PTG and dark_faerie

[Pierre the Great]

Why has there never been a Big Brother Canada? You've got Canadian Idol? Plus the Canadian Big Brother would be a lot more hysterical and racier.

[dark_faerie87]

I guess I come from a different perspective. For example I'm not an alpha male in relationships with girls. When they talk about relationships on the radio show Loveline I don't fit there generalizations of guys I fit more along with the girls. So to say I wouldn't know what a girl wants in her life or what she's thinking is completely assine. All those movies about girls feelings I'm forced to see at the movie complex dealing with girl issues.

Guys don't need a road map to know whats going on inside a girls head anymore and girls don't need one for guys, unless your George Bush but then again he can't do anything.

Yes, but I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Rowling specifically and all writers in general. Now, I'm not saying people have no clue as to what the opposite gender is thinking, but rather that they don't understand the inner workings as well as someone of the same gender. And like I said before, there are exceptions, but Rowling in my opinion is not one of them. Also, I'm not sure if I understand your example of George Bush. He must know what some people want, otherwise he wouldn't have been elected twice.

[Pierre the Great]

George really can't do anything. He only got into politics because of his last name. Plus he's a hypocritical fool calling himself a conservative non spender in '00 then runs the debt up to insane hieghts. Then he wooed the religious right into politics further alienating the country and moving his party from a liberatarian founding which it has always been about to this religious party. Politics has nothing to do with religion mixing the two creates a giant nuclear bomb that when it explodes will devestate this country and shake it to its core.

Anyway I guess your right but the way I see it is all those books I read that are in 3rd person now how can they pull that off? hmm?

If HP series isn't well written then fine it isn't then name a series that is?

[dark_faerie87]

George really can't do anything. He only got into politics because of his last name. Plus he's a hypocritical fool calling himself a conservative non spender in '00 then runs the debt up to insane hieghts. Then he wooed the religious right into politics further alienating the country and moving his party from a liberatarian founding which it has always been about to this religious party. Politics has nothing to do with religion mixing the two creates a giant nuclear bomb that when it explodes will devestate this country and shake it to its core.

Anyway I guess your right but the way I see it is all those books I read that are in 3rd person now how can they pull that off? hmm?

If HP series isn't well written then fine it isn't then name a series that is?

Funny how Rowling turns into politics...

Not sure what you meant about it being written in 3rd person, maybe clarify?

Tolkien, Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire. They all put Rowling to shame.

[Pierre the Great]

You know I've never read the Tolkien books I've got it on my shelf just haven't read it.

How about that Tom Clancy. lol I bought one of his mammoth 900 page books about something can't remember on my way home from Florida one summer and I got through about 150 pages and just fell asleep from bordom. lol

Its me everything is political. Heck look at the Picture War thread I've restrained myself as much as possible without taking it over with political pics. lol

[dark_faerie87]

You know I've never read the Tolkien books I've got it on my shelf just haven't read it.

How about that Tom Clancy. lol I bought one of his mammoth 900 page books about something can't remember on my way home from Florida one summer and I got through about 150 pages and just fell asleep from bordom. lol

Its me everything is political. Heck look at the Picture War thread I've restrained myself as much as possible without taking it over with political pics. lol

Must read!

I have no idea, I don't read Tom Clancy. I usually read fantasy or social realism.

Come on, I haven't posted a single Jonne Aaron picture in that thread yet.

[Pierre the Great]

well Rowling is political around here people want to burn her books and they call her the 'devil' they have a little book burning thingy.

This one couple in Alabama wanted Fahrenheit 451 banned from the library. Someone interviewed them and asked if they've ever read the book and they said no.

Fahrenheit 451 is about a society banning and burning books and banning critical thought. LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

doesn't your avatar count?

[dark_faerie87]

well Rowling is political around here people want to burn her books and they call her the 'devil' they have a little book burning thingy.

This one couple in Alabama wanted Fahrenheit 451 banned from the library. Someone interviewed them and asked if they've ever read the book and they said no.

Fahrenheit 451 is about a society banning and burning books and banning critical thought. LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

doesn't your avatar count?

Errr, no. I've posted lots of his pics on the site, but none in that specific thread yet.

[Pierre the Great]

you talk about this band so much yet I haven't heard one song from them.

Je suis fatigué need another 5 minute rest of the brain before work.

lol I just came up with the idea of PTG saying something random everyday in french.

Stay tuned........

[dark_faerie87]

you talk about this band so much yet I haven't heard one song from them.

Still Alive (Live)

In My Heaven

Planet of the Sun

[Pierre the Great]

whats the bands name again?

[dark_faerie87]

Negative, although sometimes they're called NGT by fans for short.

[Pierre the Great]

oh cool let me see if there on itunes....

[BTH]

I've read all the Rowling books and the later ones more than once. Her first couple of books were embarassments, IMO. At the time, they seemed okay but when you compare her writing to the level she's at now, the improvement is obvious. The 6th book was much better written than the other ones, I think - and I would say that there was a big gap between the 5th and 4th and then between the 4th and the 3rd as well...

I would agree with DF that she isn't very good at portraying people's emotions or what kids their (Harry, RON and Hermione - the 3 main characters) age think and act like. Though she is very talented in other areas - sneaking clues and foreshadowing into chapters casually. She's very at setting up the twist in the end without giving anything away.

About the politics... seems a bit off-topic to me. (off-topic in the off-topic section of the off-topic thread)

[Pierre the Great]

yeah but why did they seperate it? Its a thread about random thought.

[Trizzak]

Negative, although sometimes they're called NGT by fans for short.

Oh good, I've been looking for a way to shorten the word "Negative." It's full form is so strenuous.

[Pierre the Great]

NGT? lol

Why don't you call it Neg, as in your neg today sounds better then your NGT today.

[Trizzak]

NGT? lol

Why don't you call it Neg, as in your neg today sounds better then your NGT today.

It seems more like a short form of the word Negate instead of Negative.

[Pierre the Great]

well Negate= N-gate.

[dark_faerie87]

Oh good, I've been looking for a way to shorten the word "Negative." It's full form is so strenuous.

I have no idea, I'm not the one who came up with it.

[Colin]

I've read all the Rowling books and the later ones more than once. Her first couple of books were embarassments, IMO. At the time, they seemed okay but when you compare her writing to the level she's at now, the improvement is obvious. The 6th book was much better written than the other ones, I think - and I would say that there was a big gap between the 5th and 4th and then between the 4th and the 3rd as well...

I would agree with DF that she isn't very good at portraying people's emotions or what kids their (Harry, RON and Hermione - the 3 main characters) age think and act like. Though she is very talented in other areas - sneaking clues and foreshadowing into chapters casually. She's very at setting up the twist in the end without giving anything away.

About the politics... seems a bit off-topic to me. (off-topic in the off-topic section of the off-topic thread)

Usually, in order to break into the writing scene, your book needs to be very tightly plotted and without extraneous fluff. HP1 was just such a book. It was written for children and kept simple for precisely that reason. The fact that she had the ability to write smoothly and keep her ideas clear are a significant reason on why the book gained popularity. Of course, the idea of it all is enchanting as well.

As she continued the series a very unusual phenominon began to take place. Somethow, older people were caught up in the books. In fact, as far as I can recall, she began selling more and more to adults and those numbers were comparing quite favourably with the children - therefore she was given the opportunity to expand the scope of her works. While HP1 and 2 were short and fairly simple, the books that followed were allowed to go deeper and deeper into depth. Of course, a lot of that came from her getting to know her own characters better and better.

The fallout from this has been astounding, really. You have a complete cross-section of the population reading HP for starters. More importantly, children who were once more enthralled with going to their Playstations and X-Boxes were suddenly reading more - and even as the books got bigger, they still continued to read; they were not intimidated. Rowling is one of the first authors in recent years to really capture kids with books and get them to read before playing games, etc. When the next HP book comes out, there will be a lull in gaming sales and in TV usage.

As to her actual writing and her understanding of characters of the opposite sex? I really don't think she misunderstands boys all that much. I think you'll find that, as you grow older, you'll understand the opposite sex more and more. If she doesn't go into more detail in some regards, I think that has more to do with the subject matter rather than any deficiency on her part.

As for Tom Clancy, here's a recommendation: don't read his earlier books, rather, concentrate on his latter ones. In his early ones you get all the techno-babble from his research and his in depth knowledge of the subject matter. Once he leared to pace his stories a little better and understand that he didn't have to explain the very workings of a submarine down to the subatomic level, the books became more fluid and easier to read.

Having said that, even his first book is far better written than Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" or "Angels and Demons". Brown is a popular writer who uses a grade 9 vocabulary to get across his (quite well-rendered) ideas. While the subject matter is fascinating and he knows how to keep the plot moving, I think you'll find that, in the industry, Brown might be considered a hack. (A hack is someone who's writing is extremely simplistic and without literary merit. It may or may not be fun and a frolicking adventure, but what it isn't is memorable in the literary sense.)

Back to Rowling, the biggest frustration the industry has with her, as far as I can gather at this point, is that she virtually never hits a deadline. All her books have been late since the first one, and in some cases, extremely late. However she's one of the lucky few who can get away with that - the films pretty much guaranteed that she can do what she wants.

Anyhow, I guess the critical thing to remember with her is that she was writing, in those early years, specifically for children, so the books had to be simplistic. That they've improved lately has as much to do with the phenominon created as much as with her improved talent.

[Pierre the Great]

One thing I'll gripe about Rowling was that the 5th book the one that was as long as the bible was too long. (apparently thats the one where she thought she didn't need an editor) that book was so long and drawn out it was the first of the potter books that I put down and stopped reading for about a year. It was just too slow. But then her last one was back to her old self and I liked that one.

[Colin]

One thing I'll gripe about Rowling was that the 5th book the one that was as long as the bible was too long. (apparently thats the one where she thought she didn't need an editor) that book was so long and drawn out it was the first of the potter books that I put down and stopped reading for about a year. It was just too slow. But then her last one was back to her old self and I liked that one.

I guarantee you she had an editor.

[Pierre the Great]

I heard she was her own editor on the Phoenix book. And it showed. It was slow and boring. I remember reading somewhere that she didn't have an editor. The Half blood prince had an editor and it was much better paced.

[BTH]

I'm sure she had an editor the entire time. At times, I've followed her pretty closely. I'm quite sure I can find quotes by her that prove that she had an editor.

By the way, HP5 was great. Most people are just discouraged because it's long - but it's easy reading and it seems to go by quickly (I belive I read it in a day or so). When I came out, I considered it my favourite. Though it's true that the middle of the book is packed with subplots and the horrors of Umbridge I don't think you can cut much of that stuff out. Also, there has ever been a HP climax that can match the climax of OotP (200 pages long or so, by the way).

@Colin:

Her books are popular with adults and to an older audience (than they were originally intended for) but if you ask JKR about it, she will insist that they are childrens books. The books are definitely getting a bit darker but she'll insist that they were dark straight from the start.

Basically, I think she's a good (just good) writer with a great story. So far, she's managed to surprise me in every single book. Even though I think I've considered every single possibility, I seem to miss it every time.

I think she should cut down on the romance. It makes it more realistic that Harry has a girlfriend or two but at the same time, the Ron/Lavender stuff seemed to take some of the feel out of the books.