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/lit/ - Literature

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3181305 No.3181305[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

The books sucked, this has already been established, but how is Stephanie Meyer's writing skills from a technical perspective? (ie flow, diction, transitions etc.) Is it as bad as you would expect, or could she write something decent if someone else came up with the story?

>> No.3181307
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3181307

>Filename

>> No.3181310

Hell if I know, I never read the things and never will. Didn't she write some other book that completely faded into obscurity shortly after release?

>> No.3181311

>>3181310
Yeah, "The Host". Something to do with parasitic aliens that were a lot like humans and some forced romance or something like that. They're making a movie out of it.

>> No.3181314
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3181314

>>3181305
That Filename

>> No.3181315
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3181315

>>3181305

I read the books because I'm a gigantic faggot, and I can confirm that her writing ability is pretty mediocre. She could write the same stories with about half the words; there's just so much fluff it's unreal.

>> No.3181316

The issue with the series is not the story which is pretty classic if overdone. The problem is that her technical abilities are quite poor.

>> No.3181317

It's basically as simplistic as possible. Tabloid tier prose.

She can't think, she can't write, she has no discernible talent.

>> No.3181318

>>3181311
Im pretty sure every single copy of that book sold was because her name was on the cover

>> No.3181321

>>3181315
>>3181316
OP here, could you elaborate? Next time I get into an argument about her writing skill with a fan of her, it would be good to have some specifics

>> No.3181323
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3181323

A better question to ask would be, "Does she have what it takes to write for Bioware?"

>> No.3181325

>>3181317
Whats an example of prose done right, versus what she does? I would generally assume Stephen King would be a good benchmark, but you guys might have different opinions

>> No.3181330
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3181330

>>3181323
I don't know man, I hear Bioware employees get paid in kisses[\spoiler]

>> No.3181334
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3181334

>>3181321

It was a few years ago, so sorry if I don't recall too much. She's alright-ish at building tension, but her character development is shit. Bella's character doesn't change at all between books 2 and 4, she's just all "wahhh I wish I was a vampire".
Also, Edward was missing for most of the second book, which was just lazy writing on Meyer's part.

>> No.3181335
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3181335

>>3181321
>>3181325
Anyone?

>> No.3181337

>>3181323
>But modern Videogames have such good writing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7VJ4lP-05A

capatcha: absent ingsvelo

>> No.3181340

>>3181330
>>3181323
/v/ pls go

>> No.3181350

So, take this excerpt for example. Ignore the stupid story being told and the mary-sue character and find what's wrong with it.

>Forks High School had a frightening total of only three hundred and fifty-seven -- now fifty-eight -- students; there were more than seven
>hundred people in my junior class alone back home. All of the kids here had grown up together--their grandparents had been toddlers
>together. I would be the new girl from the big city, a curiosity, a freak.

>Maybe, if I looked like a girl from Phoenix should, I could work this to my advantage. But physically, I'd never fit in anywhere. I should
>be tan, sporty, blond -- a volleyball player, or a cheerleader, perhaps -- all the things that go with living in the valley of the sun.

>Instead, I was ivory-skinned, without even the excuse of blue eyes or red hair, despite the constant sunshine. I had always been slender,
>but soft somehow, obviously not an athlete; I didn't have the necessary hand-eye coordination to play sports without humiliating myself -- and
>harming both myself and anyone else who stood too close.

The only thing I can think of is that it's a little too dramatic for what she's trying to say.

>> No.3181353

>>3181340
>/b/2.0 pls go
Fixed that for you

>> No.3181356
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3181356

>>3181337
>That fucking purple prose
It hurts to live

>> No.3181368

Well for starters, her approach at conveying a message (Abstinence, and later pro-life) is so ham-fisted and obtuse that it's hard not to see her pushing a "lesson" onto the readers by the end of the first book. You have to be subtle about these things

>> No.3181369

>>3181337
This shit is an actual video game?

>> No.3181371

>>3181369
Actually no.

>> No.3181374
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3181374

>>3181350
>Slender, but soft
Not even in your fantasies, fatty

>> No.3181377
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3181377

>>3181350
No One?

>> No.3181384

>>3181325
Everyone has different standards and preferences, but personally the most perfect English prose I've ever read was in Joyce's "The Dead".

I've only read "IT" by King and I wasn't particularly impressed.

>> No.3181385

>>3181317
Shut up, Harold. You have no discernible neck.

>> No.3181390

>>3181384
Ill look into that, thanks. I'm not too familiar with King either, but a lot of people I know who are impossible to please love him, so he must be at least some level of good.

>> No.3181391
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3181391

>>3181384
>>3181390
If you want a good King novel, read the first Dark Tower Book and stop there.

>> No.3181402

One thing I keep hearing about Twilight is that the stories are, if nothing else, compelling. What do you think?

>> No.3181412

>>3181402
If you're a sexually frustrated teenage girl, sure.

>> No.3181420

>>3181412
Thats one thing that I never understood:

People always say the series is popular among sexually frustrated teenage girls, but the whole thing about Twilight is for the book to beat you over the head with a high school abstinence lecture. Seems like they'd have a better time with porno. Shit don't make sense yo

>> No.3181435

>>3181420
apparently many girls are turned on by the idea of semi-abusive monogamous relationships.

>> No.3181452

>>3181435
Why do we hate these books again?

>> No.3181460

>>3181452
to be honest this new "50 shades of grey" trend has made me pretty nostalgic for the days when "twilight" was the most retarded thing on the market. you never know what you have till it's gone, eh?

>> No.3181473

>>3181460
That seems to have died out about as fast as it sprang up. Seems like they went for the more focused market of sexually frustrated middle-aged housewives that Twilight was courting during the end of it's lifespan.

In a related note, how the hell are they going to pull off the 50 Shades movie without making it a straight porno? Even if you go with an R rating, you've still got to cut out the bulk of the books to be able to show it in theaters

>> No.3181482

>>3181350
Oh God, I am a foreigner and even my text flows better than this.

Is it possible that reading hurts?

>> No.3181487

>>3181374
Slender yet soft. Not even in a million fucking years.

>> No.3181492

>>3181482
If you have a negative physical reaction to generic stories, I would recommend James Patterson.

>> No.3181499

>>3181350
>I had always been slender, but soft somehow

That's what fatties would like to think

>> No.3181504

the books suck because they suck from a technical perspective you fucking pleb

>> No.3181505

>>3181499
Most of her pictures utilize the "Fat Girl Angle Shot" to cover that part up

>> No.3181507
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3181507

>>3181504
Well aren't we feeling edgy this morning?

>> No.3181549

>>3181473
It hasn't buddy. I know a girl in my own county who has just had a book published by Penguin, a raunchy sex novel for middle aged women with very little plot tying it together, who was told to write the gist of a sequel in 3 months. She sent it on, and was criticised for not making it sexually explicit enough. That's where we're headed. Get used to it I'm afraid.

>> No.3181555

Roach Sage

>> No.3181566

>>3181549
At the same time, you cant fault someone for trying to make money off the stupid of the world.

Also I'm gonna need some proof that you're not bullshitting.

>> No.3181577

>>3181566
Here's the thread, from the author herself.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056809152

No, I don't blame her one bit. I've read the book and my analysis is correct btw.

>> No.3181624

>>3181566
>At the same time, you cant fault someone for trying to make money off the stupid of the world.

I'm a hack writer. You know what? It feels good.

>> No.3181633

>>3181624
Do you make money? I'd love to know your formula for money making. I'd gladly sell my soul to write plebeian garbage for the masses to consume.

>> No.3181646

>>3181356
>Prose
Wasn't that poetry?
The word "intermingle" ruins everything.

>> No.3181655

I heard that Stephan King commented in some magazine about how he thought that to J.K Rolling and Stephanie Meyer are the two least imaginative authors sold in most book stores, but he said J.K Rolling can "write like hell", and Stephanie Meyer's work "could be matched or outdone by a cheerleader in high school writing a poem about her boyfriend". Those probably aren't the exact quotes, but they're what I remember.

>> No.3181662

>>3181655
Everyone attributes that quote to him but it was someone else. Can't remember who.

>> No.3181664

>>3181633
Yes, on track to make $5,000 this month on Amazon. Secret is to write what people want to hear. Write for the mass, and you'll enjoy the money.

>> No.3181679

>>3181646
purple prose

noun

writing that calls attention to itself because of its obvious use of certain effects, as exaggerated sentiment or pathos, especially in an attempt to enlist or manipulate the reader's sympathies.

>> No.3181688

>>3181664
I don't mean to rob your system of course, but do you refer to staunchly leftist political writing or "going with the flow" on current affairs? Or perhaps following demand trends in novel writing, such as, as we've discussed, erotica selling highly amongst.. everyone nowadays?

>> No.3181705

>>3181688
I prefer a more "passive" kind of writing. I write non-fiction to problems. I usually research on top selling non-fiction books and simply copy their content (not copy words for words, of course. Think ipad and Samsung tablet)

The secret is writing what people want to read, and what they want to hear. Offer "shortcuts". The generation population is dumb as fuck and want instant solution.

>> No.3181706

>>3181662
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb72V_4N5ko