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So, there are these up and coming fantasy authors who receive wide critical acclaim in the SFF community because of their amazing style and/or voice.
I can't stand them. It reads to me as overwritten and pretentious, which is everything I hate in fiction. For example, Catherynne Valente. I wanted to like Palimpsest, and I liked the idea behind it (a sexually-transmitted city? cool!), but when I read it, I kept wishing she hadn't spent so much effort on style.
I've read excerpts from a forthcoming novel (or very recently released?), and ... I have the same problem. I have no plans to read it entirely, so I won't mention the title here, though the author's initials are NJ. I've read gushing reviews, and, while the story might be good (fantasy has recently become very much Not My Cup of Tea), the writing hits me in that trying too hard spot.
(Then there's the dang (also horribly overwritten) Kushiel series, which I wanted to like but hated for a variety of reasons, including a) I wanted the narrator to die because she was such a self-absorbed twat and b) Carey made BDSM BORING. Also c) indentured sexual servitude of minors without their consent, aside from being born into it. WHICH ISN'T CONSENT, GUYS.)
So I must be defective, and a bad writer who likes bad writing, because I don't like these great New Fantasy™ writers and think they overwrite and are trying to become Literary. I like straightforward, unpretentious writing. And there's so much recently written that seems to be filled with Literary Allusions that Smart People should Get, though in reality Smart People means "former English majors."
I'll never be successful, I guess, if the market is all about attempting to write in a Literary style.
I can't stand them. It reads to me as overwritten and pretentious, which is everything I hate in fiction. For example, Catherynne Valente. I wanted to like Palimpsest, and I liked the idea behind it (a sexually-transmitted city? cool!), but when I read it, I kept wishing she hadn't spent so much effort on style.
I've read excerpts from a forthcoming novel (or very recently released?), and ... I have the same problem. I have no plans to read it entirely, so I won't mention the title here, though the author's initials are NJ. I've read gushing reviews, and, while the story might be good (fantasy has recently become very much Not My Cup of Tea), the writing hits me in that trying too hard spot.
(Then there's the dang (also horribly overwritten) Kushiel series, which I wanted to like but hated for a variety of reasons, including a) I wanted the narrator to die because she was such a self-absorbed twat and b) Carey made BDSM BORING. Also c) indentured sexual servitude of minors without their consent, aside from being born into it. WHICH ISN'T CONSENT, GUYS.)
So I must be defective, and a bad writer who likes bad writing, because I don't like these great New Fantasy™ writers and think they overwrite and are trying to become Literary. I like straightforward, unpretentious writing. And there's so much recently written that seems to be filled with Literary Allusions that Smart People should Get, though in reality Smart People means "former English majors."
I'll never be successful, I guess, if the market is all about attempting to write in a Literary style.
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Date: 2010-02-17 05:01 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-02-17 05:36 pm (UTC)From:I'm sure there's some English-major-stuff that isn't convoluted and focused intently on crawling up its own ass. Tell me there is, at least, even if it's a lie.
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Date: 2010-02-17 05:47 pm (UTC)From:Also, Tolkien.
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Date: 2010-02-17 06:10 pm (UTC)From:(PS: Any interest in going to ReaderCon?)
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Date: 2010-02-17 06:15 pm (UTC)From:ReaderCon would involve interacting with other human beings. Ugh.
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Date: 2010-02-17 06:26 pm (UTC)From:Point taken.
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Date: 2010-02-17 07:55 pm (UTC)From: