Men's and Women's

[RussH]

To reply to dr_mabeuse, the statement I made was "Anyone can string words together, only an author can write a story." Now, first I must state that I enjoy a give and take discussion so this is not a diatribe. Second, your analogy of a standup comic doesn't fit. You said "Everyone knows jokes, but if you can tell a joke really well, you become a professional comedian. The story is in the telling."' I say bull. A professional comedian has his material written for him, and his forte is in the delivery. Pauses, raised eyebrows, body language, etc. Things that can only be protrayed on a written page with great difficulty.

I am speaking, not as a writer, I can't, but as a reader. I started reading at about 3 years of age, and that was more than sixty years ago. I have been a voracious reader since. To me, a good story has several attributes. One, a good plot. An unbelievable story line will kill it very quickly. Two, it must have believable characters. The old "he had 12 inches when flaccid" type doesn't work. Then it must be readable. Word usage, spelling, punctuation. My pet peeves are the misuse of homonyms, the very common mistake of switching "they're", "their", and "there". I have to stop, and correct these. Really detracts from the flow.

Having said all this, I still must admit an admiration for all those that can put words on paper to tell a story. I still stand by my original statement that even an erotic story must have a story.

Russ

 

[Guest]

Your points well taken.......

I like your views RussH,

It's nice to hear from a reader. I for one have never considered myself a writer. I think a good editor makes the writer who he is.
I DO consider myself a reasonably good story teller however. Hopefully, with the help of spellcheck and such, I can edit the stories I write (tell) so that YOU the reader can enjoy them and appreciate them with out too much distraction.

I'm a big believer in story lines, plot...character development. Because of that, I tend to write some of the longer stories on Lit. Some like that, some don't. For me, it's a matter of personal preferance of course. But If I have an idea for a story, and it takes 70 pages to write it..then I do. I'd rather put out a long one that some people simply won't read because it's too long, rather than shorten it for the sake of having more readers read it.

But then...that's me.

I remain,

 

[RussH]

Thesandman,

Please, write the long ones. I love a story that lasts long enough to really get involved in.

Of course, yours are amoung my favorites. I've a special directory for my favorite authors and you have a sub-directory in there with a few others. Your last, "Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Revenge" was a top notch long story. I sent you a note under another mail id. Made reference to it in my first post in this string.

Contrary to the way I sounded in this thread, I'm not THAT much of a stickler for accuracy. I d/l all the stories, and read them offline. If I like it, I'll make a few editing type corrections, and go on. Makes it nicer when I re-read them.

My hat is off to all the authors, good and bad. May the good keep on writing, and the bad get better.

A fan,

Russ

 

[Guest]

LMAO...that was you RussH?

Well...thank you! <smile> Hey...would you like to become my editor? LOL. Yeah...I could use one. I try and catch MOST of my errors, and I've had some GREAT feedback of late as to things to watch out and look for (thank you). So I've made notes, and I'm going back to look for those little problems.

And yes.......I'll continue to write the longer ones when I've got a story I want to tell. But every once in a while, even Thesandman enjoys a quickie!

I remain,

 

[dr_mabeuse]

King Novels

I read something that might have been "The Stand". It was something about everyone in the world being wiped out. Okay, I says, so it's and everyone-wiped-out novel. I loke those. Butthen there's some goof called "The Walkin' Dude" who's apparently some sort of devil or something and he starts dragging an H-bomb around. So this is getting a little 'high-concept' for me. Then everyone has to band together and foil the Walkin' Dude.
I just didn't see how this classified as horror.
Then I was reading Christine and I just got fed up. It just seemed silly to me.

Horror always runs the risk that it will lose the reader; that they'll no longer be willing to suspend their disbelief. And when this happens, it fails disastrously. That's why there no movie as bad as a bad horror movie. Everything falls apart.

Also, I can usually tell when I'm being jobbed; when the author or director is jerking me around and setting me up for a Moment. That happened to me in ET, when for the first time I could see Spielberg manipulating me and the aufience, and I resented it like hell. Now I can't even watch movies because that's all they are is set-ups and pay-offs. Their craft is showing.

I'll never be a tenth the writer King is; but then, I never could be. I'm not interested so much in fantastic tales as much as I'm interested in tales that show me the fantastic in everyday life, in which the author uses his talents to tell me the same old boring story but in a way that makesme see things as new.

And, as for comparing authors: sure we all have favorites, and I'll discuss the merits of my favorites aaginst your favorites. But I'm not going to argue that Sallinger is better than Hemingway is better than Steven King. We all have favorite colors too, but I'm not going to argue that blue is "better" than red or green. Some things do not come in "bests".

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

Apples to oranges dr_mabeuse

To quote:

We all have favorite colors too, but I'm not going to argue that blue is "better" than red or green. Some things do not come in "bests".

---dr.M.

We could compare women's breasts....that might be fun.

I remain,

 

[SlickTony]

I will always hit Back if the writer just makes the characters jump into bed for no reason.

That is so true, Earl; I do the same thing. Especially if it's an incest story. Even if it's the kind of story where incest was a family tradition and part of their culture, it is still enough of a taboo, and should be emotionally weighted enough so that the characters should progress to it.

 

[TheEarl]

My own stories often do rely on aphrodisiacs, mystical forces, etc. to get everybody in the mood, but I think that's fair as it's realistic (not likely, but realisitc in terms of character). My only incest story involves the characters getting together due to a high dosage of vodka. Can anyone tell me of a way that you can get incest characters to be realistic?

DrM, the story you described is indeed The Stand (I actually have a copy open in front of me), but you shouldn't accept it as horror. He does write horror and he does write fantasy, but I find his best books aren't really either. They're just novels, something that gets you involved, rather than gets you into a category. The Stand is one, Misery is another. Christine is steg though, don't blame you for dropping that one.

The Earl

 

[SlickTony]

Well, to each his own. I really liked Christine; it was the movie they made out of Christine that sucked.

 

[TheEarl]

Haven't seen many of them, but I heard that most of the movies from King's novels sucked. The one made out of The Stand was a travesty; murdering a good book. The only one I've heard praised is Misery.

Just thinking of films, wouldn't Robin Tunney be just perfect if you were casting Fran Goldsmith from The Stand?

The Earl

 

[Whispersecret]

King's novellas turn out to be much better movies. (The Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me, The Green Mile.) Probably because the scope of a full-length novel is VERY difficult to encompass in 90 minutes.