris. Or Anne Rice. Even Laurell K. Hamilton's stuff is better than Meyer (and Hamilton has gotten unbelievably shlocky; the first few Anita Blake vampire-slayer novels were the best, imo, although the last several were the porniest) -- and that's not saying much.
See what *real* vampire writers can do with the story, how their prose and plots pull you in and drag you with, rather than boring you to death and putting you off.
Seriously, I am not seeing New Moon in the theaters unless it's a bargain theater long after New Moon has burnt out at the box office. I don't think I can stomach the fanbase in a first run theater, and I most certainly am not paying $10.00 for a full price movie ticket to go see it. Even naked male abs in the rain, repeatedly, isn't really worth the $10 when I can see that (and so much more) on the Internet, for free.
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Date: 2009-11-23 02:12 am (UTC)...but seriously, after reading the books, nothing in this world will be able to force me to see the movies - you have a stronger stomach than I do! XD
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Date: 2009-11-23 02:26 am (UTC)Alas, like you said in your post, if Meyer can publish such a horrible (because of the poor execution and pacing) book, anyone (no matter the degree of talent) can publish a novel.
Well, actually, here in fandom, many people have and what's been posted is a zillion times better than the Twilight saga.
Also, yeah, Anne Rice's best vampire stuff appeared in the first two (maybe three) books. The quality jumped down the abyss after Queen of the Damned never to return.
I haven't read Anita Blake. Meh.
In truth, I'm not in the habit of reading a lot of vampire (or supernatural) pro fic. So, not counting the Harry Potter books, I would reccomend Poppy Z's Lost Souls as well as Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series. The first is a very in-your-face pro-slash novel as you well know. ;)
The Joe Pitts are decent enough (from a vampire perspective) and quite engaging (from a detective angle).
Don't know if you read about werewolves, but I've dug Kelley Armstrong female werewolf books.
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Date: 2009-11-24 04:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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