Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: HAMMETT: Cynical Hammett (Was: Ned Beaumont)

Reed Andrus (randrus@home.com)
Sat, 18 Apr 1998 14:06:08 -0700 Mario Taboada wrote:
>
> [on padding]:

> In the present era, many novels are grossly padded. Robert B. Parker has
> been doing this for years. In some cases, the plot would barely suffice
> for a short-short. We hear about Spenser's jogging and gym habits, about
> the dog, about his cooking, about his sex with the insufferable Susan,
> about politics, and so on.
>
> And even James Lee Burke, an author I much respect, has padded some of
> his novels ("Dixie City Jam" is a fairly clear example) with endless
> descriptions of the Bayou, dead cypress, alligators and alligator gars,
> his own bait shop, and so on. Burke really can write, and I forgive him
> somewhat, but sometimes the padding jumps at the reader.
>
> A novel I read recently (out of desperation while travelling) is Sue
> Grafton's "L is for Lawless". This book is padded with events totally
> unrelated to the story, such as the marriage of her landlord. And
> Grafton, who came up with a great character in the charming jailbird who
> shows up in Santa Teresa, completely squanders him by directing
> attention to the always uninteresting Kinsey Millhone and her petty
> concerns. This could have been a great book with more self-criticism and
> extensive use of that essential implement, the scissors.
>
> I guess publishers no longer want the honest 200 page mystery - a length
> that does justice to most plots and characters.

I'm in general agreement with you regarding the authors cited above --
particularly Parker -- but it raises an interesting question for me as a
novice writer: where does true character expansion end, and padding
begin? Does the Grafton novel truly suffer for the inclusion of the
wedding sequence, or should it have been there, just pared down? I
remember the key points that made Travis McGee and Matt Helm so seminal
to my genre life were: continuity of characters, both primary and
secondary, from novel to novel, and the ability of the protagonist to be
changed by events. There's nothing that really specifies those events --
could be the wedding of a neighbor.

Be interested in your thoughts.

... Reed Andrus
Phoenix, AZ (rising)
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