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Jul. 18th, 2012 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. People continue to bewilder me. Here's an old story that a friend repeated to me recently:
Mrs. Y: My daughter handed in a paper that had been published in Redbook to her teacher for a grade. She got a C. Clearly the teacher doesn't know grammar. Since my daughter copied it directly from an article published in Redbook.
My friend was speechless. Seriously, where do you start? Let's see what is wrong with this statement?
Me (to friend): You should have told Mrs. Y - that next time your daughter decides to plagiarize an article, to choose a better publication. Possibly the New Yorker or The Atlantic Monthly. Redbook, sorry to say, isn't exactly known for its stellar editorial department. The good news? She'll get an A. The bad news, the teacher will most likely figure out she plagiarized it from the New Yorker. But you never know.
Sigh. Teacher's really aren't paid enough are they?
2. Struggling with new romance novel, Private Arrangements - it is well written, better than most of the others I've read to date. It reminds me a great deal of an EM Forsterer novel or Emma by Jane Austen, has that sort of feel to it. But the hero is a self-righteous ass that I keep wanting to smack upside the head. This is a problem. I figured out why he bugs me, he doesn't take responsibility for anything. He blames it all on other people. Characters like that drive me crazy. I'm only 35% of the way in, there is a possibility the writer will redeem him. The problem with e-books, is you can't skip ahead to find out. Well you can, but not easily.
It's interesting what makes it difficult to sympathize or feel for a character. It's different for everyone, I suspect - mainly from reading the discussion threads and reviews on Good Reads. Talk about diametrically opposed views - want proof that people see the same things in books - read those reviews.
For me? I can't abide characters who do not take responsibility for their actions. Or worse stories that let them off the hook with some weird ex deus machina. This is actually my central problem with Joss Whedon's writing at the moment. It's also why I could not stand the books Atonement and House of Sand and Fog. The soap opera genre can be annoying for the same reason.
I don't need the character to be punished or even to show remorse, what I need is the character to do is own their actions and take responsibility for them. Such as Walt White and Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, or even Damon in Vamp Diaries. Stefan annoys me as does Angel because they both blame something else - it wasn't me, I didn't choose this. Yes, you did, you dimwit. Deal. Sookie Stackhouse? Same problem. It's my biggest pet peeve.
Honestly? I do not care how nasty a character is - as long as they frigging take responsibility.
Other people require remorse. Eh. I have simple needs when it comes to fictional characters. Just own the action and we'll move from there. Characters who do not own their actions can't evolve or change, they remain the same.
3. Thunderstorm that decided to wait until I walked home, almost killed me. I was standing across the street from a lightening strike. Okay, it was technically two streets away.
And then, when I got off the tube at 2nd Place, it decided to become a tropical storm, complete with lighting, thunder, and 50 mile per hour winds. Lovely. I took refuge for a bit in a bodega (needed to get watermelon and apples anyhow). Got bored and when the wind settled down a bit, braved the wilds - only to get soaked to the skin (and yes, I was carrying an umbrella).
This was after a difficult day at work. Secretary who has been putting labels on my finished files, stated that I must have a headache when I go home. The stack of red file folders is endless. (These are all the contractual releases that I've awarded for abating the railroad and Long Island of hazardous waste.).
Mrs. Y: My daughter handed in a paper that had been published in Redbook to her teacher for a grade. She got a C. Clearly the teacher doesn't know grammar. Since my daughter copied it directly from an article published in Redbook.
My friend was speechless. Seriously, where do you start? Let's see what is wrong with this statement?
Me (to friend): You should have told Mrs. Y - that next time your daughter decides to plagiarize an article, to choose a better publication. Possibly the New Yorker or The Atlantic Monthly. Redbook, sorry to say, isn't exactly known for its stellar editorial department. The good news? She'll get an A. The bad news, the teacher will most likely figure out she plagiarized it from the New Yorker. But you never know.
Sigh. Teacher's really aren't paid enough are they?
2. Struggling with new romance novel, Private Arrangements - it is well written, better than most of the others I've read to date. It reminds me a great deal of an EM Forsterer novel or Emma by Jane Austen, has that sort of feel to it. But the hero is a self-righteous ass that I keep wanting to smack upside the head. This is a problem. I figured out why he bugs me, he doesn't take responsibility for anything. He blames it all on other people. Characters like that drive me crazy. I'm only 35% of the way in, there is a possibility the writer will redeem him. The problem with e-books, is you can't skip ahead to find out. Well you can, but not easily.
It's interesting what makes it difficult to sympathize or feel for a character. It's different for everyone, I suspect - mainly from reading the discussion threads and reviews on Good Reads. Talk about diametrically opposed views - want proof that people see the same things in books - read those reviews.
For me? I can't abide characters who do not take responsibility for their actions. Or worse stories that let them off the hook with some weird ex deus machina. This is actually my central problem with Joss Whedon's writing at the moment. It's also why I could not stand the books Atonement and House of Sand and Fog. The soap opera genre can be annoying for the same reason.
I don't need the character to be punished or even to show remorse, what I need is the character to do is own their actions and take responsibility for them. Such as Walt White and Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, or even Damon in Vamp Diaries. Stefan annoys me as does Angel because they both blame something else - it wasn't me, I didn't choose this. Yes, you did, you dimwit. Deal. Sookie Stackhouse? Same problem. It's my biggest pet peeve.
Honestly? I do not care how nasty a character is - as long as they frigging take responsibility.
Other people require remorse. Eh. I have simple needs when it comes to fictional characters. Just own the action and we'll move from there. Characters who do not own their actions can't evolve or change, they remain the same.
3. Thunderstorm that decided to wait until I walked home, almost killed me. I was standing across the street from a lightening strike. Okay, it was technically two streets away.
And then, when I got off the tube at 2nd Place, it decided to become a tropical storm, complete with lighting, thunder, and 50 mile per hour winds. Lovely. I took refuge for a bit in a bodega (needed to get watermelon and apples anyhow). Got bored and when the wind settled down a bit, braved the wilds - only to get soaked to the skin (and yes, I was carrying an umbrella).
This was after a difficult day at work. Secretary who has been putting labels on my finished files, stated that I must have a headache when I go home. The stack of red file folders is endless. (These are all the contractual releases that I've awarded for abating the railroad and Long Island of hazardous waste.).