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essayelI'm in rant mode so be warned
I was reading one of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
copperbadge's excellent drabbles and went to comment and noticed that somone else had justified their suggestion that he trim a line or two citing Elmore bloody Leonard as an authority. This pisses me off royally and here are my reasons.
Elmore Leonard is a jolly good writer. I have read and sort of enjoyed several of his books. He has a nicely terse and economical writing style and in his dialogue one can hear the voice of modern America talking in the vernacular. That's fine! That's great. He is a bestseller and deserves that appelation. But that's HIS style. It's not Sam's style.
I contend that Leonard's particular writing style is fine for his contempory thriller/chiller/crime novels but would sound bloody silly in say a piece of romantic historical fiction, a story set in the Scottish lowlands or, for that matter, a piece of Harry Potter fan fiction. Of course one HP fic written in Leonard's style would be fun to read (Remus said, "I guess you'll be wanting coffee." "Sure," Sirius said, "easy on the cream.") but I would hate to think that we are now going to be deluged with Leonardalikes - that'll be so boring.
As for "How to Write a Bestseller in Three Easy lessons" well bugger that for a lark. In the very unlikely event I ever make it into print I want it to be my voice that people hear not a pale parody of somebody elses. My effort, my sweat, my mistakes and if it is approved then I can think 'hey they like ME!'
Phew, rant over! Ok it's safe you can come out now.
Ummm...Johnny Depp has booked into the Bear Hotel in Crickhowell. According to one of the waitresses he looks good enough to eat - though she thought his current hair style is bloody silly.
I was reading one of
copperbadge's excellent drabbles and went to comment and noticed that somone else had justified their suggestion that he trim a line or two citing Elmore bloody Leonard as an authority. This pisses me off royally and here are my reasons.Elmore Leonard is a jolly good writer. I have read and sort of enjoyed several of his books. He has a nicely terse and economical writing style and in his dialogue one can hear the voice of modern America talking in the vernacular. That's fine! That's great. He is a bestseller and deserves that appelation. But that's HIS style. It's not Sam's style.
I contend that Leonard's particular writing style is fine for his contempory thriller/chiller/crime novels but would sound bloody silly in say a piece of romantic historical fiction, a story set in the Scottish lowlands or, for that matter, a piece of Harry Potter fan fiction. Of course one HP fic written in Leonard's style would be fun to read (Remus said, "I guess you'll be wanting coffee." "Sure," Sirius said, "easy on the cream.") but I would hate to think that we are now going to be deluged with Leonardalikes - that'll be so boring.
As for "How to Write a Bestseller in Three Easy lessons" well bugger that for a lark. In the very unlikely event I ever make it into print I want it to be my voice that people hear not a pale parody of somebody elses. My effort, my sweat, my mistakes and if it is approved then I can think 'hey they like ME!'
Phew, rant over! Ok it's safe you can come out now.
Ummm...Johnny Depp has booked into the Bear Hotel in Crickhowell. According to one of the waitresses he looks good enough to eat - though she thought his current hair style is bloody silly.
