(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Don't normally find these memes amusing enought to post, but I did this one and got a really great result this year. Guess why I'm posting it? Yep it's "only" for the very last line..(hee hee hee hee.)

On the twelfth day of Christmas, shadowkat67 sent to me...

Twelve dreams writing

Eleven waterfalls drawing

Ten forests a-cooking

Nine cats traveling

Eight giles a-hiking

Seven books a-reading

Six animals a-kayaking

Five gra-a-a-aphic novels

Four fairy tales

Three edward degas

Two urban legends

...and a chocolate in a david bowie.

Get your own Twelve Days:

Proof that people have wildly divergent tastes? (As if you needed any.). Scrolling down flist - one entry is a review of the Farscape episode Back and Back and Back to the Future again - where the reviewer thought Misfits time travel episode was far better done and somewhat terrific...go down just a few entries, next poster states - Misfits screwed up royally on the time travel bit and did not do it that well at all. (LOL - or rather, laugh, cough, cough, cough, laugh, really cough.)

Also have come to the conclusion - that Hunger Games is the anti-Twilight (in case of any confusion - I'm referring to Stephanie Meyer's famous vampire romances not Joss Whedon's less infamous villain (of which we shall speak of no more.) And it hits all my story kinks:

1. kick-ass/somewhat tomboyish heroine in traditional male role - check
2. girl saves the boy - check (ie. not damsel - the girl I mean, the boy is definitely damsel)
3. survival in wilderness with just your wits (check)
4. wicked satire of current social ills that drive me crazy (aka evil marketing people and reality shows such as Survivor, Big Brother and Wipeout)
5. unrequited love (attractive boy has unrequited love for kickass heroine and is in the traditional female role, ie - not much of a fighter, better at hiding and into romance) - check
6. sci-fi satire on social and economic organizations - check.

And yes, I suppose there's a love triangel of sorts - but it's not really the main story line and the way it's written - it's actually, oddly twisty and innovative in nature. ie - the heroine is being pushed towards one guy to survive in the Games, and is playing the Game or the romance for the public, while she has a close and deep friendship established with the other guy back home that no one knows about. Nice satirical commentary on how fans influence tv writers and reality shows such as the Bachelor, etc.

If any of this stuff appeals to you on any level? You'll love the Hunger Games. Actually, I think most Buffy and Harry fans might like them. Collins is not as good a writer as JK Rowlings, but she's as good as Butcher.

Comments

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

The 12 days thing didn't work for me, instead of using words/names from my 'tags' instead it only used names of my flist, which didn't make any sense (and no humor)... :(

And I totally agree about Hunger Games, except that you think a lot more highly of JKR writing ability than I do... .

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I guess I should clarify about Rowlings. Her writing style is, how to put this? More "literary" than Collins? By that I mean - her use of vocabularly, language, and grammatical structure. In short - technique. (Some of my readers are "pickier" about these things than others.) Collins use of language is far less sophisticated and therefore less likely to impress many of the people (including many professional writers and critics), who fell for Harry Potter or Ronald Dahl. (I'm reviewing this for people on my flist who loved Rowlings and Harry Potter. So taking as objective a stance as possible)


Plot structure? Too early to tell.

Characters? So far, Rowling's characters are more developed and stand out more. But that may change. She also has less "stock" characters. This is in part due to the pov - third person distant.

Voice? Rowlings is less passive. We spend far less time explaining what is happening, and more in the thick of things.
Collins spends far too much explaining each thing.

I think you may be reacting to Rowlings in much the same way I'm reacting to Whedon but for different reasons, which I completely understand. ;-)

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

"Her writing style is, how to put this? More "literary" than Collins? By that I mean - her use of vocabularly, language, and grammatical structure."
lol
Okay, yes, of course you are absolutely right... Collin's books read more like a screen play in a lot of ways...
And although Jim Butcher is my personal favorite of the three, I know that noir/mystery never gets any respect as literature.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I know that noir/mystery never gets any respect as literature.

That's not necessarily true. (Former English Lit Major, here - who took numerous courses on noir and genre, with a literary father who spends time perusing used bookstores.)

The problem with mystery, noir, chick-lit, thriller, adventure, romance, westerns, science fiction and fantasy novels is a good percentage are written formulaic or "pulp". And there's a vast number published. The best seller's or prolific genre writers tend to follow a format guaranteed to sell, but you will on occassion get people who have merit.

How you can tell? By how long they've lasted in print or the test of time.
The quick fads are often out of print very quickly.

Examples of noir and mystery novels that were written by people who mastered the craft include:

Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue
Dashielle Hammett's The Thin Man
Patricia (forget her last name) - Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley
Agatha Christie's Curtain and Murder on the Orient Express
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep
Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn


And in sci-fantasy and horror?

Philip K. Dick's - The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Octavia Butler's Kindred
Ursula Le Quinn's The Left Hand of Darkness
Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and The Lottery

Butcher's a fun writer, but he's not quite in the same class.
Don't get me wrong, I love his books. But they are like David Baldacci,John Grisham, Crichton, John Jakes, and Janet Evanoich...fun reads.

I think for what it's worth that Collins has a lot more to say than Butcher does. And it makes sense that her style is more "script" or "screenwriter" than say Rowlings or Robin McKinely - because she came from script-writing. (Although she'd benefit from a lot more dialogue and a lot less summarizing.) I love the books, but I wish the writing was a notch better - because I think it's putting off some people out there who would eat these up for their soci-political themes alone. ( My mother for example wouldn't pick these up, but she'd read Harry Potter. Same deal with a good percentage of my flist. And that's due in a large part to "style.")

[jennylayne.livejournal.com]

I also agree - I just finished The Hunger Games, and I really liked it. I am looking forward to reading the sequels over vacation.
I liked Sunshine (Robin McKinley) even better, wish it had a sequel...

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

While I liked Sunshine...it's not really comparable. So, liked them equally. ;-)

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

The Misfits ep I was talking about was a first season one - there's a time travel plot in the second season as well which I haven't watched the end of yet but which is looking as if it isn't being handled as well, and that's probably what the other person was discussing.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes, she was discussing the most recent one. (I've not seen it.) That makes more sense, thanks for the clarification.

[liliaeth]

I love the Hunger Games. I read all three books in less than a week and it's awesome to for once read a series that doesn't just pass the Bedchell test, but that genuinely makes it their bitch*g*

It's just awesome to see how many strong female characters the books have and how often the gender roles are reversed.

Can't wait to see what you think of Finnick, now that's one role that if put in the hands of a male writer, would have ended up being a girl.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

My favorite relationships to date were Rue/Katniss and Madge/Katniss - those were the two that almost made me cry.