Authors as Verbs

[madbaker]

I was thinking about SF author John Ringo. I liked some of his early work, despite not being into military SF. The last couple books of his, however, did not impress me. I think he's fallen into the agent trap of "write a summary and we'll farm it out to some hungry writer as a co-author". Most of the time, that doesn't work. (David Weber seems to have managed it better than most, though.)

It started me thinking snarkily. This isn't something that started with John Ringo, so I don't want to call it "pulling a Ringo". Any suggestions? I did come up with some other references. Feel free to chime in...

going Anne Rice: Thinking that because your books sell, that you no longer need the services of an editor. And then going completely batshit on fans who disagree. (Also known as a Laurel K. Hamilton.)

Piers Anthony-style: Occasionally turning a good idea into a novel, then selling 500 sequels of crap based upon it.

an Alan Dean Foster: A prodigious hack.

turning Robert Heinlein: Writing waaaay too many novels expounding why everyone should have polyamourous incestuous sex with red-headed genius relatives.

Noted Futurist Harlan Ellison: possessing ego - and, to be fair, talent - inversely proportional to one's level of social grace.

What I'm reading: none of the above. Neal Stephenson, The System of the World

Comments

[finickynarcane.livejournal.com]

L. Ron [Hubbard] - publishing after death

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

Piers Anthony-style:

I always considered his style as not only the "way too many sequels because he can't come up with a new idea", but really talking down to his readers.

What's annoying is when an author you like starts reading like Anthony. I used to really like Christopher Stasheff, but he fell into the trap, and now (at least with the last two or three books I read, which were awhile back) his stuff reads like Anthony -- I feel like I'm being talked down to, and he also is cranking out way too many sequels. The ideas are done, move on ... find something NEW to write about for gawd's sake!

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I think Piers Anthony writes for 7-year old boys. If you don't fall into that demographic, then it feels like he's talking down to you.

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The Xanth books in particular of course, but even some of his other stuff ... it's a shame, because there are some good stories in there, but the style has reached the point where you can't see the stories because you're just annoyed at the author. (Well, okay, at least that's true for me.) My shelf contains maybe 7 or 8 Piers Anthony books, all earlier works ... the rest I got rid of years ago.

[caprine.livejournal.com]

I refer to Hamilton as writing Mary Sue fanfic of her own work. Anita Blake used to be an actual character; she eventually became a Mary Sue.

[mastersantiago.livejournal.com]

How about characters pulling a D.C. Fontana - Characters sacrificing their entire cultural history, moral structure or belief system in order to achieve a homogenized happy ending.

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

Pulling a VC Andrews. Leaving your name to some half-literate relative so that they can continue to cash in on the franchise after your dead.

[mastersantiago.livejournal.com]

Frank Herbert - To write a story so complex and interesting that people will spend a lifetime not understanding it.

[aimeric.livejournal.com]

BWAH-HA-HA!!!!

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

"The boy child's man father ..." (National Lampoon spoof of Herbert in Doon)

[aimeric.livejournal.com]

I love them all and re-read them frequently, but...

"Not with a bang, but with a Neal Stephenson" - exponentially increasing your page size per book without ever including an ending for any of them.

"Strung together with threads and Pratchetts" - when running out of ideas, take the square pegs of real history and pop culture and cram them through a round hole engulfed by a hole of four elephants and a giant tortoise.

"Asimovian character development" - see Point Particle.

"Air (Neil) Jordan" - Once you've lost track where you're going, keep going around in sequels.

"A Tolkien of self-esteem" - If you're actually about to do something, why not preface it two or three pages of Epic poetry?

"Currents and Eddings in the space-time continuum" - Make sure to repeat your actions over and over, all while commenting that you seem to have done this before.

[mastersantiago.livejournal.com]

"A Tolkien of self-esteem" - If you're actually about to do something, why not preface it two or three pages of Epic poetry?

"Currents and Eddings in the space-time continuum" - Make sure to repeat your actions over and over, all while commenting that you seem to have done this before.
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BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

[aimeric.livejournal.com]

Argh, I meant *Robert* Jordan, not the guy that directed The Crying Game...

[mastersantiago.livejournal.com]

Stainless Steel Stuttering (Harry Harrison) - When all else fails, say it in Esperanto.

A Robert Jordon Loop - And the Wheel goes round and round and round and round....

Arthur C. Clarkism - Any sufficiently advanced novel is indistinguishable from fiction.