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.

adventures of Mary Sue

Learned a new term today: the Mary Sue story.

Mary Sue literary theory has changed my professional life. Before, when discussing manuscripts with my colleagues, I had to say things “You know, one of those books that keeps telling you how wonderful and talented and perfect the main character is and how much everyone loves her, but aside from that there’s nothing at stake and nothing really happens? No logic, no causality, no narrative development, just that character being wonderful every barfy step of the way?”

Generally they knew what I meant; we see a lot of books like that. But those conversations have gotten much easier now that I can say things like ... “I sent it back. The agent was all excited about how the author’s ‘expanding into a new genre’, but it’s just a Mary Sue with jousting scenes pasted in.”

Teh funny. Also includes link to cartoon showing the inevitable effects on Hogwarts when all these Marys show up at the same time.

Hat tip Slavkivist, whose post in his AWESOME Left Behind series brought here here.