more writing tips from Left Behind

Slacktivist's continuing evisceration of LB brings us to an interesting problem for writers of fiction: when you describe your characters as superlative, you'd better be able to back that up with your own prose. He offers three rules to avoid this trap (abridged):

1. Don't write about great poets....

2. If you're not writing a fairy tale, avoid superlative characters....

3. Be very careful about big scenes in which your preternaturally talented character wins over the crowd with an awe-inspiring display of his/her art/skill/cleverness/humor/charm. Such scenes are less likely to inspire awe than they are to result in anticlimax, with readers losing respect for you, your character and your character's audience, in that order.

Same problem with Studio 60 -- the show was supposed to be teh funniest evah, but the writers couldn't reproduce teh funny. So in practice you saw very little of what should've been the center of the show.