tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post3488238249743042335..comments2024-03-05T11:26:21.204-06:00Comments on All the World's Our Page: Don't shoot the messengerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-67948919238766784992010-01-12T04:53:22.314-06:002010-01-12T04:53:22.314-06:00I think what really annoys me about books with mes...I think what really annoys me about books with messages delivered with the nuance of a sledge hammer is that it's like watching a play with the playwright in the wings, yelling stage directions through a megaphone. Bloody annoying, and totally distracting. They dominate the page, rather than their letting characters and their story do so. But writers who fade into the background and let their stories do all the talking ... that's when a message is strongest, and more likely to be listened too, IMO.Rachel Walshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406943046329566026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-77380768763233325902010-01-07T10:49:27.841-06:002010-01-07T10:49:27.841-06:00Great post. Hmm... I think all good books have a m...Great post. Hmm... I think all good books have a message in them. But the best ones are subtle about it, letting the reader figure it out for themselves. One thing to consider is if writers of said books set out to put a message into the story, or are they simply such opinionated people that their beliefs about life simply seep into the story? I'm thinking both. :)Kristen Callihanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01448274676402616525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-65331164705596065372010-01-05T10:59:16.206-06:002010-01-05T10:59:16.206-06:00I agree with you guys. I always liked that line of...I agree with you guys. I always liked that line of Tolkien's from the forward to The Lord of the Rings, where he's getting back at people who assumed he was writing an allegory for WWII, and he said that people were already forgetting about WWI - what's the line? here it is: "One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead."Deniz Bevanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17134553551048836979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-80345667110272807322010-01-05T07:08:42.620-06:002010-01-05T07:08:42.620-06:00Linda and Jen- I think you guys are on the exact s...Linda and Jen- I think you guys are on the exact same page with your objections, and I agree with you. Jen, I would have thrown that book against the wall for bad writing.<br /><br />I think this ties into my point that first and foremost, you have to have story and character, and if you can use those tools to convey your agenda without beating people over the head with it in a preachy way, then you'll probably do quite well. And even if not, at least you'll have a respectably good story to show for your efforts.Claire Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15286952159573145712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-90766135783679375902010-01-04T20:06:18.857-06:002010-01-04T20:06:18.857-06:00Claire,
OMG...I just read a book that had SUCH an...Claire,<br /><br />OMG...I just read a book that had SUCH an agenda. I'll just call it nameless YA. :) In this book, the author clearly had a "racism is not cool" -- picking on the "outsider" is not cool agenda. It literally had blatant messages throughout the entire book that made me want to bang my head on the wall.<br /><br />Someone is mean to the outsider, says she has no friends:<br /><br />MC: Can't they understand that the fact this girl has no friends is an even greater reason to be nice to her?<br /><br />Someone makes a racist remark:<br /><br />MC: It's hard for me to understand such wickedness--because that's what racism is, wickedness.<br /><br />Holy bejesus. Subtle, this book was not. Funny thing is that the message COULD'VE been conveyed in some really cool ways without having to spell it out so blatantly.<br /><br />Sorry to say this pretty much reflects the book as a whole. <br /><br />JenJennifer Hendrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01239194419535919631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-7365144334821668662010-01-04T10:13:35.372-06:002010-01-04T10:13:35.372-06:00I'm fine with an agenda in a novel as long as ...I'm fine with an agenda in a novel as long as it serves the story instead of the other way around. The story has to come first for me--a great big whopping spoonful of sugar to help the "medicine" go down, IOW. But if the story feels like a hollow framework to loosely support whatever flavor-of-the-day views the author is currently espousing...well, not so much. :)Linda G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04576828490765434497noreply@blogger.com