1st August 2004, 9:29 PM
Oh, one thing about the entire genre as a whole. Generally, the only problem I ever have is when they focus more on the actual way the world works than the characters themselves. For example, when they get way too into how the transporter works for HALF AN HOUR, that's bad. I really don't need to know how this fictional device works, no matter how metaphorical you can get about it. Likewise, when they get into a 10 page speil about the effects of magic on the mind of the spellcaster, honestly that just reeks of bad storytelling. If they want to convey things like that, the direct approach is just plain bad to me. Tell about these effects via the CHARACTERS, and SUBTLY is the key! For example, instead of saying "Thus Loxi'mar, having caste the legendarian spell of Lighterra, slowly seeped into madness", just show the guy acting weirder and weirder. And, instead of explaining what happened later on in retrospect, either via narritive or a bunch of characters convienently stating the obvious, just make it clear via good storytelling what happened so it doesn't NEED explaining.
Sorry, just some things that bug me...
Sorry, just some things that bug me...
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)