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May. 2nd, 2006 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spokeEverworld I know I rambled about these awhile back, and I never rambled about the last two books. Partly it's just me, and partly there's this change in the writing pace that comes as something of a shock. If you've ever read McCaffery's Harper Hall trilogy, the difference between the first two books and the last? It's a lot like that.
There's this idea, which a friend first introduced to me in the works of Lois McMaster Bujold - to approach writing a story with the question 'What's the worst thing I can do to this character?' Really, I think that's part of why I like these books - it's one thing after another, and while they're always about to be killed by something/someone/random 'natural' disaster, it doesn't get any real emotional impact until about the middle of the series, with what could be termed Christopher's Drunken Breakdown. (Christopher, as might have been glaringly obvious in the earlier ramblings, is my favorite, so... ^^; )
The thing with Christopher is that he's basically a very honest guy, for the most part about the negative aspects of his personality as well as the good ones. If life is a mirror, he'd like to think he's looking straight in it. But this thing happens that shoves him face-first into the bits that he has been looking at sideways, in the sort of way people sometimes do when they're hoping something will go away if they ignore it long enough. Christopher's is this sort of generalized bigotry, which is his way of keeping things at arm's length, because even in the beginning of the books he's admitted to that - he likes himself over here, and everything else over there. Neatly organized in black-and-white and with a script he can follow, even. But once he hits this wall and sees what he's doing to himself and people he knows by ignoring this? Ouch ouch ouch. But he's doing okay, even though we're talking about a lifetime's worth of bad habits. One of my favorite lines in the books, Christopher thinking about one of the lovely little neo-Nazi pyschos who had him pegged as a possible recruit: Because there's nothing more disgusting than realizing that some seething little hate machine like Keith thinks of you as a brother.
He's pulling it off and everything else is just looking like maybe they'll gotten some really solid ground under their feet - and then. Everything blows up. It's like they walk into a minefield and every move they make, something goes off.
What's worse is that even though the series ends, there isn't anything like the sort of resolution I would have expected. I wasn't hoping for a neat little ending with all the loose ends tied in a pretty bow, you know? But augh!! There's this one loose thread that I'm still whimpering about. ...I need to fic something for the bloody thing, but I can't think of anything that fits.
it's actually something that someone on my flist pointed out about Stargate:Atlantis too. Story endings where nothing ends - it just reaches a certain emotional crescendo where you know what'll happen next. And stops.
It just stops. None of the emotional resolutions, no finding out how any of the characters feel about what happened, or what was the look on A's face when B got home, it just - And then they all headed off to slay the monster!
And nobody died who wasn't already dead, and then they went home obviously because where else are they going to go? Grocery shopping?
And the puppy lived, yay! (So? What if nobody adopted it! Why aren't you telling us?!)
AUGH!!!
...you know, this seemed intelligent when I was typing it. But now I have the feeling I won't want to look when I get up. :P
There's this idea, which a friend first introduced to me in the works of Lois McMaster Bujold - to approach writing a story with the question 'What's the worst thing I can do to this character?' Really, I think that's part of why I like these books - it's one thing after another, and while they're always about to be killed by something/someone/random 'natural' disaster, it doesn't get any real emotional impact until about the middle of the series, with what could be termed Christopher's Drunken Breakdown. (Christopher, as might have been glaringly obvious in the earlier ramblings, is my favorite, so... ^^; )
The thing with Christopher is that he's basically a very honest guy, for the most part about the negative aspects of his personality as well as the good ones. If life is a mirror, he'd like to think he's looking straight in it. But this thing happens that shoves him face-first into the bits that he has been looking at sideways, in the sort of way people sometimes do when they're hoping something will go away if they ignore it long enough. Christopher's is this sort of generalized bigotry, which is his way of keeping things at arm's length, because even in the beginning of the books he's admitted to that - he likes himself over here, and everything else over there. Neatly organized in black-and-white and with a script he can follow, even. But once he hits this wall and sees what he's doing to himself and people he knows by ignoring this? Ouch ouch ouch. But he's doing okay, even though we're talking about a lifetime's worth of bad habits. One of my favorite lines in the books, Christopher thinking about one of the lovely little neo-Nazi pyschos who had him pegged as a possible recruit: Because there's nothing more disgusting than realizing that some seething little hate machine like Keith thinks of you as a brother.
He's pulling it off and everything else is just looking like maybe they'll gotten some really solid ground under their feet - and then. Everything blows up. It's like they walk into a minefield and every move they make, something goes off.
What's worse is that even though the series ends, there isn't anything like the sort of resolution I would have expected. I wasn't hoping for a neat little ending with all the loose ends tied in a pretty bow, you know? But augh!! There's this one loose thread that I'm still whimpering about. ...I need to fic something for the bloody thing, but I can't think of anything that fits.
it's actually something that someone on my flist pointed out about Stargate:Atlantis too. Story endings where nothing ends - it just reaches a certain emotional crescendo where you know what'll happen next. And stops.
It just stops. None of the emotional resolutions, no finding out how any of the characters feel about what happened, or what was the look on A's face when B got home, it just - And then they all headed off to slay the monster!
And nobody died who wasn't already dead, and then they went home obviously because where else are they going to go? Grocery shopping?
And the puppy lived, yay! (So? What if nobody adopted it! Why aren't you telling us?!)
AUGH!!!
...you know, this seemed intelligent when I was typing it. But now I have the feeling I won't want to look when I get up. :P
