Comments on: An Introduction and Establishing Credibility http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/ about the craft and business of fiction Mon, 21 May 2012 12:38:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Jack Slyde http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-968 Jack Slyde Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:38:48 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-968 Thanks for the welcome guys. I don't know if anybody has read that Wilbur Smith book, but it was one of the Courtney books - When the Lion Feeds, A Falcon Flies, something like that - and Mr Smith killed off my favourite character, an Englishman called Duffy. I was horrified and amazed at the same time and had to reread the page about a dozen times. Thanks for the welcome guys.

I don’t know if anybody has read that Wilbur Smith book, but it was one of the Courtney books – When the Lion Feeds, A Falcon Flies, something like that – and Mr Smith killed off my favourite character, an Englishman called Duffy. I was horrified and amazed at the same time and had to reread the page about a dozen times.

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]]> By: Kathleen Bolton http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-967 Kathleen Bolton Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:47:36 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-967 Beth in Little Women. I freaked out. I didn't think the author would DO something like that. Then she did. It's a good technique though. I call it the Boromir Effect. Killing off a really good secondary character (like Sirius Black) tells the reader anything goes when they pick up a book by you. Great post! Beth in Little Women. I freaked out. I didn’t think the author would DO something like that. Then she did.

It’s a good technique though. I call it the Boromir Effect. Killing off a really good secondary character (like Sirius Black) tells the reader anything goes when they pick up a book by you.

Great post!

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]]> By: melly http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-966 melly Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:00:36 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-966 Great introduction and first post, Jack. I don't remember ever having a certain book or movie that transferred me into that grownup world, I think I always knew that somehow. I feel that fairy tails, ooops, tales, actually exemplify that very well. Great subject. Got me thinking. Great introduction and first post, Jack.

I don’t remember ever having a certain book or movie that transferred me into that grownup world, I think I always knew that somehow. I feel that fairy tails, ooops, tales, actually exemplify that very well. Great subject. Got me thinking.

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]]> By: Therese Walsh http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-965 Therese Walsh Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:58:16 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-965 WELCOME, JACK! We're so glad to have you with us. :) What shattered my illusions about happily-ever-afters (aside from my father having me watch those horrible Nostradamus specials with him)? The literature I was exposed to in high-school English classes. I would never have chosen these books myself, and I always felt like cracking one open was a painful and unnecessary thing, but then I would inevitably get involved in the story and have to go out and buy the book for myself. Books I remember for their realism: Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men William Golding's Lord of the Flies Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds Bernard Malamud's The Assistant Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire (with that buff pic of Marlon Brando on the cover...) My cousin let me borrow his copy of Stephen King's Cujo, which also made an impact. All that struggle, and the boy dies at the end! I was horrified. Melissa, I think that's terrific that John Jakes wrote back to you! A big aside here, but my bro-in law wrote to <a href="http://www.leonardbernstein.com/" rel="nofollow">Leonard Bernstein</a> when he was a child to say that Leonard was his favorite composer. Bernstein, surprisingly, wrote back. :) WELCOME, JACK! We’re so glad to have you with us. :)

What shattered my illusions about happily-ever-afters (aside from my father having me watch those horrible Nostradamus specials with him)? The literature I was exposed to in high-school English classes. I would never have chosen these books myself, and I always felt like cracking one open was a painful and unnecessary thing, but then I would inevitably get involved in the story and have to go out and buy the book for myself. Books I remember for their realism:

Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies
Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon
Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds
Bernard Malamud’s The Assistant
Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire (with that buff pic of Marlon Brando on the cover…)

My cousin let me borrow his copy of Stephen King’s Cujo, which also made an impact. All that struggle, and the boy dies at the end! I was horrified.

Melissa, I think that’s terrific that John Jakes wrote back to you! A big aside here, but my bro-in law wrote to Leonard Bernstein when he was a child to say that Leonard was his favorite composer. Bernstein, surprisingly, wrote back. :)

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]]> By: Melissa Marsh http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-963 Melissa Marsh Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:12:02 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-963 Great post, Jack. Welcome to Writer Unboxed! I read John Jakes' North and South trilogy in junior high. In the second one, "Love and War", he kills off one of the main characters. I was actually quite horrified and even wrote him a letter asking him how he could (gasp!) do such a thing. He responded and said that the main character's death showed the truly horrible face of war. That book changed how I look at the world, too. Great post, Jack. Welcome to Writer Unboxed!

I read John Jakes’ North and South trilogy in junior high. In the second one, “Love and War”, he kills off one of the main characters. I was actually quite horrified and even wrote him a letter asking him how he could (gasp!) do such a thing. He responded and said that the main character’s death showed the truly horrible face of war.

That book changed how I look at the world, too.

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]]> By: Eric http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-962 Eric Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:04:22 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/19/an-introduction-and-establishing-credibility/#comment-962 My equivalent was seeing The World According to Garp as a kid. Lots of adult themes in there, and for me at a young age it was a very strong introduction to the idea that "bad things can happen to good people." Seeing that and Raiders of the Lost Ark by the age of six probably scarred me for life, in a good way. :) My equivalent was seeing The World According to Garp as a kid. Lots of adult themes in there, and for me at a young age it was a very strong introduction to the idea that “bad things can happen to good people.”

Seeing that and Raiders of the Lost Ark by the age of six probably scarred me for life, in a good way. :)

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