Things I don't like in stories
Aug. 6th, 2008 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcepsaI've noticed that there are a few big things that I'm not terribly keen on in stories. These are both grey areas, but it seems like in general I don't care for the way that most authors use them.
One: Prophecy. It's rare that I find a book whose primary plot motivator is prophecy. I don't want to already know what's going to happen. I don't even really want to know what "should" happen, because then I spend all of my energy focusing on whether or not it does, and pretty much gloss over everything else. Even harder to do in a way that I like? A prophecy that makes it look like certain things have to happen, and then bringing the prophecy to pass without all of those things happening, or reversing their effects afterwards. Example: I've just spent the majority of the story bracing myself for this person's death and empathizing with them and their heroic lover (and or companions) who is helping them in their quest even though they both know it'll be the end of them because the prophecy says so, only to have them some how avoid actually dying, or whatever horrible fate was supposedly going to befall them. You'd better do a really bloody good job of explaining how they got around that doom, or I'm going to be grumpy.
Two: Serendipity. Just happening to fall into the ancient crypt that holds the only weapon that could possibly defeat the Dark Lord who will otherwise cover the land in everlasting accelerated entropy? Give me a break. The odds of Bilbo just happening to find that Ring while scrabbling around in the dark? Ridiculously small. (Though this is later explained reasonably well enough by way of it "wanting" to be found and containing enough power to influence the flailing of a wayward hobbit--at least, that's how I chose to interpret it so as to make the serendipity more palatable). Maybe if the character is searching through a cave because legend has it there is something important there and they accidentally stumble into a secret room, but there has to be something more than just the appearance of completely random chance.
So, fate's out and luck's out. What does that leave? Passion. Desire. Will. Perhaps more on these later...
One: Prophecy. It's rare that I find a book whose primary plot motivator is prophecy. I don't want to already know what's going to happen. I don't even really want to know what "should" happen, because then I spend all of my energy focusing on whether or not it does, and pretty much gloss over everything else. Even harder to do in a way that I like? A prophecy that makes it look like certain things have to happen, and then bringing the prophecy to pass without all of those things happening, or reversing their effects afterwards. Example: I've just spent the majority of the story bracing myself for this person's death and empathizing with them and their heroic lover (and or companions) who is helping them in their quest even though they both know it'll be the end of them because the prophecy says so, only to have them some how avoid actually dying, or whatever horrible fate was supposedly going to befall them. You'd better do a really bloody good job of explaining how they got around that doom, or I'm going to be grumpy.
Two: Serendipity. Just happening to fall into the ancient crypt that holds the only weapon that could possibly defeat the Dark Lord who will otherwise cover the land in everlasting accelerated entropy? Give me a break. The odds of Bilbo just happening to find that Ring while scrabbling around in the dark? Ridiculously small. (Though this is later explained reasonably well enough by way of it "wanting" to be found and containing enough power to influence the flailing of a wayward hobbit--at least, that's how I chose to interpret it so as to make the serendipity more palatable). Maybe if the character is searching through a cave because legend has it there is something important there and they accidentally stumble into a secret room, but there has to be something more than just the appearance of completely random chance.
So, fate's out and luck's out. What does that leave? Passion. Desire. Will. Perhaps more on these later...
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Date: 2008-08-06 06:02 pm (UTC)Guess you didn't like any of the Star Wars movies, then. :)
The odds of Bilbo just happening to find that Ring while scrabbling around in the dark? Ridiculously small.
But, finding the Ring wasn't a main plot of the story in The Hobbit. So far as that plot was concerned, it just let him be invisible for a while.
And it was Bilbo's finding the ring that started Sauron gearing up for war. If it hadn't been Bilbo, it would have been someone else, which is kinda the point. It was random chance happening to a "normal" person.
I do agree that, in general, Serendipity is used as a plot crutch to resolve a plot. "Hmmm, I can't figure out how to plausibly make this happen, so *Whoop!* there it is."
But, used as a plot premise (i.e. the events that cause the story) it makes for interesting stories.
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Date: 2008-08-06 06:46 pm (UTC)Any? I wasn't that keen on Episodes 1, 2, and 3, but I rather liked 4, 5, and 6. And yeah, a big part of it was that "Oh, it looks like Obi Wan's in a tight spot there, but there's not really a whole lot of suspense for me because I already know he doesn't die." It's related to the replayability of a story, I think... (and Eps 1,2,3 don't really have much replayability value for me). And I don't have good words for it, but here's a shot anyway: I can enjoy reading stories once that I wouldn't necessarily enjoy re-reading. I can also enjoy re-reading stories. The ones that I wouldn't enjoy re-reading are pretty much all about the destination; finding out how it all ends--once I know that, there's no draw for me to read them again. The ones that I do enjoy re-reading are more about the journey; I already know how they end, but I want to re-experience the path to get there. I suspect that's related to prophecy stuff because most prophecy-driven stories seem to be (or become to me by virtue of the fact that they have the prophecy) mostly about the destination, but I already know what that destination is, and don't want to wade through hundreds of pages of other stuff to discover the details of the destination.
Neal Stephenson's books, as a counterexample, are much more about the journey than the destination (in some cases it sort of feels like he just decided "Oh, I need to stop now or this is going to get too big." or he finished a chapter and suddenly had the realization that it was Done, even though it might have seemed that there was more to tell).
But, finding the Ring wasn't a main plot of the story in The Hobbit. So far as that plot was concerned, it just let him be invisible for a while.
No? How about where he uses it to escape Gollum? The orcs? The spiders? How about when he uses it to sneak the Dwarves out of the Mirkwood Elves' stronghold? How about when he uses it to infiltrate the Lonely Mountain, or when it allows him to deliver the Arkenstone to Dale?
That's the sort of thing that annoys me. He doesn't end up relying on it enough to really piss me off, but at the same time, it's still a little irritating. That he does have Character, and isn't just Someone Who Uses A Tool, helps; maybe he could have found other ways to accomplish similar things if he hadn't had it. What I really dislike is stories that essentially boil down to "The Protagonists Won Because They Got Really Damn Lucky".
And it was Bilbo's finding the ring that started Sauron gearing up for war. If it hadn't been Bilbo, it would have been someone else, which is kinda the point. It was random chance happening to a "normal" person.
It was random chance that it was Bilbo who found the Ring, yes, but it was not random chance that the Ring was found. That's an important difference for me. It's not Serendipity that the Ring was found; it was looking to be discovered. Therefore, to my mind, Serendipity is not being used as a plot premise for the Trilogy.
I do agree that, in general, Serendipity is used as a plot crutch to resolve a plot. "Hmmm, I can't figure out how to plausibly make this happen, so *Whoop!* there it is."
Yeah, that drives me nuts.
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Date: 2008-08-10 07:32 pm (UTC)Joel?
Date: 2008-09-09 04:28 pm (UTC)Re: Joel?
Date: 2008-09-09 04:48 pm (UTC)