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Writing Thoughts
Dec. 3rd, 2009 10:07 amLast night, I read the book Family Business by Brett Williams. I bought it based on a review by my fellow POD-Peep Cheryl Anne Gardner. Family Business is really dark - more like "torture porn" and thus darker than my usual reading fare.
One of the reasons I write book reviews is that I am trying to improve my writing. Articulating why you like or dislike somebody else's book can provide insight into your own writing. So, without getting too spoiler-ly, here are technical issues I saw with the book. I note these issues not to bash Brett Williams the author, but for my own edification in my writing. I should also note that fiction is a semblance of reality, not reality. Thus, things that might actually happen in real life don't seem believable in fiction.
My first issue is with the protagonist. At a crucial point in the story, she fails to do something that she should. The only apparent motivation for that is petty irritation at another character. I didn't think that was appropriate for the protagonist, especially considering that the other character had been an ally. More importantly, it was a clear tactical error. I would have bought a "I'll help you reluctantly" internal struggle, but not a kiss-off. Call this a violation of Gerrib's Law of the Capable Protagonist. (Yeah, I just proclaimed the law a minute ago.)
My second issue was that the book appeared to violate Gerrib's Law of the Second Banana. Since I just proclaimed that law, I may not be entirely fair here ;-) but the law is that secondary characters need to act and be treated secondarily. In the book, a secondary bad guy who's been kind of passive suddenly gets unusually active. He dies (and deservedly so) but his death becomes much more of a plot point than I felt it should have been.
My third issue is a violation of Gerrib's Law of the Smart Crook. This is also newly-minted, but basically is best illustrated by considering Robert De Niro's role in the movie Heat. De Niro plays a professional crook who happens to have fallen in love. Well, at a critical juncture, he is forced to make a choice - get caught or ditch the girl. He ditches her in a New York minute.
One of William's villains, who has a really great character arc with growth, gets put in a moment where a smart crook would just walk away. She doesn't.
The problem here is that crooks, especially William's crooks, are sociopaths. They just don't care about other people. Also, in this villian's case, she'd become a lot smarter and more self-sufficient over the course of the book. Doing what she did lost me.
I'm not sure any of this makes sense to anybody but me, so if I've lost you, I apologize. Warning - comments may be spoiler-ish.
One of the reasons I write book reviews is that I am trying to improve my writing. Articulating why you like or dislike somebody else's book can provide insight into your own writing. So, without getting too spoiler-ly, here are technical issues I saw with the book. I note these issues not to bash Brett Williams the author, but for my own edification in my writing. I should also note that fiction is a semblance of reality, not reality. Thus, things that might actually happen in real life don't seem believable in fiction.
My first issue is with the protagonist. At a crucial point in the story, she fails to do something that she should. The only apparent motivation for that is petty irritation at another character. I didn't think that was appropriate for the protagonist, especially considering that the other character had been an ally. More importantly, it was a clear tactical error. I would have bought a "I'll help you reluctantly" internal struggle, but not a kiss-off. Call this a violation of Gerrib's Law of the Capable Protagonist. (Yeah, I just proclaimed the law a minute ago.)
My second issue was that the book appeared to violate Gerrib's Law of the Second Banana. Since I just proclaimed that law, I may not be entirely fair here ;-) but the law is that secondary characters need to act and be treated secondarily. In the book, a secondary bad guy who's been kind of passive suddenly gets unusually active. He dies (and deservedly so) but his death becomes much more of a plot point than I felt it should have been.
My third issue is a violation of Gerrib's Law of the Smart Crook. This is also newly-minted, but basically is best illustrated by considering Robert De Niro's role in the movie Heat. De Niro plays a professional crook who happens to have fallen in love. Well, at a critical juncture, he is forced to make a choice - get caught or ditch the girl. He ditches her in a New York minute.
One of William's villains, who has a really great character arc with growth, gets put in a moment where a smart crook would just walk away. She doesn't.
The problem here is that crooks, especially William's crooks, are sociopaths. They just don't care about other people. Also, in this villian's case, she'd become a lot smarter and more self-sufficient over the course of the book. Doing what she did lost me.
I'm not sure any of this makes sense to anybody but me, so if I've lost you, I apologize. Warning - comments may be spoiler-ish.
