elisi | A few musings.

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A few musings.

So, writing my Pern crack!fic (and re-reading most of 'Dragonflight' in the process) made me think about Anne McCaffrey as a writer. I've read quite a lot of her output (most of her Pern stories, ditto 'The Tower and the Hive' series, the Peytabee trilogy, some of the Acorna books and The Crystal Singer. Maybe more, but those are the ones that spring to mind. It was some years ago...) - and I've come to a conclusion: Her biggest weakness is her characters. Let me explain:

1) Her 'good' characters/heroes are usually great and well-rounded. I adore F'lar, Lessa, Robinton etc. I think the only problem there is the lack of what Joss does so superbly - testing them to see what they're made of. I'm not thinking of self-sacrifice, but morally grey/difficult situations, and times when they might have to choose to sacrifice *someone else*.

2) I can't think of a single morally ambiguous character in any of her books (it's been a while though, so please remind me?). I mean people like Faith, Lindsey, Snape, Mr Bennet (from Heroes) etc. - those that blur the lines between good and bad, so you never know what side they'll go for, and those that cross over from one to the other - and back again. And so forth - there is endless variation.

3) Her baddies are all paperthin, with not a single redeeming feature. I could go into this in great depth, but instead I'll just for a moment ask you to compare Kylara and Lilah. QED.

And that's all you get today. She is a great storyteller, and has a brilliant imagination, but this one flaw is very sad. Is her son any better?

In other news, I wrote a review of issue 8 of s8, but it was so negative that I'm not going to post it (v. annoyed by characters being written like their S4 counter-parts, if you're curious). ETA: If it wasn't for the artwork and the characterisations, I'd like s8 so much more, I think (sidestepping the issue of the ret-cons, the castle, the high-tech stuff etc for now). But - since the artwork and the characterisations are what I love most about the Lynch/Urru comics, I'm guessing it's fairly obvious why I'm looking forward to 'After the Fall'. *crosses fingers yet again*

To end on a happier note I've (since Tuesday) written 2168 words of 'Divided Destiny', and nearly finished chapter 9. :) (It'll need a lot of work, obviously, but it's flowing nicely!)

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Also, she thinks that tent pegs make you gay :)

*blinks*
*blinks again*
wtf?

That is hysterical. Honestly, I can't think what to say, because... *is incoherent*

McCaffrey. Good on world building and plot. Weak on other stuff. I'm glad I read then in when I did - really young.

And her sexual politics - a little scary.

I'm glad I read then in when I did - really young.
Same here. OK, I was a teenager, but a lot of it went over my head (and what I *did* notice I didn't want to think too hard about. *g*).

And her sexual politics - a little scary.
I've just caught up with the whole 'tent pegs make you gay' thing, and my mind is still boggling. Mostly I want to throw Capt Jack at her... *g*

The odd thing is that AMcC has said she deliberately wrote the whole thing about blue and brown and green dragon matings because she liked the idea of the social elite of her world being mostly gay. (And as a side issue, she got into writing SF/fantasy in the first place back in the 1960s as an explicitly feminist statement). So I don't think she's exactly prejudiced, just ~~batshit insane~~ has some really odd ideas...

she liked the idea of the social elite of her world being mostly gay.
I know her work was very progressive at the time, but I do wonder why there are no gay women...

So I don't think she's exactly prejudiced, just ~~batshit insane~~ has some really odd ideas...
Heh. There's also the fact that she 'patrols' her fandom to make sure everything's 'done right'. Thank goodness for Joss! ;)

The thing is, gold and bronze riders (who are strongly implied to be superior human beings, however poorly their actions support that at times, because Dragons Just Know This Stuff) are all straight, and green riders (the quote feminine unquote gays) are characterized as flighty, bitchy, none-too-bright sluts.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

I was just thinking that myself soon after I posted... So yeah. I think she deserves some credit considering when and where she was born, but I'm not defending her views in a modern context.

Thella, Lady Holdless, started out as a very promising character, an extremely smart rogue in the world of Pern, where order is supreme. She's charismatic, has a good eye for sizing people up, is one hell of a strategist, and ruthless in securing her supremacy. She becomes something of an evil Robin Hood, distributing the stolen wealth to the poor and downtrodden in order to secure her rule over her hold.
Unfortunately, she descends into madness to become obsessed with killing the story's persecuted dragon-hearing, royal-veined, wimpy Mary Sue, pursued with dopy devotion by the gypsy Jayge. Instead of focusing on rebuilding herself like the strategist Thella always had been, she begins a series of vengeful attacks like the typical stupid villan with the memory of a goldfish.
Always kind of had a soft spot for that villan in my heart, who showed such potential.

Interestingly enough, while searching to try and remember Jayge's name (Thella sticks with me, but not the other names), I found this on Wiki: "In 2002, the WB Network and writer Ronald D. Moore (of Battlestar Galactica fame) had completed sets and casting, and were within a few days of filming. Moore had sent the pilot episode to WB for final approval. When it was returned, it was returned with so many changes to the basic structure of Pern (making it more like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer)that it no longer much resembled the world created by Anne McCaffrey. As a fan of the Pern series, Moore refused to continue under the changes made, and filming was cancelled and rights were returned to Anne McCaffrey."

What could have been, eh?

Wow. Interesting!

Although the mind boggles on how, exactly, you could change the Pern stories into even remotely resembling BtVS!

I know! Lessa, the Chosen One in the Ruatha line, survives to become the Queen Slayer of Thread, watched and taught by the Masterharper, Robinton. Together, with her trusty companions, Lord Holder Jaxom and Menolly, they work to keep peace in Pern and slay the Thread that stalks the land.
There's a twist, though. F'lar, the broody Weyrleader who loves Lessa, is plagued by a terrible curse - if he becomes supremely happy for a moment, he'll lose his ability to be smugly right about everything. After a night of dragon-roused passion, F'lar begins getting things wrong - misjudging Threadfall, negotiating poorly with the Oldtimers, earning the disrespect of the Weyr and the Lord Holders, pissing off Mnementh. Though a slap from Lessa restores him, he is shaken enough by the experience to take himself away from her for their safety.
Enter F'nor, F'lar's younger brother, who Impressed a brown, Canth, and has always been second to his older brother in everything, and has quite a complex about it. But he dares to love Lessa, and dares further to try and have Canth fly Ramoth - and succeeds. Their affair afterward is carried on in secret, for what would people think if they knew the Weyrwoman was carrying on with a brown rider?
Meanwhile, Robinton is accused of being too innovative and with the changing times, and is disbarred from the Council of Harpers. Jaxom gets tired of being the supposed underdog as youngest Holder and rider of a runt dragon, and quits school to go ride around with the traders, and ends up going behind the Weyrs and cleaning up their 'mistakes' - Holds and people that were eaten by Thread. Menolly becomes a supreme Harper, but almost blows it all when she develops a crippling addiction to fellis juice and can't Harp anymore, except under controlled circumstances.
And I could go on...

*is hysterical*

ROFL!!! I love it!!

Thella, Lady Holdless, started out as a very promising character, an extremely smart rogue in the world of Pern, where order is supreme.
Ah yes, I remember her, and would have mentioned her if a) I'd had more time to write and b) I could actually remember the book at all. But I think she too suffers from the McCaffrey problem - she's smart and determined etc, but she's also a cold hearted bitch, who only cares about power. (Is Jayge big and dumb? Because he is the one 'baddie' that I can remember who appears to have a heart, and is not 'evil', but more misguided - led astray by his affection for his Lady.) Anyway, if only she'd been more fleshed out, things could have been really interesting...

What could have been, eh?
I only found out about that today, and that could have been fascinating indeed (although I might have avoided it - I'm always very cautious when it comes to adaptations).

Jayge is the good guy, devoted to Aramina, the 'Girl Who Heard Dragons.' I think the guy that was slavishly devoted to Thella was Dushik, after she bested him in combat, and gave him shelter instead of killing him.

Other than Lessa, as is pointed out below, there's one other 'grey' character - and for the life of me, I can't remember his name, but he's Jayge's uncle. After leaving the Lilcamp Traders, the uncle joins up with Thella's band of traveling robbers. When Thella conducts a punitive raid on the Lilcamp caravan, the uncle is horrorstruck at seeing his family visited by this carnage. He tries to apologize to Jayge, who's having none of it.
Later on though, as Jayge tracks Thella in trying to rescue Aramina, it's his uncle that comes to the rescue, leading Jayge to the trapped Aramina. Unfortunately for him, Dushik tackles the uncle, and they both are presumed dead in the snakepit.
The reason he turned to robbing? He was too proud to live in submission to Holders, who regarded them as charity cases and took advantage of the situation of Threadfall. He's willing to conduct a punitive raid on a trader caravan - it's only when he realizes that it's his family, that he begins to reform, secretly. After that, I tend to see him as a spy on Thella, keeping her from doing the really bad crimes. Since he was bad before, though, he's got to sacrifice himself for redemption...as the case usually is.

Oddly enough, Lessa herself is morally ambiguous, at least in the first book. She's a murderer, for a start. ("Fax's first Warder... had achieved more than all the others, and Lessa had honestly regretted the necessity of his death.") She uses psychic power to control people's wills and force them to fight to the death. She's willing to sacrifice anyone to her own ambition. For that matter, 'Dragonflight' seems much darker and 'adult' in tone overall than a lot of the later books. (And the idea of psychic powers, other than dragon telepathy, was brushed under the carpet too).

Oddly enough, Lessa herself is morally ambiguous, at least in the first book.
That is true (always loved Lessa!) - and F'lar of course kills Fax (although that is of course a proper fight, all 'offical' and stuff).

For that matter, 'Dragonflight' seems much darker and 'adult' in tone overall than a lot of the later books.
True. I wish they'd kept that up - as well as the psychic powers. That would have made things *interesting*!

always loved Lessa!)
What makes her even more powerful as a character is that she arranged the murder of her first victim when she was an eleven year old girl...

As for the psychic powers - I suppose a lot of her later books were more explicitly about those (like the Pegasus and Rowan books) so she chose to makle Pern different. Although if the books are all supposed to be set in the same universe, presumably the settlers of Pern simply forgot/lost their more detailed knowledge of psionics over time.

she arranged the murder of her first victim when she was an eleven year old girl...
I was just thinking that! :) Also she's a very un-feminine woman in pretty much every aspect, motherhood really not being her thing either. It's sort of a shame that there was really nowhere to take the character as such...

Although if the books are all supposed to be set in the same universe, presumably the settlers of Pern simply forgot/lost their more detailed knowledge of psionics over time.
Hmmm... I think Pern is a 'verse unto itself, since none of the settlers go on about being 'First' families etc. What 'verse is that from btw - The Tower and Hive? I know it's in the Nimisha books - that I'd totally forgotten until now - and I can't remember about Pegasus. It's in the Coelura though... *gets a headache from trying to remember*

It's been a LONG time since I read any of those.

I'm not sure when I read her books, but my copy of Dragonflight was bought new and cost 85p... And - hold on...

My copy of 'Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern' has her autograph in it; and it was published in 1983. So I read it 24 years ago. Hopefully you'll excuse me if I'm a little fuzzy on remembering some of the details...
:-)

Also, yay for editing comments!!!

Edited 2007-11-08 21:36 (UTC)

So I read it 24 years ago. Hopefully you'll excuse me if I'm a little fuzzy on remembering some of the details...
Well I read it less than 10 years ago, and *I* can barely remember a thing.

Also, yay for editing comments!!!
Indeed! :)

The main reason I never got into Pern fanfic was that when I sat down to think about what I'd do with a Pern fic, I realized that what I like about the series is...well...the dragons. The world itself, the society she's created, is as thin and uninteresting as painted cardboard. Think about it: one monolithic, generic-quasi-feudal society with one language and no imagination. Plus some really, really skeevy gender, class, and sexuality subtext.

I realized that what I like about the series is...well...the dragons.
There is that... I mean *everyone* loves the dragons!

I think that on the whole the world/society is very well thought out, but there really is nothing you can do with it - and the lack of religion always struck me as odd. Like there's a whole slice of their lives just missing (much in the same way that the baddies have no discernible personalities apart from being nasty). Not that religion would be a good thing, necessarily, but to do away with it completely makes the Pernese strangely unimaginative - and what about philosophy? (See? Many scattered thoughts. Actually - there's an idea for a fic: Let some religious space preacher land on Pern and see what happens!) Maybe the dragons *are* the religion, and in the long intervals the planet descended into heresy? Hmm...

(Please pardon the very rambly nature of this reply!)

That's a very interesting take on it - if dragons are religion, then during the last long interval between the Oldtimer's Pass and the 'current' Pass, the Holds quit tithing (giving sacrifices or tribute) to the Weyrs. After all, the dragons (their gods) had abandoned them, why should they continue? There's reference to the 'Old Laws' in 'Dragonflight' as if it were an old religion that few keep anymore.
Yet when Thread starts falling again, they run right back to the dragons and their riders (the priests) for protection and start tithing again. Oddly enough, I remember in 'All the Weyrs of Pern' when one Lord Holder makes a snide comment about the Weyrs and Jaxom just about tears off his head, along with the rest of the council, who make the Lord Holder apologize. Perhaps he was speaking heresy?
The split between the Oldtimers and the present, which leads to their defection to the south, could be viewed as a great Schism in the Temple.
Yep, I'm pretty sure dragons are the religion. After all, they're never wrong, are they?

Yep, I'm pretty sure dragons are the religion. After all, they're never wrong, are they?
That is true. Also - and I find this interesting - almost all the swear words (as far as I recall) are to do with dragons. Also the whole concept of between, a 'place' that is completely 'other', ties in v. neatly with this, and provides them with an unique concept of what happens when they die.

Someone should write an essay. And then McCaffrey could hunt them down for speaking heresy. *g*

See, the worldbuilding in Pern always seemed to me to be kind of like a stage set. It looks OK from a distance, but when you start examining it, you discover it's only a model. It's lacking the rich, complex messiness of real human societies. Compare Pern to...oh, Steven Brust's Dragaera, and you'll see what I mean.

It's lacking the rich, complex messiness of real human societies.
Yes, you might be onto something. Not really having a gift for world building myself, I'm always impressed with people who can pull it off, and Pern is very impressive. From a writerly standpoint I guess the main problem is that there is nothing much you can *do* with a society that rigid and simple.

Anne McCaffery made me want to write when I was 13, so I owe her that, but I read Moreta recently and the itch to beta it was overwhelming and that's without any of the issues raised above.

For all her faults, we all seem to have read a ton of her work...

She is a wonderful story teller, definitely, and I've read almost all her work I think, but I remember reading the third Acorna book and realising that it had exactly the same plot as the one before. You can definitely tell when she's on form, and when she's not.

And I often find myself editing stuff in my head as I read - it can get very distracting.

For all her faults, we all seem to have read a ton of her work...
She's addictive I guess... *g*

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A few musings.

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