More on style, this time from Hal Duncan, author of Vellum.
There's a lot of sense in there, but I don't agree with everything he says. I guess in some ways, I see structure as an important factor in my fiction, sometimes more than plot, but I would rather read a good story told straightforwardly, than a bad story in the right style and written with a brilliant structure. Then again, I'd go with reading a bad story brilliantly written, than a good story badly written.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I don't think I really believe there's such a thing as a bad story. What's a bad story?
One that's not any good.
Oh, you purist.
I have to quote the following dialogue from "Throw Mama From the Train" from memory, as they don't seem to have a copy at Script-O-Rama:
OWEN: Did you like my story?
TEACHER: Frankly, Owen, no, I didn't.
OWEN: How come?
TEACHER: Well, it's supposed to be a murder mystery. But you only have two characters, and by page three one of them is dead.
OWEN: You don't understand. You see, the guy in the hat killed the other guy in the hat.
=================
That might be an example of a bad story.
I bet Jim Crace could make that work.
Post a Comment