dragovianknight: Now is the time we panic - NaNoWriMo (Default)
dragovianknight ([personal profile] dragovianknight) wrote2017-08-14 06:33 pm

And then of course

There are the books where chapter 1 feels like the DM is setting up the campaign world for you. *sigh*

Is the current trend in YA really the "I am incompetent at everything and also clueless about my surroundings" character? Or is this just people trying to ape Harry Potter without going the necessary step of putting their MC in a world they genuinely have no way of knowing anything about?
maureenlycaon_dw: a thorn for the holy ones (Default)

[personal profile] maureenlycaon_dw 2017-08-14 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Not sure.

There's also a post making the rounds on Tumblr about what a toxic environment the community of YA fiction writers is. Maybe there's some relation -- like the genre draws a lot of jagoffs or something.

http://maureenlycaon.tumblr.com/post/164040096051/the-toxic-drama-on-ya-twitter
Edited 2017-08-14 22:55 (UTC)
recessional: a photo image of feet in sparkly red shoes (Default)

[personal profile] recessional 2017-08-14 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay so I have to giggle: you actually totally reblogged that from [personal profile] dragovianknight on tumblr, and I posted the article because [personal profile] dragovianknight linked it here. :D Circle!
maureenlycaon_dw: a thorn for the holy ones (Default)

[personal profile] maureenlycaon_dw 2017-08-14 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep. I think my mind's a bit off today!

I blame it on Mercury retrograde, because the other alternative is probably encroaching senility.
recessional: a photo image of feet in sparkly red shoes (Default)

[personal profile] recessional 2017-08-14 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)

Also there’s kinda been a lot happening in the world to eat cognitive bandwidth. And I promise I wasn’t mocking-laughing, I just loved that it was literally a full circle. >.>

maureenlycaon_dw: a thorn for the holy ones (Default)

[personal profile] maureenlycaon_dw 2017-08-15 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
:)

Yeah. It's been a rough weekend emotionally for lots of us, given recent events.
recessional: a photo image of feet in sparkly red shoes (Default)

[personal profile] recessional 2017-08-14 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it's always been a thread that gets more and less obvious depending - it's often people just trying to get a handle on the idea of a teenage character who DOESN'T know everything, and the idea of Learning, coming into their own, bildungsroman, all that stuff.

I mean Garion in The Belgariad (which totally starts like a YA) is a perf example and that's the 80s.
recessional: a photo image of feet in sparkly red shoes (Default)

[personal profile] recessional 2017-08-15 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
Yeeeeah I'm gonna go with that one there - author not realizing the kid NEEDED useful lifeskills? What lifeskills would be useful? Wait people in this situation would know things I don't know?!
recessional: a photo image of feet in sparkly red shoes (Default)

[personal profile] recessional 2017-08-15 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
So the problem here is "someone saw a Three Musketeers movie and didn't actually understand any of the context, at all, and went to write an Adventure Novel."
maureenlycaon_dw: a thorn for the holy ones (Default)

[personal profile] maureenlycaon_dw 2017-08-15 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
I am grimly reminded of some of the LotR fanfiction I used to see.
maureenlycaon_dw: a thorn for the holy ones (Default)

[personal profile] maureenlycaon_dw 2017-08-15 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
*facepalm* So they think a medieval House of Extreme Poverty is basically like a First World suburban home. I wonder what they think the bathroom is like . . .

It's not like you have to dig through a library any more to get this stuff. I've found very good basic medieval info in a few minutes of Googling, written by historians

But they probably think that since it's all fantasy, they don't have to do any research.
megpie71: 9th Doctor resting head against TARDIS with repeated *thunk* text (thunk)

[personal profile] megpie71 2017-08-16 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
May I recommend "A Tough Guide to Fantasyland" by Diana Wynne Jones, which covers all of these tropes and more.

Seriously, it should be a starter text for all writers of fantasy works because it's essentially a list of "traps for young players". If I can basically tick off items on the fantasy "tour" from that book, you need to re-draft.
dogstar: Fireflight! (Default)

[personal profile] dogstar 2017-08-16 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
..... are the three knights members of an order of Rainbow Knights and/or have there been any shirtless floggings yet?

I may have read this book in draft form, just sayin. Grab me on skype if you want o know more :P