soulswallo: (TVD-Cast-Long misty walk)
soulswallo ([personal profile] soulswallo) wrote2010-04-10 08:54 pm

Nothing else matters ...

Is it wrong to cap off a round of yoga with a couple peanut butter cups? Maybe it's best if you don't answer that.

This morning my mom wanted to go to Costco and I was having a severe Oh.My.God. I need coffee moment. It was bad. So I stopped at McDonald's (which I wouldn't normally do but I really, really needed that coffee) and got a mocha. It was pretty darn good. In fact, it was downright delicious. Yummers.

I read some books today ...
Book #55 - Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires #4) by Rachel Caine - I'm really digging this re-read. Reading the entire series back to back in order is letting me pick up on a bunch of little things that passed me by the first time. When bad-ass vampire Bishop rolls into town, Claire has to keep herself out of his path as best she can. However, it looks as though Amelie is going to hand over Morganville without a fight when she decides to throw a welcome feast in Bishop's honor and the only ally that Claire is left with is the half-mad scientist Myrnin. One human girl and one crazed vampire against Bishop and his ruthless horde? Yeah, right.

-and-

Book #56 - The Awakening (The Vampire Diaries #1) by L.J. Smith - I really wanted to like this book. I really did. The problems I'm running into are that (a) Elena is a whiny, spoiled little brat and (b) the writing is sloppy. Honestly, if I hadn't bought the first two books in the series I'd be dropping it right now. But I did buy both of them so I'm going to at least read the 2nd before deciding whether or not it's a waste of time.

Honestly, I don't like Elena. She's so self-centered and unlikable. At least on the TV show she's given some backstory and there's a reason for the way she's drawn away from the world. Here? Not so much. Is it explained in later books why she's so distraught after her summer in France? Do I care? And therein lies the problem. I don't. In my eyes it all comes down to sloppy writing. Now, admittedly I'm not a teenage girl anymore but I have a hard time believing that someone just falls deeply, madly, insanely in love with someone who continually avoids her and in fact doesn't speak to her at all. Oooookay. Stalker much. But honestly, if she had been shown with a bit more character development along the way I could have gone with it. If she had been shown as someone who's evolving as a person, I would have believed it. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing that. I see someone who will ruthlessly use anyone in her way to get what she wants. Yeah, she felt bad about it. For about half a second. And then she blew past feeling bad because she was getting what she wanted. That's not character development. She didn't learn anything from it. She didn't even really learn that she was being selfish. She thought "ooh, I can't believe I'm using Matt, the boy who's loves me and was recently my boyfriend, to get to Stefan, the mysterious stranger who won't give me the time of day. Oh, well. I wonder what's for dinner." Once again, there's no epiphany there. She's learning nothing about herself. She's not even someone I like.

So. Yeah. I'm really not feeling this series at this point. It's going to have to jump through some major hoops to make me care about any of the main characters. On the other hand, maybe Damon will make everything better. Hell, he does on the show.

It always amuses me when I go on and on and on about books or movies or whatever that I don't like.

Jut to recap - The Vampire Diaries TV show, good (see icon). The Vampire Diaries books, not so good.

Huh. It would seem that review drained me. Awesome. Now I have to go read something good to scrub the not-good out of my brain. I'm thinking something dirty. Hmm. I must ponder this.
Later.
ext_11620: (KK-Ann-The saddest girl)

[identity profile] soulswallo.livejournal.com 2010-04-11 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Sucktastic is a very accurate description. It's almost painful to read.

[identity profile] bangaboomerang.livejournal.com 2010-04-11 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
i recall a lot of eyerolling, snorting and laughing while reading.
just a heads up - elena doesn't change. she's still selfish, annoying and spoiled to the very end. and i don't get the whole falling in love with stefan thing, either.
ext_11620: (SGA-McKayBeckett-Huh?)

[identity profile] soulswallo.livejournal.com 2010-04-11 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I think that Christie said it best- if books like this can be published when they're so poorly characterized and written, then those of us who write better stories should be getting publishing contracts left and right.
The sad part is that I wasn't laughing, I was cringing. Boo.

[identity profile] bangaboomerang.livejournal.com 2010-04-11 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
she's writing more ... three more to be exact. and she has a deal to write "the stefan diaries" too. it's sad.

i wish i could get published lol but i bet people would eyeroll and laugh and boo and cringe and mine too :(
ext_11620: (RE-Alice-Fighter)

[identity profile] soulswallo.livejournal.com 2010-04-11 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Seriously? Three more? That just seems criminal.

Here's the thing I'm figuring out ... there's always going to be someone who does the eyerolling and laughing. I've read books that I think are beyond fabulous and then I go and read reviews that do nothing but bitch and moan about the same book. Some of the authors I'm following say the same thing. One of the more successful authors says that she got a ton of hate mail when she decided to change her main narrator 3 books into a series. She was told that she was making the biggest mistake of her writing career and she was going to tank big time if she went through with it. Well, she didn't listen and her series is 10+ books big now.

I guess it comes down to being able to ignore the reviews and write what you want to write/believe in/want to read.

The biggest problem I have with the VD series is that the editor/publisher is allowing her to get away with the sloppy writing and uneven characterizations. That's their JOB. They should be helping her tighten up her story. On the other hand, her books are selling and she's doing what her contract requires. I guess that doesn't give her a lot of incentive to clean up her writing.

Wow. I really went on here.
It's just me ranting. :)

[identity profile] bangaboomerang.livejournal.com 2010-04-12 12:14 pm (UTC)(link)
oh three more, plus the stefan diaries. so at least 4 more. probly more.

are you going to keep reading the books? if not, lemme know and i can fill you in on some things they are setting up on the show. haha

i don't take criticism well. and there's a line between people finding what you've written horrible and everyone finding it horrible. which is what mine would be. it's not original, and it's just not good.
ext_11620: (DW-Rose-Just a glimpse of me)

[identity profile] soulswallo.livejournal.com 2010-04-13 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
I understand what you're saying about your own writing. Until recently, I've been paralyzed by the thought of anyone criticizing what I've written. However, I've come to realize that if I want a serious career in writing I have to toughen up and suck it up and put it out there. And it's not easy. Not at all. But I'm working through it and asking for feedback from people I trust and hopefully it will lead to something more than what it currently is.

I'm going to read the second VD book since I bought it and I'll let you know from there.

[identity profile] bangaboomerang.livejournal.com 2010-04-13 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
i don't have anyone i really trust enough. i'm sure there are tons of people who would read it for me ... just none that i want to laugh at me. ya know?

ahh the second one.
ext_11620: (Lost-We're Gone (tinamishi))

[identity profile] soulswallo.livejournal.com 2010-04-13 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, if you ever want to borrow an eye, I'm good at looking at overall flow and character development. Not so good at grammar.