I’m in mourning this weekend. I have said good-bye to Vampire Diaries, I am giving up my DVR and
satellite and I have completed my
odyssey into The Paradise. I have read
Pot-Bouille and Au Bonheur des Dames, and have absolutely no intention of
reading the remaining 18 novels in Les Rougon-Macquart series. I have watched completely season one and two
of The Paradise and feel closure at the end of the last episode of season
two. I do not think a season three is
necessary and cannot imagine what a season three could contain. I’m still in love with Emun Elliott and my
husband is still unconcerned. And
well, if I ever met Emun Elliott, I’d probably be so quiet that he wouldn’t
notice me. Unless I did one of my ever-fashionable
walking-into-a-wall for no apparent reason moves . . . I’ve finished a series of short stories based
on Emun Elliott’s face . . . which will probably serve no other purpose than to
amuse my husband and myself.
Yes, a weekend of endings.
And as you can tell, I’m a multi-tasker.
The point of that ample prologue—and note, I’m generally
against prologues—is that while reading Pot-Bouille and Au Bonheur des Dames, I
noticed something that I knew before but had forgotten. Writers tend to be studied in the classics,
having read excellent works by Charles Dickens and George Eliot. When I sit down to read a classic, I keep a
notepad next to me and jot down the name of every character mentioned, traits
and their importance to the story as I’m sifting through this classic. That way, if I lose track of who is who, I
can refresh my memory. If I have to do
that with one of my authors, you will get a lecture in written form.
Back in the good ole days, when the quality of writing was
better (or at least, it seems that way because only the best has survived),
readers had a different education. Latin
was common. The Bible was expected
to be read by juveniles. A good number
of novels out there were serialized.
Like television today, people waited with baited breath for the next
installment to appear. Authors took much
more care with creating characters and, because there weren’t lots of other
media offering storytelling options, readers would lap up even the worst or
most cumbersome of character descriptions.
That ain’t the way it is today. Television gives a visual; the audience
doesn’t have to remember characteristics or try to keep them straight. Even with the worst acting, they can see the
physical actor before them. Those who
still read are either authors themselves (who have studied the classics) or are
lovers of books. They may have read some
of the classics, but not made their lives studying them. The classics probably aren’t their
favorites. They are probably readers of romance,
sci-fi or some other genre that is cranked out in endless regurgitations of
what has already been written a million times.
I understand why so many authors have not gotten a memo on
this. We, the authors, have played with
the characters in our heads, possibly for years. They have made us cry and laugh, amused us
with our own brilliance. Do not delude
yourself into thinking it will be the same for the reader. The reader wants entertainment or utter
&^%$ brilliance that is so awesome that it cannot be denied by a single
person gasping in the radiance of it.
And don’t delude yourself into thinking your work is utter &^%$
brilliance as just described. It’s not. (This is my biggest obstacle with authors. It makes them think the rules somehow don’t
apply to them. I often ask an author why
they have deluded themselves. The
answers are incredibly amusing.
WRONG. But amusing.) There’s only a handful of authors who fall
into the category of utter &^%$ brilliance and I’ve only met them through
conventions and book signing lines. I do
not delude myself into thinking anyone whose work is utter &^%$ brilliance
would be reading my blog.
That’s not to say what you’re writing isn’t good. Just remember where you are on the totem
pole. And really, do you want your
reader to be sitting with a notepad, trying to keep track of which character is
which? Don’t make your reader work. Do your job the write way. And because I can, I’m putting a ;) here.
