I completely agree, Kevin, this takes me out of a story. It
is almost always a clumsy writer trying to make a plot work
by having characters act unnaturally. I think it was Fred
Dannay who once said he had trouble enjoying mystery stories
after reading so many because he too often could see "the
scenery moving." When a character behaves unnaturally, I am
taken out of the story and become an observer of the stage
changing according to the author's direction.
Richard Moore
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Kevin Burton Smith
<kvnsmith@...> wrote:
>
> For me, it's human behaviour. If the characters
don't act in the
ways
> people like them would act, I'm pulled out of the
story. And
anything
> that pulls me out of the story is bad -- too many,
and I may never
go
> back.
>
> Which is why I view most cozies and serial killer
novels with
such
> disdain -- the murders are too often committed for
artificial-
feeling
> or hard-to-swallow reasons ("he's crazy" is a lazy
writer's cop-
out,
> IMHO). Chandler praised Hammett for giving murder
back to those
who
> commit it for a reason, and I think that's part of
the HB genre's
> appeal for me.
>
> But that very artificiality, that once-removed
motive for murder,
may
> be another person's favourite thing about cozies or
serial killer
> books -- it allows them to get on with the puzzle
aspect or the
chase
> part of the story (or, in the case of
narrated-by-the-serial-
killer
> books, the violence-as-porn bits that make certain
readers all
tingly
> in their naughty bits).
And also from Kevin:
> Hell, look at Stephen King. Do I believe in vampires
and
werewolves
> and UFOs and that burying dead kids in an ancient
Indian burial
> ground will bring them back to life?
>
> Nope.
>
> But I believe (trust) his characters, so I'm more
likely to
believe
> the things that happen to them -- at least while I'm
in that
> fictional world. The scenes of domestic life at the
beginning of
PET
> SEMETARY (the kids' squabbling over cereal at
breakfast, the low-
> level bickering, etc.) may be some of the most
"true" fiction
I've
> ever read. So I was already hooked when the weird
shit started
> happening.
>
> Yet who would accuse King of writing "realistic"
novels?
>
>
> Kevin Burton Smith
> The Thrilling Detective Web Site
> http://www.thrillingdetective.com
>
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