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