Posts tagged Orson Scott Card
Fifty Shades of Why
New York Times #1 bestseller. Adapted from Twilight fanfiction.
This can't possibly end well.
![This is the 400th post, and a good time to bring back a quote I used right at the very beginning. Thanks, Orson Scott Card.
[F]ar too many writers—especially beginners—think that a physical description is characterization. If they have a woman stand in front of a mirror and comb her long brown hair with the comb delicately balanced in her slender fingers as she looks into her own flashing brown eyes, such writers think they’ve done the job.
It’s also a good time to change the font on posts. I hope you like Arial.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcdrk4fyQ91rwjlpbo1_500.png)
This is the 400th post, and a good time to bring back a quote I used right at the very beginning. Thanks, Orson Scott Card.
[F]ar too many writers—especially beginners—think that a physical description is characterization. If they have a woman stand in front of a mirror and comb her long brown hair with the comb delicately balanced in her slender fingers as she looks into her own flashing brown eyes, such writers think they’ve done the job.
It’s also a good time to change the font on posts. I hope you like Arial.
“If readers know a character’s actions, motives, past, reputation, relationships, habits, talents, and tastes, they can often get through a whole story without ever knowing a character’s eye color, and they’ll still feel as if they know the person.”
—Character and Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card (1999)
Do you know your friends’ eye colors? Probably not. And why would you? Eye color isn’t what’s important about your friends; who they are as people is important.
On a less literary note, is it just me, or does ‘pulsating heat’ sound a tad sexual?
Anonymous asked:
Orson Scott Card's Hamlet is basically a big ball of gay hate. You've been warned. I was really excited about reading it and it just let me down. :(
Man, really? That’s disappointing. I’ve had more than my fill of gay hate lately.
Anonymous asked:
QUALITY OF THE PROSE? Sorry. But OSC and E.L James are not in the same league when it comes to prose quality. They're completely incomparable.
Although we are all entitled to our opinions, Anon, allow me to remind you that Orson Scott Card has got several decades of writing experience on E.L. James. (I think. Somebody back me up on this, please! Googling yields very little on the elusive E.L.) He’s had time to pick up some skills that E.L. hasn’t yet.
wet-noodles asked:
Honestly all I can say is that I like 5SoG and OSC's Hamlet for almost identical reasons, namely the handling of sexuality and the quality of the prose.
Fair enough.
I’ll see if I can find that Hamlet. You’ve piqued my curiousity.
I haven’t gotten to any of the explicit bits in 5SoG yet, so I’ll have to get back to you on that. I’m a little tentative, given what I’ve heard about the way E.L. presented BDSM, but we shall just have to see.
Thanks for not being super pissy about this, by the way. I was afraid I’d be running into angry, possibly illiterate Fifty Shades of Grey fans. So far I haven’t.
wet-noodles asked:
I'm so conflicted about this blog - on one hand, you turn to Orson Scott Card, honestly one of my favorite authors from the last century (have you read his adaptation of Hamlet? The man knows what he's doing) as an authority on what constitutes good and bad writing. On the other hand, you're hating on 50 Shades of Grey, which is incidentally one of my favorite series from the last century.
He wrote an adaptation of Hamlet? How did I miss that?
It’s not worth it to stick around for the occasional OSC, trust me. Unless you want to see your favorite series ruthlessly (and probably more harshly than it deserves) mauled, I wouldn’t follow.
I gotta ask, since you’re the first Fifty Shades of Grey fan I’ve encountered—what do you like about it? I mean that in the least offensive way possible, seriously. I’m just really curious, since I’ve heard negative things about the series from a lot of people but it somehow made the NYT bestseller list nonetheless.
kirbyscotton asked:
You quoted OSCard. I have to follow you! :-D
Though I don’t agree with all his views, OSC’s writing advice is some of the best. I’ve read Character and Viewpoint at least twice now.
Thanks for following!
![[1]To quote Orson Scott Card, “[F]ar too many writers—especially beginners—think that a physical description is characterization. If they have a woman stand in front of a mirror and comb her long brown hair with the comb delicately balanced in her slender fingers as she looks into her own flashing brown eyes, such writers think they’ve done the job.”
I think I’m going to like this Anastasia. She has the expected amounts of self-loathing and irritability, plus the required Single Negative Trait (tangly hair) that counteracts any possible traces of Mary Sue.
I have to say I’m impressed with E.L.’s faithfulness to the original Twilight narrative style. She’s got the repetition down pat. Here’s hoping she doesn’t interrupt herself quite as often as Ms. Meyer.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4ijg3V4GW1rwjlpbo1_500.png)
[1]To quote Orson Scott Card, “[F]ar too many writers—especially beginners—think that a physical description is characterization. If they have a woman stand in front of a mirror and comb her long brown hair with the comb delicately balanced in her slender fingers as she looks into her own flashing brown eyes, such writers think they’ve done the job.”
I think I’m going to like this Anastasia. She has the expected amounts of self-loathing and irritability, plus the required Single Negative Trait (tangly hair) that counteracts any possible traces of Mary Sue.
I have to say I’m impressed with E.L.’s faithfulness to the original Twilight narrative style. She’s got the repetition down pat. Here’s hoping she doesn’t interrupt herself quite as often as Ms. Meyer.
