# Current Trends: Yea or nay?



## Violanthe (Apr 25, 2006)

What current trends have you noticed in fiction? Changes in the way stories, characters, settings, plots etc., are written or produced? Which of these trends do you applaud? Which ones are you hoping will go out of fashion?


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## Mike (Apr 26, 2006)

Many books now, though still not the majority, are becoming far too influenced by film. There is a growing trend for writing to only involve visual descriptions and plenty of dialogue--with no character thoughts, no descriptions of smells, tastes, the _feel_, what the character's are feeling inside...in other words, all the things which make prose fiction a more exapnsive world than that of film (not the film isn't expansive--but of the more "work in your limits and then break them to create something beautiful" variety. There are no limits with fiction in telling a story).

Some novels are now taking the structural form of a Hollywood Blockbuster, and this is starting to bug me. If you want to write a screenplay, write a screenplay. Novels don't have to revolve around a three-act structure, they don't have to have compressed character developement, the characters don't have to be kept to minimum in order not to get an audience lost (a fault of running time). Otherwise, writers should let themselves go free, and use what's given them.

Visual is, of course, stronger than the printed medium, but when writers fall victim to the power of film in a completely different craft it is not a good thing.

One person who immediately comes to mind is Michael Chriton, who should no longer be writing novels--screenplays are pretty much his specialty, and all I can think now if I read one of his newer books is "this would be much better as a film. It definately doesn't work as a book."

On an even more disturbing note, there are some books which have come out that seem to be taking the form of a video game--except you can't play it, which makes this trend completely pointless. (Compare to Star Wars: Episode Two)

So, there you go: The movie trend in fiction.

I say Nay.


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## Violanthe (May 2, 2006)

> There is a growing trend for writing to only involve visual descriptions and plenty of dialogue--with no character thoughts, no descriptions of smells, tastes, the _feel_, what the character's are feeling inside...


 
I've noticed this as well. However, I must also come down on the side of sparse description on the whole. Too many fantasy books are over-descriptive. Sight, sound, smell, everything. I just starting reading a fantasy novel last night that has a lot of great description, but it's so thick that I find it overwhelming. I don't want to know exactly what everything looks, sounds and smells like. I want images that are important, not existing for the sake of atmosphere. Fantasy, in my opinion, goes overboard in terms of descriptions of all sorts. But I agree that what description there is, should be balanced.


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