Novelisation: crappy
POSTED BY: BrainMissing
UPDATED: Monday, October 17, 2005 08:45
VIEWED: 19854
PAGE 4 of 6
Heh. Welcome along KRAD 
I am looking forward to reading the book. The over-referencing thing that I mentioned has grated a little in the past, but it's never actually prevented me from enjoying the other 99% of the content of those books of yours I've read. It's just your way... which might be better than a plan, who can say? 
The rest of writing style does, I understand, reflect the dialogue of the movie and series somewhat. That's fine with me, but it won't be for everyone. The roleplaying game does much the same thing, and that was fun to read.
As for grammar and writing rules, there are a lot of variations on the basic ruleset. Best to stick with what one knows, and not to assume that someone's way of writing is utterly wrong, I'd say. How on earth would you prove it, anyway?
Have I said already how I'm looking forward to reading the book? 
Well done for sneaking over here and braving this crowd. We all know how irate people on the internet can be where spelling and grammar are concerned!
Keep up the good work!
"My God - you're like a trained ape. Without the training."
"Come a day there won't be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all..."
I know the secret.
http://www.theshadowdepository.co.uk/index.htm
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Somehow, I missed this comment the first time.....
Quote:
Overall, she and I both thought that you didn't
really want to write this book. I realise it's
very difficult to work with someone else's story.
But if it's true that you didn't want to do it,
why did you take the contract?
In fact, I and my agent lobbied very hard for this project, as I'm a huge fan of Firefly, and was thrilled at the prospect of doing it. So in this, as with several other things, you and your professor were both wrong.
Quote:
I hope these comments are helpful to you and
further explain the anger in my previous post.
Probably not as much as you were hoping. *wry grin* And the anger was unjustified and unnecessary. One can criticize without getting snippy -- if nothing else, it makes it more likely that said criticism will be taken seriously.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
keith@decandido.net
www.DeCandido.net | www.AlbeShiloh.com
www.livejournal.com/~kradical
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I'll say it again: it's not the grammar I'm criticising, it's
the writing style. I actually found a grammatical error,
but did not mention it in my critique, because that's
really the proofreader's error, not the author's.
So much meaning is lost in these 'posts'. The
statements I made throughout my critiques were
not 'rules'. They're just things to avoid. Of course,
sometimes one uses adverbs with the verb said.
But not so many times in a row. The same with
the present participle.
Another part of my post addressed the dignity
and temper statement. Together, the paragraph
would have read:
Mal bent his knees to keep from falling over.
*A Captain doesn't fall on his gorram ass!*
Having Mal think this shows both the dignity
and temper concepts.
I thought long and hard about my initial post. I
used my anger to convey the point that my
intelligence had been insulted. I have also
considered apologising on this thread, but
realised that I am not sorry - I stand by my
statements. However, I am glad that you
did not find the thread until after I had posted
the proper critique - it was unprofessional of
me not to take the time to create it immediately.
That having been said, I have spent a good
deal of time arguing to various friends and
professionals that science fiction (or, if you
like, speculative fiction) is just as valuable
as any other 'genre' of writing. Both I and
my creative writing professor thought that
this novel is exactly the sort of thing that
gives scifi a bad name.
I did tell my professor that someone had
mentioned on the thread that you were
a fan of the show and therefore you
probably wanted the contract. She
wouldn't believe me, and so I thought
that maybe that person was mistaken.
In response to Agrey and Riley Billings:
Writing can and should be both fun (who
would want to read it if it weren't fun) and
intellectually stimulating (ditto). Take
Connie Willis' *To Say Nothing of the
Dog* as an excellent example.
In response to Vampry:
Creative writing is an art, but it's false to
say that it can't be taught. As evidence,
I can cite the 5 creative writing courses
that I've taken, and the vast improvements
that I have seen in my own writing, and
the writing of my classmates. I know that
I myself would never have gotten published
if I hadn't taken those courses and learned
from those experiences. And I continue to
learn today.
In response to Thrawn:
I agree with you that Whedon loves to play
around with language, and we love him for
it. But the rest of the novel should have
played with the language *in the same way*
as in the show. Also, dialogue and description
should be treated differently when writing.
For instance, in Out of Gas, Mal says to Kaylee:
"Without this part, engine don't turn?"
In dialogue, it fits. But something like that would
never be used in description, unless it were in
someone's thought.
BTW, I also had no problem with the switches from
one character to another. I don't think the novel
could have been written from one person's
point of view, since the movie wasn't.
-BrainMissing
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Mima straightened her knees to keep from keeling over at the audacity of BrainMissing, who is apparently without a sense of irony. "I find you self-righteous and pompous," she sniffed coldly. "It is," she added crossly, "an entirely unsympathetic mien to assume when attempting to preach." 
KRAD, thanks for clarifying several GLARING plot holes in the film. Without your novelization balancing some disjointed last minute excising of the script, I would be disappointed in our BDM. Now, I can tell myself things had to be cut for the studio, the timing, and such, but the tiny character details and connections between scenes in your book allowed me to quiet the flashing red question marks in my brain while watching the movie for the 5th time.
Anyone who wishes to may abandon your present participles at any time and share their pulitzer fanfic instead. I'll read it as happily as I read the comics, the VC, the novelization, the dvd liner notes, the fanpages, the moviesite...
brace yourself brainmissing. krad told us at a panel at dragoncon there are to be 3 independent novelizations released sometime after our BDM. get your red pen ready! 
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ooo- just surfing on amazon, it looks like KRAD did get the green light for one of the new novels!!! CONGRATULATIONS KRAD!!!
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Ah, those should be good then
I finished the novelisation!
I can see how the writing style might not be to everyone's liking, but I think it reflected the feel of the series and the dialogue very well. What referencing there was served the story more often than not; there were not many instances of mentioning an event from the series for it's own sake, as it were.
Plus, the extra details KRAD added to fill in some of the events and characters were very interesting indeed... however non-canon they may or may not be.
Overall: good!
"My God - you're like a trained ape. Without the training."
"Come a day there won't be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all..."
I know the secret.
http://www.theshadowdepository.co.uk/index.htm
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Well, it wasn't perfect... but I enjoyed it.
I can't wait to read "Serenity: Mirror Image", and see what KRAD can do without the constraints of a pre-established story.
Man, how am I gonna wait until June for the newest story from the Serenity-verse?
Can you slip any tidbits, KRAD? Is the story set before of after the film? More importantly, will there be a character named Kelso (for whom, Inara and Kaylee fall madly in love)?
Inquiring minds want to know!
-------
Well, here I am.
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Quote:
Originally posted by KRAD:
One poster complained about my over-referencing of past events... I do tend to overdo the references
KRAD--
I just finished reading the novelization and I liked the refs to past incidents. They added a sense of context and continuity. I also thought you did a nice job merging apparent inconsistancies between the series and the movie.
I generally liked your choice of POV on scenes, particularly when you did a couple scenes from River's POV when she wasn't physically in the scene itself. I felt the best flavor of the characters from your interpretations of River and Jayne. Less so from Mal.
Some of the backstory elements were interesting--is the backstory on "Mr. Universe" (ghastly name!) your creation or Joss's?
I also appreciated the little insight on the final fight scene about the operative finally getting mad. I missed that in two passes of the movie. Yes, Joss should have dropped a mention in of the operative now having spent an hour with Mal and therefore was angry with him ;-)
Guildsister
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Quote:
ooo- just surfing on amazon, it looks like KRAD did get the green light for one of the new novels!!! CONGRATULATIONS KRAD!!!
Er, uh, not so much. Sorry.
That listing on Amazon.com is wrong, and hasn't been changed despite requests from Pocket to change it.
Pocket has the rights to do two original Serenity novels, and they're still hoping to do one of them next summer. How-some-ever, Universal and Joss still haven't given Pocket any feedback on the dozen or so proposals that they've sent over (including one by me, though it's not entitled Mirror Image).
So don't get your hopes up, but do keep your fingers crossed.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
keith@decandido.net
www.DeCandido.net | www.AlbeShiloh.com
www.livejournal.com/~kradical
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