Some people think the answer is "your writing isn't as good, they are just better." but mostly the really popular authors are not great stylists
this is part of the trouble I have in reading them--I crave and adore style. Yet I recently read a great big doorstop romance that had no style and was strangely readable. How did that happen?
Part of what I find ruins a lot of books is something I just want to call "self-consciousness." It ruins a lot of dialogue and acting, too. All of a sudden the prose becomes wooden. You can hear the author thinking aloud, "Now I will surprise the reader. Now I will prove how clever my hero is. Now I will explain everything that my idiot reader will be too stupid to deduce. Now I will be very poetic and moving. Look how poetic and moving my book is! OK, get ready for a BIG CLIMAX." I LOVE a book to be poetic and moving, but I really resent being clunked on the head and having it pointed out to me.
Anyway what I was going to say was that one of the complaints I do get is that my style is "too difficult" or "too literary" so I can only assume that I write what I like to read. And maybe that is true of you as well.
Only.... there was that big chunky fluffy romance, which I enjoyed. I remain bewildered.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-03-04 02:31 pm (UTC)this is part of the trouble I have in reading them--I crave and adore style. Yet I recently read a great big doorstop romance that had no style and was strangely readable. How did that happen?
Part of what I find ruins a lot of books is something I just want to call "self-consciousness." It ruins a lot of dialogue and acting, too. All of a sudden the prose becomes wooden. You can hear the author thinking aloud, "Now I will surprise the reader. Now I will prove how clever my hero is. Now I will explain everything that my idiot reader will be too stupid to deduce. Now I will be very poetic and moving. Look how poetic and moving my book is! OK, get ready for a BIG CLIMAX." I LOVE a book to be poetic and moving, but I really resent being clunked on the head and having it pointed out to me.
Anyway what I was going to say was that one of the complaints I do get is that my style is "too difficult" or "too literary" so I can only assume that I write what I like to read. And maybe that is true of you as well.
Only.... there was that big chunky fluffy romance, which I enjoyed. I remain bewildered.