Grim and gritty is fine. I can do grim and gritty. It's the up-close slicing off of heads while the blood spatters the camera (or the kid twitches in seisure and the pool grows around him) that I find offensive. Though I know of Buddhist Lamas who watch violence deliberately to practice stabilizing the mind under all circumstances.
Dad's a villain, so the boy must be catamite to him and his Death Eater buds. Uh-hunh. It can be done well for effect sometimes, but too many writers just follow that trope unthinkingly.
Yes, it can be done well. Most cliches are cliche for good reason: they've been done very, very well at least once.
But it's obvious when the writer just unthinkingly reaches for that trope (great word). My first thought is that the writer is lazy. WG's suggestion is that perhaps the author is very young so doesn't have a lot of life experience to draw on. My third thought is that the person has read too much bad fanfic so follows the groove easily, without careful consideration.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2005-11-02 08:54 pm (UTC)Dad's a villain, so the boy must be catamite to him and his Death Eater buds. Uh-hunh. It can be done well for effect sometimes, but too many writers just follow that trope unthinkingly.
Yes, it can be done well. Most cliches are cliche for good reason: they've been done very, very well at least once.
But it's obvious when the writer just unthinkingly reaches for that trope (great word). My first thought is that the writer is lazy. WG's suggestion is that perhaps the author is very young so doesn't have a lot of life experience to draw on. My third thought is that the person has read too much bad fanfic so follows the groove easily, without careful consideration.
Icarus