Things I hate about my favorite authors

[cmdr_zoom]

• Diane Duane introduces charming and interesting non-human characters, kills them off at the climax for extra pathos, then brings them back for the curtain call.
  
• Neal Stephenson stops (not ends) his books by running them into (or over) sheer cliffs.
  
• Many of Larry Niven's characters are thinly-drawn mobile viewpoints, cameras through which the author shows his readers the latest Cool Thing he's imagined.
  
• Warren Ellis tends to use the same guy as his protagonist(s): a cynical, sarcastic chain-smoking bloke who somehow gets away with being a jerk to almost everyone.
  
• Paul Dini likes leggy dames, madcap chases, and musical numbers... and will bend plot and characters to put them in, if necessary.
  

Comments

[deromilly.livejournal.com]

Deep breath, dear. :) Remember Orson Scott Card's MICE factor and regulate the irritable... Not all the parts of all the types of stories can get into the same one... It's the authors that try that bother me.

Mileu is most important.
Idea is most important.
Character is most important.
Event is most important.

I don't think I'd like Warren Ellis at all if that's his protagonist of choice... Or Neal Stephenson, for that matter.

So. That leads me to the next question. Now that we know what irritates you, what makes these authors your favorites?

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong, my dear; they're still my favorite authors. It's just that, like everyone (myself certainly included), they have flaws.

What I like about them is a much bigger subject than the niggles, and so I'll have to answer that larger question at a later time.

[deromilly.livejournal.com]

I realized after I posted how that sounded. :) My apologies. It's been a week.

I haven't been reading SF&F for a long time now, although I'm picking up one or two here and there again. I would like to know what you like about the authors (Niven's a favorite of mine already) so I can look for them. :)

[shadur.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd like Warren Ellis at all if that's his protagonist of choice...
Oh, Spider Jerusalem has this habit of growing on you.

... Much in the same way a skin condition does, mind, but. :)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

...introduces charming and interesting non-human characters, kills them off at the climax for extra pathos, then brings them back for the curtain call.

I've been trying to cut down, actually. Haven't done this for, oh, months and months.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

... *gulp*

Milady.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't sweat it. :) It genuinely is something I'd noticed that needed handling.