There is a problem
with reading the fiction of a non published private individual, and it is that he sometimes will send you stuff that’s unfinished, and the stuff he sends you is so good that it sucks you in, and then you run out of the words he wrote, and while the free ice cream is totally awesome, there is still part of your brain screaming “What happened to the X?” and “When the critters on Y planet go into their mating season, will the Xenobiologists film them bumping uglies and make money blackmailing them later on?” and “when they drill the small hole in the overlarge object will they discover that it’s a cosmic septic tank and a high pressure stream of shit shoots out at them like Joe Dirt”?and you know you’re never going to get those answers unless the author gets off his halfmoons and FINISHES the damned book.
On the other hand, I got to read a way cool book (actually, a couple of them) and YOU DIDN’T!! NYEAH NYEAH!!!
O lord, this is going to be your new thing, isn’t it? Since you spend most of your time at the office you can’t yell at idiot drivers, so you’re going to yell at me instead?
…but I feel your pain. I reread the extrusion you refer to last night, and realized I made some mistakes, and that’s got me thinking about what comes next; and I don’t get to read more of my favorite author’s work* until he actually writes more stuff.
*(Joe Haldeman, when he reads his own material, refers to that as “reading his favorite author”. I think it was Joe Haldeman.)
its good work, Ed. it’s the kind of writing I particularly enjoy, because the conflicts do not require me to become overwrought. Seeing how the players find decent ways to overcome their problems is the part that I enjoy the most. like watching adults at work.
Well, thank you!
I find that I can’t write stories about bad people.
…no, that’s not exactly so. I have another story which is a hard job for me, where the main character is a marxist and he associates with a bunch of people who are planning to double-cross him and-and-and; I can write it but it’s not easy.
But most of my characters tend to be people who have brains and obey the rules–even the bad guys–and while that’s good it sometimes makes it difficult to make an interesting story.
One of the things I liked best about “Princess Mononoke” is that there are no bad guys in the story. There are merely characters who have differing goals, and some of those goals conflict with the goals of the protagonist(s). Lady Eboshi is held out as the “villain” in the film, but she’s not–recall that she cares for lepers and rescues women from white slavery–and in fact her actions are simply an attempt to protect herself and the people around her from a threat to their safety.
Heck, the monk is the closest thing the movie has to an antagonist, and even he’s not really evil.
This is the kind of story I like best.
There are good enjoyable books that have happy endings, and the hero doesn’t always have to die in the end, or suffer horrible consequences. Not everyone is Jesus Christ.
No one is JC, Not to piss on a thread.
When is Ed going to publish? I need some good reading material. Since I quit traveling so much for work, my reading has tapered off, but my first love is books, without a doubt.
Paul: Some of my author friends and author wannabe friends do not believe a story is any good unless the hero dies or pays the ultimate price. If I’m gonna read something, I want something enjoyable.
Maybe I can cajole Ed into getting at least something to a publisher soon.
Not me! I like happy endings, too! Recall that the completed novel you read had a good end to it, and I promise you the one that’s in work now also has a good end.
There is only one story I’m working on which doesn’t have a happy end, and believe me, the protagonist (notice I didn’t say “good guy”; he’s not) deserves it.
Cajole away.