Originally posted by Dr McBeefington
That's an interesting generalization Veneficus. Perhaps you should amend it to "Post OT authors can't write."
Their is a select handful of SW authors I like. Stover, Luceno and yea, that's pretty much it. Zhan is passable if ridiculous. Denning sucks, Golden sucks, Ailsteen sucks. Drew is alright I suppose, but hardly on the level of Stover or Luceno. I suppose now that Kemp now belongs on the list of SW writers I like. Although he was writing for FR long before SW.
If I seem critical its because I'm in a position to be critical. I'm a writer myself and as a writer I notice all the small screw ups or poor prose. The writers of LOTF and FOTJ all read like fanfiction. Good fanfiction, but not anything I'd pay for and certainly not in hardcover.
Originally posted by Eminence
Matthew Stover could write you into his bedroom. The man does work.
I did like Stover so much that I bought his non SW books, which were amazing.
AutokratIf it's writing style you're criticizing, I'm probably not in a position to judge; I wouldn't categorize myself as a writer, and I pretty much exclusively read Stover and Luceno anyway, with one book by Barnes [Cestus Deception] and a few others here and there.
Their is a select handful of SW authors I like. Stover, Luceno and yea, that's pretty much it. Zhan is passable if ridiculous. Denning sucks, Golden sucks, Ailsteen sucks. Drew is alright I suppose, but hardly on the level of Stover or Luceno. I suppose now that Kemp now belongs on the list of SW writers I like. Although he was writing for FR long before SW.If I seem critical its because I'm in a position to be critical. I'm a writer myself and as a writer I notice all the small screw ups or poor prose. The writers of LOTF and FOTJ all read like fanfiction. Good fanfiction, but not anything I'd pay for and certainly not in hardcover.
Now if it's the quality of the fiction (in terms of cohesiveness, creativity, and badassery) that you have a problem with, ditto.
Originally posted by Eminence
If it's writing style you're criticizing, I'm probably not in a position to judge; I wouldn't categorize myself as a writer, and I pretty much exclusively read Stover and Luceno anyway, with one book by Barnes [Cestus Deception] and a few others here and there.Now if it's the quality of the fiction (in terms of cohesiveness, creativity, and badassery) that you have a problem with, ditto.
Technical style mostly. The type of stuff most people probably don't care about. I guess for me it just drives me crazy because I have to stop and wonder what their editor was doing.
http://www.cracked.com/article/167_5-reasons-star-wars-sequels-would-be-worse-than-prequels_p2
I never realized how much Krayt looked like Shao Kahn. Thanks Cracked!
I've always wondered why Drew Karpyshyn's storytelling merits are always so highly praised in the video gaming world (Baldur's Gate 2, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Knights of the Old Republic) and yet in the much smaller world of Star Wars literature always seen as just slightly "ok" (Path of Destruction, Rule of Two, Dynasty of Evil).
Its the difference of medium. In a video game, Drew is simply guiding the plot, but he's also working with a team of other writers. Its a mistake to believe that he does all of the work. Plus, he doesn't have to write descriptions or worry about grammar etc, because all the visuals are being taken care of by the textures and 3D modeling team.
When he writes his books, it all depends on him and his editors. He has a lot more direct application with a book then with a video game.