Good thing I have a bunch of movies I can watch. And books to read. I just ordered a novel by Stephen King - "The Stand". I've read it before, but it's so massive, (both in pages and in story) you always notice more things the second time around. Stephen King ain't exactly a Dostoevsky when it comes to writing, but there's almost always a scene in every one of his books that stands out, and makes it memorable. At least he's better than Dan Brown. Now there's a bad writer. I'm not really gonna elaborare further on why I think he's bad, but I can point out a few things in his writing that comes off as cheap in my point of view.1. Chapter ending with a slight cliffhanger, just enough to keep the reader going. Every fucking time.
2. Characters really struggling solving a puzzle any 12-year-old with half a decent brain can solve within a minute.
3. Every other page, all the characters either gasp, become breathless, go out of breath, see something jawdropping, can't believe their ears, their eyes, their touch... you get the point. It instills a false sense of awe in the reader. For me it's cheap, cheap, cheap. Describe what they are seeing instead, and make it awesome for us, you rich, lazy bastard.
My favorite Stephen King book of all time is "The Long Walk". It's a short novel, written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. It's about a marathon across the US, and if the contestants can't keep up, they are shot and killed. There's only one survivor in this marathon of death, and that's the winner. Unfortunately I have lost my copy of the book, and it's out of print (at least in Sweden), but you can find it at almost any auction site. I highly recommend it.
"Each step can be your last..."
See ya.
4 comments:
1. Feel better soon, schnooki.
2. Dan Brown is an incredibly awful writer. The overall Da Vinci story was controversial, but if it weren't for that controversy and the fact that dim people are easily entertained by less-than-perfunctory writing schemes, he wouldn't be as popular as he's become.
Also, have you read his other books? Pick up Digital Fortress and read the intro. Another old guy dies, another code's almost forgotten, blah blah blah, Jesus fucking Christ. Stories shouldn't be recycled. Seriously.
King må vara en billig skräckförfattare, men The Long Walk är en av de bästa böcker jag har läst över huvud taget, inte bara av honom. Fantastisk.
Yay, jag har en ny läsare. Kalasbra. :) Jag älskar verkligen "The Long Walk". När jag upptäckte den så hade ingen jag kände läst den, så jag har försökt värva en massa kompisar att läsa den, med lyckat resultat, och alla håller med; det är en helt makalöst bra bok. :)
blurrrbbb :)
Sure, link will be there as soon as i leave this dreadful town called wernamo. I dont got any access to the php pages until i get a hold of my computer :)
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