A few musings.

[elisi]

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!)

Comments

[ruuger]

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

[skipthedemon.livejournal.com]

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.

[powerofthebook.livejournal.com]

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?

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

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).

[rahirah]

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.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

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...