R Scott Boyer

Neurosis

Revisado: 10-23-23

I bought this audiobook expecting to hear universally applicable and valuable advice about writing. There is some of that in here, but mainly it’s about the author’s mental health and neurosis. If you don’t struggle to find inspiration, don’t have writers block, and don’t need to be told to focus on one small detail at a time in order to write, then this book probably isn’t for you.

LaMott is brilliant with her prose, her witty turn of phrase, and evoking imagery that made me smile. However, that’s simply not enough to forgive the paper thin content (pun intended). Bird by Bird… the one inch picture frame… basically the same thing. Telling aspiring authors to focus on character and dredge up their childhood to find inspiration is an opinion, not fact, and isn’t something that should be taught in a classroom or put forth as a universal method. It is certainly not the only way to write and can hurt a writer’s creativity as much as help if that’s simply not their style.

About midway through, LaMott mentions a time when she was 28 and had a manuscribe rejected twice by an editor. She then wrote a 40 page treatment. The book got picked up and, according to LaMott, became her most famous and successful title.

The lesson? Plotting a story and focusing on what happens, not just who it happens to, is a perfectly valid way to write and can yield great results. Seems that LaMott didn’t learn this lesson. Truly sad, especially when it was presented to her at such a young age. The only thing worse than not learning a lesson, is ignoring it as good advice for others.

Last but not least - Index cards. Yes, truly, honestly, that’s the suggested method: use index cards. Please god no! Unless you’re stuck in the 80s with a Motorola flip phone, there are approximately a billion better ways to organize your ideas vs index cards. Use separate docs/files, excel, voice memos, Scrivner, or other wp programs. For heavens sake, don’t use index cards.

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A Truly Delightful Story

Revisado: 10-15-23

This a great book, with well developed characters and a heartwarming plot. The prose are solid - not flowery as you might expect based in the plot, but descriptive enough to evoke each scene.

I really enjoyed the narration, which was fluid and consistent with the tone of the story. I also loved the ambiguity of the alien and her powers. I was less impressed with the miracles, but given the setting and environment of the story, what we get works well enough.

My only knock is in the story’s length. I would have liked for it to be longer - not just so I could enjoy it longer, but also to flesh out some of the B plots and supporting cast. I’d have liked to see more of George Kenney throughout, in order to deepen the story with Gabe. I’d have liked to have been introduced to the bad men before the climax. I’d have liked to seen more of all the characters involved with the secret love affair - if only to heighten the emotional impact… and to spend more time with this book :).

But these are small items, none of which detract from the overall execution of a truly delightful story.

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A Modern Day Christmas Carole

Revisado: 10-07-23

Beautifully written, masterfully excecuted, this story is poignant and powerful. Exploring the concept of what it is to find and live a perfect life, this story captures the soul as well as the imagination. We go on journeys with the protagonist as she becomes a an Olympian, a rock star, a innkeeper, vineyard owner, glacialogist , and much more. Along the way, we learn the same lessons the protag comes to realize - life is what you make it, and it’s never too late to live the one life you have have. Bravo!

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Huge Disappointment

Revisado: 09-23-23

There are a handful of clever and creative plot developments. However, the storyline is mostly trope and predictable. Most jarring is the midway departure from YA romance into full throttle erotica. It’s so over the top as to be embarassing with such vivid and graphic depictions of sex that it made me cringe. Is that supposed to make use feel an emotional connection and strengthen the love subplot? Fail.

The only thing I disliked more than the needless wanton sexual descriptions, was the narration. Everything is read in a hyper tense tone, as if even the most mundane sentence carries the weight of the finale.

Speaking of finales - the “big reveal” and climax are so predictable I can’t help but wonder why the author tried to foreshadow everything instead of just spell it out. The stories about venin (sp?) and wyverns are shoved under our nose. The fact that the rebels are the good guys is apparent from the instant their leader chooses not to kill Violet at the first opportunity - which is very early on.

When was the last time, in any fantasy novel, dragons were good guys while griffons were bad guys? That should be a big hint folks.

And then we come to the love triangle… the Dane Atos (so?) character is paper thin. He’s a rule follower who ends up betraying his personality for no apparent reason. Zayden (sp?) is supposed to be a bad guy but never does anything bad. Meanwhile, the author gives us a cold heartless, distant mother as the commander, making it clear that the leaders of the academy are not good role models. As such, it’s not hard to see where things are headed right from the start.

Oh, and “brilliant” Violet knows a bunch of helpful facts (which she spent her entire childhood studying), but doesn’t do anything particularly brilliant. Not terribly impressive, even as a character.

The writing is uninspired and pedantic. The prose are flat and cliche. There are tons of great books out there. If you’re thinking about listening to this one, do yourself a favor and try something else instead.

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Verbose

Revisado: 06-26-23

The descriptions and especially the dialogue goes on and on. Meanwhile, the story is lacking, with the characters mainly talking about danger rather than actually encountering any. If not for the other books in the series, this tale would be boring and flat. Thankfully, the other books bring the energy thst this one lacks.

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Short Stories Spliced Together

Revisado: 05-04-23

Like the other titles in the series, this book feels more like a series of short stories that have been spliced together into novel length. Thankfully, that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment at all. Whether you look forward to chapters about the deltoids, the Others, or Howard’s romance with Bridget, the pace moves so rapidly that you’re always back to your fav storyline.

For me, that story is the Others, which provides the climax and resolution that, while not resolving all the story lines, provides more than enough satisfaction.

As always, Ray Porter’s performance is masterful. Honestly, I could listen to him read an insurance policy and enjoy it. Meanwhile, Taylor’s writing is economic and efficient, full of just enough nods, grins, and smiles, to convey meaning while staying out of the way of the plot.

Would have liked a final verbal exchange with the Others, just to give us some smug satisfaction, and greater tension with Archimedes, but overall a well-written and enjoyable story.

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Good Ideas, Bad Examples

Revisado: 04-05-23

This book has some great ideas and suggestions for writers in how to craft compelling stories. Unfortunately, almost all the examples in the book center around the ideas from a writer friend of the author. Not only is the concept of this example novel bad (ie really, really bad) but it deprives the reader of a depth of examples. I’d much preferred hearing hoe authors of famous/successful novels created their stories. At least then, there’s a basis for proof that the concepts pulled together successfully.

To illustrate my point: if you want to borrow a dog for an hour, you call a friend, not go to the local park and Hope to “borrow” a dog left there. First off, ppl don’t leave dogs at dog parks, where other owners would notice and say something if they get in a car and drive away. Leaving a famous dog at a park and no one notices? Forget about it. And yet ppl are obsessed with this dog. Oh, and the owner doesn’t even like his dog. But we’re supposed to like him? No way. You can’t expect a reader to accept these ideas as examples of a good story. They’re not.

All that said, the core of Story Genius is solid: ask “why?” Know your characters. Create folders and files to track everything. Just come up with a better ideas and use better examples when it’s your turn to create a novel.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Satisfying, As Usual

Revisado: 03-26-23

Having read or listened to over a dozen of these novels, I found this installment to be pretty typical Pendergast novel. The story is tight, the tension palpable. Perhaps most importantly, Pendergast is his usual quirky, tight-lipped, enigmatic self. Nothing is spoiled as this mystery unfolds. Instead, we are left to ponder the brilliant detective’s unorthodox methods right up until the big reveal.

My only criticism of this story is the plethora of coincidences that lead to the conclusion. The revelations are emotionally satisfying but not realistic. Of course, that’s part of the buy in. Pendergast gets the cases that are abnormal by nature. And yet this confluence of circumstances is hard to swallow. Sorry, tough to explain without giving anything away.

Lastly, I miss the undertone of supernatural that pervaded the earlier installments in this series. As far back of the original Relic, or subsequent novels like Reliquary or Cabinet of Curiosities, were enhanced by the specter of the preternatural. With this story, we have a pedestrian, albeit well-crafted mystery. Nothing wrong with that, but it lessens the interest for me.

Overall, a well-written and solid story that delivers as advertised, even if it fails to shine.

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Great Concept. Flat Characters. Horrible Names

Revisado: 03-19-23

I almost set this title aside after a rocky start. The author is clearly a talented writer: the prose are well crafted, the world building is impressive. But the names of places and things are frustratingly similar and hard to keep straight: Breka, Dreka, Orca, Snauka, drenga, brinja, draka... Tons of other harsh consonant words. Maybe vary things a little?
This issue is compounded by the exceedingly large cast of characters in each storyline (except Orca’s). The Battle Grim and Blood Sworn are both large warbands, and yet, with the possible exception of Ina Halftroll, the members of each are bland and forgettable in speech and personality. In order to make so many characters memorable, their personalities needed to be clear and distinct. That just isn’t the case here.
The story definitely improved as it progressed, with a decent climax and a large scale plot that eventually took shape and drew me in, but the issues that impact the start, plague the entire book. So much repetition with the fight scenes. Characters “shrugged the shield off their backs” or “grabbed their sax and ax” roughly a thousand times. Seriously, there are tons of fight scenes and they are all ax, sax, spear, and shield. A few swords. No dagger, halberds, maces, flails… just all axes and saxes (still not sure what those are, but w/e). Quite disappointing in the monotony.
Also, having recently studied developmental editing, I found the structure disappointing. There are definitely inciting events for each of the three main characters but the midpoints and climax are lacking resolution as well as emotional resonance. Part of that can be attributed to this being a trilogy, but not all. The stories connect but not in a deep or meaningful way (yet). This makes the climax rather flat, as the protagonists struggle against bad guys we know little/nothing about.
For example, numerous antagonists are present in the back half of the book but completely missing from the front half. Several protagonists die, but we didn’t know them all that well. A betrayal occurs, but there isn’t a deep connection to the betrayer and thus little emotion elicited when the betrayal occurs (it’s also rather “save the cat” formulaic in how the betrayer gains the protag’s trust).
As a whole, this is a well written tale with some amazing world building but paper-thin characters. If you want action fantasy and little else, you might enjoy it.
PS – Apologies if I misspelled many of the names and made-up words in the story. I listened on Audible, so I don’t have access to the actual, proper spelling.

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Slow burn. Strong ending.

Revisado: 03-07-23

This story gets off to a slow start but finishes strong. The dual timelines weave together nicely, with the arcs of each emphasizing and strengthening one other. Certain portions of the story are rather implausible, such as the amount and type of detail contained in centuries old newspapers. Still, much can be forgiven for a plot that delivers such powerful themes as revenge, redemption, trust, forgiveness, and women’s empowerment.

The writing is straightforward, neither powerful in its prose nor lacking in style. It’s a rather middle-of-the-road voice, with just enough flavor to provide setting and context without spoiling the story. Decent, but not great.

The voal performances were disappointing, with the slow lifeless drawl of Nella so distracting that it initially caused me to set the title aside. If you can tolerate the narration then the journey is pleasant enough.

albeit in a not completely plausible manner

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