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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!)
no subject
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*!
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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!!!
no subject
Well I read it less than 10 years ago, and *I* can barely remember a thing.
Also, yay for editing comments!!!
Indeed! :)