Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Something new & Some Criticism

Hmmm...interesting that, seeing as I complain about not having enough time in a day...heh.  

Well, for one, I want to try and get away from sitting in front of the computer on Saturdays and do something more tangible...  for another, my R/C Helo only has about 20min's of flight time before I have to recharge it, so it's not something I can do the whole day long.

I'm not going to expand on what I intend on doing just yet...but, if I can figure out how to do it and wether it is going to work...you will be the first to know.

I tried reading a book again...hmmm...  

Suffice it to say, stick to authors you know.  I am not going to criticise this author on the basis that I am a great writer...heck, far from it.  I have never written a book in my life but I have read more than a few.  Now, my only reason for mentioning this, is not to critique the writer, but more to raise some interesting points one might concider when thinking of writing a book.

The author of the book is apparently an X-Navy Pilot and even though, that gives him superior insight into the workings of planes, weapons and aerial warfare, he's definately not the next Wilbur Smith, James Clavelles or Stephen King...

He gets too long winded and over-describes technical details to death.  He has a scene where there is a political meeting in the white house...  Now sure, he is trying to bring across how abnormal the cabinet is in this particular book but describing a political discussion in detail for 10 pages where only one page has relevance to the actual story?  I was yawning after the second page and after sitting through the third, I started skipping ahead to the next chapter.  

Lo and behold...  In the next chapter, he has a new character introduction.  Fair enough, you need to sketch some background on the character so the reader can familiarise themselves with him/her, but you don't need to give all of the character information in one go.  You need to spread it out a little giving a bit of info here and there at oppertune moments.

I really wanted to get into this book as the actual story is quite interesting... but I just don't have the patience for it...  I think the worse is when he gives the full title and military rank after each character has spoken or performs an action, instead of just referring to their name or surname.  To me, that becomes an itty bitty annoying.

I just wonder wether these comments is just my own perception tho...  We all have our own likes and dislikes when it comes to books and who knows, someone else might just enjoy that sort of thing.

2 comments:

  1. I almost hate trying a new author, you never know if it's going to be crap or not. I read 5-10 books a week so I have to try new ones out, but it's almost like a blind date, lol.

    I do hope you can get the logistics figured out for the new hobby.

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  2. Hmm...blind date...that sounds intrueging. I hope you won't be disappointed then ;D

    I decided to go ahead with the hobby ... :D

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