buyjupiter03

Hey! Librarians (state-side at least) can't give out that kind of info. ALA regs, dude. (Worked in a library for the last few years. I was quite relieved to see that we couldn't give out info to random people.)

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seigfried007

Welsh, you admitted you're not a fan and that, in your mind at least, numbers equate with popularity equate with talent. A writers' forum is the dumbest palce in the universe to state the latter.

So, am I to guess that you're a fan then and that, as a result, you can't tell that his work should be edited more than it often is and would rather cowardly assume that other writers are jealous for offering fair criticism instead of pointing out why you would think his work's so awesome no editor should touch it?

If you've read it, say you have, but don't dilly-dally around it and say "well, I'm not a fan of the genre (like King isn't his own genre), but I think you're jealous." If you've read it, why even mention the numbers or your lack of enthusiasm for the genre and instead just state, "Yo, peeps, I read King and I think y'all are dumb for criticising a master writer."

Btw, I'm sorry for misundestanding you just the same.

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Welshman

Seigfried,

You clearly did not read my original postimg correctly (or chose to adapt it to suit your own end). I actually stated I am not a fan of the genre and I stick to this point. Furthermore, I would suggest that your use of emotive words such as 'cowardly' tantamount to little more than flaming and consequenly I will choose to dismiss it and categorise it accordingly.

In addition, and in response to your other accusation, will you please identify the specific text in my posting where I stated his work was so good it should never be touchedby an editor? I have yet to come across ANY piece of literature that is so perfect it would not gain from further edits.

I find the broad range of suspense/ horror unsuited to my palate, but I fully acknowledge that my taste for something different is purely individual. I refuse to accept King has such power in the literary world that he has created his own genre. Rather I would suggest his material can broadly be classified into either the horror/ terror/ suspense or fantasy genres. My decision to reject a preference for these genres is based on a broad reading of it, taking in a number of authors, including King. Beyond this admission I feel no need to catalogue other authors I have read.

I maintain my stance that it is possible to dislike a genre, while at the same time acknowledging the author's ability to entertain, stimulate and/ or absorb the reader. Now in my case I found King to be a tad tedious and lacking any great literary eloquence, but I fully understand that many readers would disagree - and more power to their elbow.

King has published extensively and by your own admission written a number of books that have been well received. Far from being a pulp-fiction author he has shown himself to be a good broad-based commercial writer, no small talent in a society driven by the search for profit.

In my estimation he will never win The Nobel, Booker, Orange or Whitbread Prize for literature, but he will (and has) enthralled his 'constant readers' for many years. In that respect he has my admiration and respect.

D

seigfried007

Umm, never said you were a fan, Welsh. Never implied it. Can't blame you for it either because I dislike most horror as well (too much gratuitous violence and messed up sex for the sake of inducing nausea for my tastes).

No, I don't really think he's his own genre, but he's hard to classify because, while much of his work is supernaturally based, the genre of 'horror' has 'evolved' until he doens't really fit into it any more--precisely because he lacks the kind of sex and gore and silliness that other others seem to think horror needs (which is why 'old skool' horror is now considered 'dark speculative fiction' or any number of other terms now).

Thus, King is often light sci-fi (Firestarter, and a few others) or dark fantasy in modern genre pigeon-holing . Lots of people would say that Dark Tower was his only fantasy, but I'm prone to think that much of his work fits the dark fantasy subtype more than what people nowadays consider horror.

Yes, he has many 'constant readers' but you might be surprised at how many of his fans have complaints about the lack of editing (myself included though I was hearing it long before I started agreeing). He's still better than a lot of other writers, but every writer with that many titles to his credit is going to churn out some bonafide crap now and then.

Welsh, I'd like you to just state what you like or dislike about a person's work without dragging in random other things. It gets confusing and makes it too easy for people who don't know you and can't yet read between your lines to get whatever your trying to say through the smoke and filler. I've already apologized (maybe you didn't read that far into the post).

But I'm not jealous of King, and I sitll think you were being presumptuous and way off-topic to when you suggested anyone here was. You want to accuse someone of that, look out for Truth-Teller.

In the mean time, I think you'd have a lot more fun ranting about authors and using the thread for the stress relieving qualities and laughs I think it was intended for.

So what ticks you off about stuff you've read in the wide world of published works, Welsh?

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Welshman

Hmmm .... what ticks me off? Well here is my hitlist of how to upset me:

1. Badly researched stories showing clear signs that the author
a) Does not understand the subject; or
b) Has never visited the location.
2. Superfluous charcters who have little bearing on the plot;
3. Stories that are substantially dialogue - have they never heard of scene setting?
4. Spelling or grammar mistakes - maybe this one should be top of my list;
5. Authors who regurgitate pulp - same story - dfferent names - different setting. A few romantic fiction authors seems to be good at this - maybe they should all read Anita Brookner's 'Hotel du Lac' as an example of how to write about romance in an original way!
6. Sex scenes full of expletives - please don't reduce a beautiful thing to a base act unless it has a reason. If I want to read porn I will go to a top shelf magazine.
7. Detective fiction where by Chapter Three you have worked out the rest of the book. Now did I mention Ian Rankin here?
8. Writers who you know have a huge talent but seem to be unwilling to extend themselves to their full potential. Benjamin Zephaniah' latest offering 'Teacher's Pet' would seem to be a case in point. Wonderful poet with an immense talent - what went wrong?
9. Action thrillers with ridiculous and absolutely inconceivable endings. Oh woe - do these authors assume their readers can't think? (So tempted to name names here!!!!)
10. Stories where the charcter acts in a way which is implausible. Not sure about the rest of you, but when I am moving a character forward in a certain way I like to sit with it first, just to make sure I am confident s/he would act they way I propose.

Now I could go on - but I would propose these as my 'top ten' of how to upset me

Rant over

PS apology and comments graciously accepted Seigfried - Diolch

Remedy

I've read a few of Ian Rankin's books (finished one, I think...), and I had definite problems figuring out who did it. I rather suspect this is because I'm not familiar with UK terms in the justice system, however.

Damian_Rucci

What ticks me off is excessive grammar and spelling errors. It is very annoying and unprofessional. Authors should pick up on their mistakes through the various drafts.

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starseed

This is something I'm trying not to do in my story.

What exactly do you think makes it come across this way?

I mean all characters have opinions, some of which match those of the author.