AH has been bad.

[AG31]

Or maybe it's done me a favor. Probably the latter.

Since the 70's I've kept a list of reliable authors (library, not Lit). First in a notebook and then on a spread sheet. Having frequented AH for about 3 years now... No! four!, I've accumulated language for describing the kind of writing I'm encountering. Things like "info dump" and "telling, not showing." So now, when I'm not really getting into a story and can diagnose the cause, I'm more inclined to move the author from "reliable" to "rejects."

I guess that's a good thing, so thanks, AH.

 

[StillStunned]

It's a consequence of talking about writing, I reckon. We spend a lot of time (well, in between the silliness) analysing stories. Sooner or later it becomes second nature to recognise what you like and what you don't. And it helps if you can put a name to those elements.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Writing and talking about writing sure changes one's perspective even when it comes to the books we previously enjoyed. Your standards rise. I am not sure that's an entirely good thing though; it's so much harder to find the stories you truly enjoy now.

 

[TheLobster]

"Professional deviancy" is how it's called where I come from. You can't help but to pick apart flaws in an innocent product you have no business scrutinizing, and yet you are because it is within your field of expertise.

It's possible to get this habit under control, but it sure takes conscious effort.

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree. It's a two-sided coin. With all the scrutiny and nit-picking, I'm harder to please, but on the other hand when I find something I like the pleasure is even greater. I enjoy a well-drawn character, a memorable turn of phrase, or a clever plot twist more than ever before.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Or maybe it's done me a favor. Probably the latter.

Since the 70's I've kept a list of reliable authors (library, not Lit). First in a notebook and then on a spread sheet. Having frequented AH for about 3 years now... No! four!, I've accumulated language for describing the kind of writing I'm encountering. Things like "info dump" and "telling, not showing." So now, when I'm not really getting into a story and can diagnose the cause, I'm more inclined to move the author from "reliable" to "rejects."

I guess that's a good thing, so thanks, AH.

Melville had info dumps about whaling and ships. Also, arguably, about office work in "Bartleby, the Scrivener." I guess Conrad did too about the ship aspect, among other things. Updike had info dumps about Pennsylvania, plus other places like Massachusetts and Florida. But let's face it, none of us are Melville, Conrad, or Updike.

 

[THBGato]

But let's face it, none of us are Melville, Conrad, or Updike.

Yeah, thank fuck (I've never read Updike, but I gave up on Moby Dick and Under Western Eyes and Heart of Darkness didn't really engage me either.) Different times with different tastes I guess.

 

[AG31]

Melville had info dumps about whaling and ships. Also, arguably, about office work in "Bartleby, the Scrivener." I guess Conrad did too about the ship aspect, among other things. Updike had info dumps about Pennsylvania, plus other places like Massachusetts and Florida. But let's face it, none of us are Melville, Conrad, or Updike.

Oh, for sure. Anything can be done well. But "info dumps" in the hands of less than talented writers stand out and are easily nameable.

 

[StillStunned]

I got the impression that most people skipped Melville's infodump chapters. Isn't the reading guide to read every other chapter, so you either get an adventure story or else a treatise on 19th century whaling?

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh, for sure. Anything can be done well. But "info dumps" in the hands of less than talented writers stand out and are easily nameable.

I was being a little tongue-cheek there. Certainly talent is important. Yet I when I was in Reading, PA once, I noted how closely it resembled the fictional Brewer and it's various suburbs.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I got the impression that most people skipped Melville's infodump chapters. Isn't the reading guide to read every other chapter, so you either get an adventure story or else a treatise on 19th century whaling?

Yes, someone here once brought up the reading every other chapter tactic for that book. I may try it one of these days. Melville and his wife are buried a couple of miles from me in Woodlawn Cemetery.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, thank fuck (I've never read Updike, but I gave up on Moby Dick and Under Western Eyes and Heart of Darkness didn't really engage me either.) Different times with different tastes I guess.

Heart of Darkness does seem to drift around until the very last scenes. One scene that was directly used in Apocalypse Now is the killing with a spear of the riverboat pilot. Still, it's a better read than some of Henry James. He can spend two pages describing about thirty seconds of a character's thoughts.

 

[Britva415]

There’s info dumps and then there’s info dumps.

An info dump which dumps no plot-relevant Chekov’s Guns is just ponderous.

An info dump which does dump some Chekov’s Guns is still ponderous but at least it’s not useless cruft attached to an otherwise independent story.

 

[StillStunned]

Infodump one:

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy...

Infodump two:

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.

While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict....

A world of difference.

 

[TheLobster]

A world of difference.

We could definitely use an option on Lit to format our paragraphs in the form of Star Wars opening crawls.

 

[Comshaw]

AH has been bad. (snip)​

I read the title and being Lit and so close to Christmas this popped into my head:


My bad....



Comshaw

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I’m very grateful to this place for making me a snob and/or being a welcoming venue for my shenanigans

 

[Comshaw]

We could definitely use an option on Lit to format our paragraphs in the form of Star Wars opening crawls.

So what music are we going to use? Of course the Star Wars theme would work, but for my money, I think "Lady Marmalade" is the one for a Lit story crawl.

Comshaw

 

[SimonDoom]

I’m very grateful to this place for making me a snob and/or being a welcoming venue for my shenanigans

Me too. When I write something that makes me think, "That's bat-shit crazy, but the grammar's not bad," and a reader tells me "I exploded," I feel like a high-five is in order.

 

[XerXesXu]

So what music are we going to use? Of course the Star Wars theme would work, but for my money, I think "Lady Marmalade" is the one for a Lit story crawl.

Comshaw

Interesting. That may be where the name of the occasional, pop-up club in London, which describes itself as a 'swingers club' to avoid legal complications, comes from. In reality, it's a marriage agency. It holds all-you-can-fuck parties attended by single, well-set-up English gentleman and foreign girls keen to meet single, well-set-up, English gentlemen. Of course, the men pay to attend, the girls are paid for their attendance.

 

[Belegon]

So what music are we going to use? Of course the Star Wars theme would work, but for my money, I think "Lady Marmalade" is the one for a Lit story crawl.

Comshaw

<tangent warning>
I absolutely love both the movie this comes from and this video. And I deny the charge that has been laid on me that I only enjoy it because of how hot I think P!nk is in that outfit.

The truth is that I sincerely enjoy musicals in general and that enjoyment extends to the "sub-genre" of using modern music in period settings... although it is disturbingly easy to do it wrong.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I have found now that I’m seriously writing again that I have less patience for sloppy shortcuts and poor writing. On the upside I feel that I’m benefitting from this, but I’m also losing a bit of “being fat and happy,”
I love Cuckquean stories, but in the last month I’ve found exactly 3 that could hold my attention for more than 10 paragraphs.

 

[Belegon]

It was editing that took me to the point that I just can't ignore certain things and it bursts my enjoyment of some things. I've also developed quite the eye for grammar mistakes or typos in professionally published work. Stand out to me like someone had used a highlighter.

 

[AG31]

I've also developed quite the eye for grammar mistakes or typos in professionally published work.

I feel like there are more than there used to be. Like publishing companies aren't paying professional copy editors.

 

[StillStunned]

I feel like there are more than there used to be. Like publishing companies aren't paying professional copy editors.

It's been bad for a few decades. Even big publishing houses have become very sloppy.

A professor of mine at uni, who moonlighted as a copyeditor, was unable to read any book without a pencil to mark all the mistakes he found. I'm not that bad, but typos in published works set my teeth on edge. Too many, and I'll toss the book.