LaRascasse
I dream, therefore I am
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2011
- Posts
- 1,638
I've recently been reading Mark Burnell's Stephanie Patrick series (highly recommended for anyone who likes the action spy genre). There's something about his style which I want to emulate, but I want an opinion as to how it will be received.
His stories are set across multiple locales, sometimes a few pages apart. From London to Paris to Hong Kong to Moscow to Brussels to Vienna and even New York City. One thing that stands out in his work compared to others I have read is that the constant name dropping of locations - street names and landmarks. For instance, one part where our femme fatale is escaping a squad of assassins in Paris, a lot of detail goes into mentioning where she is hiding out, which roads she is taking, what are the inhabitants there like.
Personally, I like it as a reader as it gives the setting more depth and detail and richer local feel. However, on the other side of the question - as a writer, I wonder if it's worth it.
Would the average reader like to know if she took avenue de Clichy or is lying low in rue de Rivoli? If she is hiding among the milling crowd of tourists at the Gare du Nord station or recovering from her latest near miss at a filthy apartment opposite the Montmartre under a Swiss passport. The same for everywhere the story is set - be it Zurich, Munich and anywhere else. More than once I have stopped reading to Google the last paragraph and then appreciated the effort he put in.
Other writers in the genre toss in the odd street name or landmark, but this guy has to have a name for every street, a landmark for every building and a brand for every object. So the main villain in the book cannot be an arms dealer in Ukraine. He has a fascinating page long history, replete with name drops of famous cold war figures and his current whereabouts are known down to the colour of his fucking car.
This might be a case of something I enjoy as a reader, but may not be worth pursuing as a writer. For instance, one of my works in progress is set in Naples and if I were to follow Mr Burnell's template, I'd spend more time on Google Maps than actually writing.
What are your thoughts on this?
His stories are set across multiple locales, sometimes a few pages apart. From London to Paris to Hong Kong to Moscow to Brussels to Vienna and even New York City. One thing that stands out in his work compared to others I have read is that the constant name dropping of locations - street names and landmarks. For instance, one part where our femme fatale is escaping a squad of assassins in Paris, a lot of detail goes into mentioning where she is hiding out, which roads she is taking, what are the inhabitants there like.
Personally, I like it as a reader as it gives the setting more depth and detail and richer local feel. However, on the other side of the question - as a writer, I wonder if it's worth it.
Would the average reader like to know if she took avenue de Clichy or is lying low in rue de Rivoli? If she is hiding among the milling crowd of tourists at the Gare du Nord station or recovering from her latest near miss at a filthy apartment opposite the Montmartre under a Swiss passport. The same for everywhere the story is set - be it Zurich, Munich and anywhere else. More than once I have stopped reading to Google the last paragraph and then appreciated the effort he put in.
Other writers in the genre toss in the odd street name or landmark, but this guy has to have a name for every street, a landmark for every building and a brand for every object. So the main villain in the book cannot be an arms dealer in Ukraine. He has a fascinating page long history, replete with name drops of famous cold war figures and his current whereabouts are known down to the colour of his fucking car.
This might be a case of something I enjoy as a reader, but may not be worth pursuing as a writer. For instance, one of my works in progress is set in Naples and if I were to follow Mr Burnell's template, I'd spend more time on Google Maps than actually writing.
What are your thoughts on this?