tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post2150915699965516582..comments2024-03-29T05:53:38.691-04:00Comments on Writers Who Kill: You can’t just call them seagulls anymoreJim Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15090252530437277145noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-57288635641367272402012-07-08T20:53:03.204-04:002012-07-08T20:53:03.204-04:00Deb,
And to get slightly off topic, don't you...Deb,<br /><br />And to get slightly off topic, don't you just love it when you hear the tremolo call of loons in movies set in the tropics or in the middle of a desert? I guess if a loon were there it might well want to give its "alarm" call.<br /><br />That said, I do remember when I was living in a New York town on the Connecticut border and one of my birding buddies at the National Audubon Society had to rescue a Common Loon who had landed during a hurricane on I-95, which had been closed because of flooding!<br /><br />~ JimJim Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090252530437277145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-44445235786227825282012-07-08T20:31:44.441-04:002012-07-08T20:31:44.441-04:00Jim, as a birdwacher myself, I was annoyed when an...Jim, as a birdwacher myself, I was annoyed when an author placed a bird in the story that almost definitely would NOT have been in that part of the country. If anything like that DID happen, birdwatchers would be flocking (ha)to that town from all over the state and it would be in all the newspapers. It just irked me.<br /><br />Warren, there is a mystery author whose books I will no longer read because the killer is nearly always mentally ill. As a family member of someone with a serious mental illness, I find that to be quite offensive. As you said,mentally ill people are much more likely to be victims than killers. I also don't like it when a character is a suspect because he or she takes antidepressants. Seems to ME that someone taking antidepressants knows that he or she has a health problem and is responsible about keeping the problem under control. The person is certainly not evil because of having certain kind of illness. The author needs to do a bit more homework. I don't want to buy books that are poorly researched.Deb Romanonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-49297391754341871482012-07-08T20:05:07.268-04:002012-07-08T20:05:07.268-04:00Warren, Linda and Gloria,
To summarize -- it bugs...Warren, Linda and Gloria,<br /><br />To summarize -- it bugs you when you know better and the author screws up. For em the lesson as a writer is to be factually correct since you never know who your reader is going to be.<br /><br />Anita,<br /><br />Don't you just hate it when someone catches your goof? I learned in my business life that in any long written piece there will be at least one error. I keep my fingers crossed that it will be a small one.<br /><br />~ JimJim Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090252530437277145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-42978284891705785982012-07-08T18:23:53.087-04:002012-07-08T18:23:53.087-04:00I agree that too many details can be deadly, but I...I agree that too many details can be deadly, but I also think that the details we use should be accurate. <br /><br />A reader recently caught a mistake of mine in a short story set in Brooklyn. I mentioned that two characters had seen each other "around town," and she correctly pointed out that in the boroughs it would be correct to say "in the neighborhood." An embarrassing mistake for someone who's a Brooklyn native.Anita Pagehttp://www.anitapagewriter.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-83484706752138541922012-07-08T13:53:40.483-04:002012-07-08T13:53:40.483-04:00Like you, Jim, I like watching birds and love all ...Like you, Jim, I like watching birds and love all things connected with nature - well maybe not mosquitoes, deer flies, slugs, Japanese beetles, etc. I use them in my writing, too. Actually, I use the nasties, too,to make it more realistic.<br /><br />If a writer is totally out in left field, I'm turned off. One author has her book set in Amish country but has never livee there, and I'm thinking never visited the area her books are placed in, either. She has a character, a teenage boy, who lives in the small town, totally freaking out by what he called some weird guy with a white beard who came to town in a buggy. I wanted to throw the book. No one who lives in Amish country would not know what an Amish person looks like.Gloria Aldenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581719606924364447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-21622901234296269622012-07-08T11:10:02.187-04:002012-07-08T11:10:02.187-04:00Yes, Warren, the one thing I've learned in the...Yes, Warren, the one thing I've learned in the last twenty years is that the ones in therapy are usually the sane ones trying to cope with a sick person. The truely sick don't see themselves that way and staunchly deny it and defend his/her abusive behavior. Spot on--but then if you don't know, no one would.E. B. Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16746747050278597888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-46380247847660130252012-07-08T10:56:25.318-04:002012-07-08T10:56:25.318-04:00Jim, if it's an area where I'm knowledgeab...Jim, if it's an area where I'm knowledgeable, a mistake of fact can really turn me off. Sometimes if I'm really enjoying the book and the writing is excellent--and that's the ONLY mistake--I'll give it a pass. <br /><br />I agree with you that the type of gulls feeding on the body would add depth and emotional power to the story, but I won't get turned off by its omission, unless the viewpoint character is supposed to be a local fisherman or ornithologist or birdwatcher. If the character should know what kind of gull and doesn't mention it, a warning buzzer goes off in the back of my head.Linda Rodriguezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-19551099284727637972012-07-08T10:51:00.149-04:002012-07-08T10:51:00.149-04:00One of the things that really annoys me, as a form...One of the things that really annoys me, as a former psychologist, is when the motivation of the killer is revealed and (gasp) the killer is bonkers. That explains absolutely nothing. People with mental illnesses are much more likely to be victims than perps. And people with major mental illnesses have symptoms. If a character shows no symptoms, he or she has no mental illness. So nobody acts completely normal and develops a mental illness in the last chapter except in badly-written books.Warren Bullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07789270258599769915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-75031741421733374242012-07-08T10:09:26.061-04:002012-07-08T10:09:26.061-04:00You must be a Hitchcock fan, Jim! Watching movies ...You must be a Hitchcock fan, Jim! Watching movies isn't too bad, but reading horror scares me too much--seems backward--but most written details are more chilling to me than watching. Writers can set off our own fears and spin our imaginations. <br /><br />Okay-you've got a point and Laughing Gulls are huge--but that detail has an effect within the story--if the authors wants to add that horror element. If not--it's extraneous.E. B. Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16746747050278597888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-42076485588995516862012-07-08T10:02:02.885-04:002012-07-08T10:02:02.885-04:00EB,sorry about the blogger glitch.
You've hit...EB,sorry about the blogger glitch.<br /><br />You've hit on a key point that within a story the level of detail must fit the needs of the storytelling.<br /><br />Some books (Michener's and almost all procedurals) contain bushels of details because readers expect them in that genre.<br /><br />However, when it comes to your seagulls pecking the eyes out of the corpse -- I'd love to see them called Laughing gulls and hear their ha-ha-ha as they scattered from the body on your approach.<br /><br />~ JimJim Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090252530437277145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-67936306035401358422012-07-08T09:46:18.843-04:002012-07-08T09:46:18.843-04:00Blogger is such a creep! It wiped out a three para...Blogger is such a creep! It wiped out a three paragraph comment I was about to post!!<br /><br />As I tried to say--Your question, Jim, depends on the level of detail necessary in the story.<br /><br />I did a lot of research on a specific topic one time and included it all in my manuscript because I found it fascinating. It was redlined because it was unnecessary to the story. No one cared about the details as much as I did. You can lose readers by going into too much detail. I have trepidation reading Michener novels because his level of detail makes my eyes glaze. He also had a research staff that few authors can afford.<br /><br />If the level of detail is necessary to the story, if the plot hinges on minute details on a particular subject--then writers must do their research and get it right. But, unlike you, if it isn't necessary, I'm fine knowing a flock of seagulls pecked at a corpse.E. B. Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16746747050278597888noreply@blogger.com