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Kchama
Jul 25, 2007

wizzardstaff posted:

I think the very first editing/publishing mistake with these books was right at the beginning. It was clearly pitched on the appeal of a five-book series with an unsubtle FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE!!!!! motif, not based on the strength of any actual manuscript. (If I recall correctly, the first book actually ends midway through a cycle of five identical viewpoints with no climax or cliffhanger--Tamrissa just says "oops, it's time to end the book!")

Someone should have sat down with Sharon Green and asked her how much story she had to tell before handing her a word count to fill out.

I dunno why they didn't do it like Everworld or Animorphs and just have each POV be a book in and of itself so you actually have time to get a good feel for their inner character.

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Kchama
Jul 25, 2007

Selachian posted:

While not a Southerner myself, I understand that down there it's not unusual to call your father "Daddy."

And my brother and myself never use "brother," "bro," or any variation thereof to address each other.

It's VERY unusual if you're an adult man. Women, girls, and young boys it's not unusual. Adult men? Yeah you're definitely going to get weird looks about calling your father 'daddy'.

Me and my brothers all called each other 'brother' in some form, so that didn't really bother me.

Kchama
Jul 25, 2007
I've been reading a story recently that takes the whole central theme of bad parenting and how it screws up people in a fantasy world and does a million times better job. The Villainess's Pet, about a young noblewoman who has no appreciable skills or name to trade on who attaches herself to various noblewomen who have a lot more social power than her and basically acts as a safety valve for them. Their society has real trouble with how emotions are seen as weakness, and everyone is encouraged to hide them or face social punishment. So she lets them vent and also gives them praise and encouragement to get through their stress. It's not all positive to the protagonist as she sometimes suffers physical and emotional abuse in their venting, but the noblewoman is always so thankful that she is let into the higher society and gifts are lavished upon her, so she sees it as a fair trade. Hence her status as a 'Pet', where its her lesser absolute status that makes it safe for them to vent to without losing face. She is seen by some as a social leech, but it lets her survive without having to suffer what her parents would have done to her if she hadn't: Marry some old man so her family can have some of his status and power. And basically everyone has similar abuse done to them in the name of power. The titular Villainess is the crown prince's fiancee who has suffered his overly permissive parents, so he has more or less slacked off with his studies required to become a ruler and spends all of his time having sex with any woman he can get his hands on, while she is forced to be pure and chaste or face severe punishment, as well as undergo extremely strict schooling, leading to a lot of unhappiness and strain in her relationship with the crown prince and her father. And her father is actually one of the better parents because he eventually realizes how much he's hosed up and works to fix it. The theme is actually there from the start but it actually only starts becoming OBVIOUS later on because the author takes her time to build it up so it's not dumped on you so blatantly.

Sorry for the long rambling, but it's just urgh Green lays the whole theme on so thick and doesn't really say anything about it. The missed potential is so frustrating.

Kchama
Jul 25, 2007
I think the thing about mistaking contempt for pity is that it's suppose to be that he's seeing the same expression and misinterpreting it the first time, but understanding it properly when he sees it as pity.

As for the third-person mother thing, I'm pretty sure it was actually a very common third in 'Victorian' era anyways. Never mind it's not something completely unheard of TODAY.

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