Several books I've recently read (or tried to read) by well-established authors have been grossly overwritten. I wonder if they've convinced their publishers to return to the payment style in the days of Dickens--by the word.
Or, more probably, their "big name" makes editors careless with their suggestions, comments, and editing: The "Oh, he's got 15 published titles in the last 4 years...he must know what he's doing" syndrome. As overworked as most editors are, I can see them not editing for these big names, just pushing the manuscript through to proofreading and copy editing.
That makes it pretty hard on the readers who have to wade through paragraphs of redundant phrases and narration.
5 comments:
I blame that on writeres taking ideas appropriate for a novella, and stretching them out to full novels. It's time the publishing world rediscovers the novella, so writers can package ideas in their appropriate form and put an end to that nonsense.
There's blame all around. I tend to overwrite, and am blind to it in manuscript, but see it clearly in print. On the other hand, books are lightly edited these days, and editors rarely bear down. I had a great editor for years, who never let me waste a word, but he retired.
D
I agree that many would have been good novellas. I have read more novellas recently, and enjoyed them. Too bad that doesn't catch on.
Richard,
Good point about most books being lightly edited. Does that bother you?
BTW you should put in your blog URL on the posts
A Curmudgeon's Diary
Thanks for stopping by.
I may soon weigh in with agreement, Kae. But for now, I'm touting a novel I have just begun, which is thick but which, by what I have read so far, is using every word to the utmost. I admit I opened it with dismay, noticing, like Alice, that there were "no conversations," just long dense paragraph after paragraph. Then I began to read. And was hooked.
I've wondered about that! I like a good Stephen King yarn for the page turning and plenty of characters, but in his near latest "Under The Dome", I feel he wrote himself into a corner. Than after all that build up he just blamed it on aliens!- Not cool Mr King!
Thanks for your comment on Crow Creek Falls, by the way, that was a good day!
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