{"id":603,"date":"2018-02-19T19:42:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T00:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/dremadeoraich\/?p=603"},"modified":"2018-02-19T19:45:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T00:45:01","slug":"what-not-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/19\/what-not-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What Not to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is not a book review. I just want that clear right up front, because in this post I want to talk about a book I have been trying\u2014and failing\u2014to read: New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson.<\/p>\n

I initially borrowed the book from the library because I was ready for a new read, and this was recommended as one of thirteen best sci-fi books of 2017. The premise seemed sound. In the year 2140 (obviously), Manhattan is so flooded from sea-level rise that it has become the new Venice. Interesting, I thought. Ought to be good, plus bonus points for taking on climate change in a possible near future, set in a city familiar to many readers. Makes for a story relevant to our own times.<\/p>\n

Right?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I tried to read it. I failed to finish because\u2026well, there\u2019s no polite way to say this. It bored me to tears.<\/p>\n

And that<\/em> is what I want to talk about. Some of the storyline\u2019s failings I can point to and say \u201cThat. That right there is boring.\u201d But the rest I\u2019m not sure how to define, which I why I\u2019m writing about it. Because as a writer, if I can\u2019t describe why<\/em> a book fails to capture my interest, then I won\u2019t be able to avoid the same mistakes.<\/p>\n

So here we go.<\/p>\n

One clear pitfall of the book for me was that a main character (there are nine) is a hedge-fund sleaze who goes on and on and on and on about finance and housing bubbles and market indexes in excruciating detail. He\u2019s not the only character to do so. I read the first segments of this, thinking it must have some connection to the plot (I think it does, eventually, though I\u2019ll never know for sure). But after the first five, I began skimming without actually reading them.<\/p>\n

Another was the unnamed character (\u201ccitizen\u201d) whose chapters were absolute info dumps about New York history and culture. Not one of these chapters that I read added anything pertinent to the plot. Citizen even tells the reader that \u201cif you don\u2019t wanna know this, skip to the next chapter.\u201d (Really? The author invites<\/em> the reader to skip whole chapters of the book?) Again, read the first few, skipped the rest.<\/p>\n

The characters themselves all fell flat. Not one of them felt fleshed-out or real to me. They all said different words, yet their \u201cvoices\u201d sounded the same. They went places and did things and got together and faced problems, but none of it gave me a sense of urgency. None of it compelled me to keep reading. The writing, overall, used limiting words that drained conversations between the characters as well as descriptions of any power, something I\u2019ve had to watch in my own work. Dialogue between characters felt stiff. There was more, but this will suffice to explain why, at about the 25% point, I decided to stop wasting my time.<\/p>\n

More nebulous critiques centered around the pointless wanderings of the flat characters. Maybe it\u2019s that their relationships, activities, comments and internal monologues all felt contrived. One scene in particular had a group of characters all meeting in one place and the author overexplained insignificant details like who sat where. Why is this important? Skip to that bit, please. There were good segments that gave me hope, but overall it felt like there was far too much extraneous content, as though the author could have cut at least 25% of the book and had a better, more focused and compelling story. Again, I\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n

Correct me if I\u2019m wrong\u2014because KSR is a best-selling author with nineteen published books to his name, so clearly he knows something I don\u2019t\u2014but I\u2019m pretty sure each of these faults I\u2019ve named breaks rules that are pounded into our heads as new writers. Books on how to write publishable fiction tell us not to do these things. Fiction classes say the same thing. Writing conference breakout sessions repeat these lessons, so I\u2019m left wondering if a) those books and classes and conference presenters are all wrong; or b) bestselling authors are held to a different standard than new writers.<\/p>\n

Much as I wish it were so, the real answer probably isn\u2019t that cut-and-dried. First of all, a) is both true and false because every fiction reader is different. Each one wants something different from a novel. As awful as I thought NY2140 was, there were plenty of reviews giving it four or five stars, raving about how all KSR\u2019s novels had an underlying and not-so-subtle message. He definitely pushes a political agenda in this novel, one I probably agree with on many levels. I don\u2019t mind a book with a message. But let it also have a story too, please. I\u2019ve read other books like this in that they were all message and no story. All my works of fiction have messages too. I only hope they aren\u2019t this dry and flavorless.<\/p>\n

As to b, this is probably true. I remember a presenter telling me at a conference that writers have to prove they know the rules before they can break them. I\u2019m tempted to think this is BS, until I read something like NY2140. It\u2019s an example of the fact that publishers will be more likely to buy even marginal ideas from established writers who have already identified their market<\/em>, while we newbies are still struggling to do that. Unfortunately, even if our stories is outstanding, we are all channeled through the narrow pipeline of available publishing houses whose primary goal is to make money. Don\u2019t misunderstand me; there\u2019s nothing wrong with making money. As a writer, I too want my works to turn a buck. But with so many of us, and so few publishing channels, it\u2019s no wonder that more and more writers are turning to self-publishing options for their work.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t read anything else by KSR, and I probably won\u2019t\u2014partly because of my experience with this book, but also partly because one reviewer, who gave this book four out of five stars, commented that people who read his work usually don\u2019t read it for the story, but for the \u201cmassive ideas he puts forth.\u201d That reviewer is clearly part of KSR\u2019s \u201cestablished market.\u201d She knows going in what she\u2019s going to get and she goes back for more.<\/p>\n

I know it looks like one, but this isn\u2019t a book review. As always, don\u2019t take my word for it. If you like the \u201cstory\u2019s\u201d premise, or have a soft spot for New York City or finance or utopian messages that out-shout the plot or the characters, by all means read this book. You may be one of those who find it inspiring. As far as I am concerned, it was a reminder to myself to mind my story\/message balance, to fully flesh out my characters and their desires\/conflicts, and to make every single word relevant to the work.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Caveat: It is not my habit or intention to belittle another author\u2019s writing. That said, I don\u2019t always like everything I read. Do you? The statements herein are my opinion only. Your mileage may vary.) This is not a book review. I just want that clear right up front, because in this post I want…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-on-writing","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-9J","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":905,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/09\/puzzling\/","url_meta":{"origin":603,"position":0},"title":"Puzzling","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a huge jigsaw puzzle fan. 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