Comments on: The Obligatory Scene

By: Maria

Maria — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:55:58 +0000

Hi Katharine!
I found a Deverry-themed letter paper a friend of mine made me some time ago. Are you interested in a copy? Then I woul scan and e-mail it.
All the best from Germany
Maria

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:09:43 +0000

Hi Katharine/Kit,
(Never sure what to call you!!), Just wanted you to know I have finally finished Shadow Isle! Took me awhile, I took it with me on holiday (hubby and I went to France to follow the tour de France around) but didnt get much reading done there. It was great!! Thanks again, and I can’t wait for your final installment!
You are such an inspiration to me, just wanted you to know.
Keep up the good work!!
Carol

By: Debbie(aussie)

Debbie(aussie) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:24:29 +0000

I just wanted to leave you a note to tell you how much I love your books. I purchased Spirit Stone and read it in less than 24 hours, marvelous. I now await with baited breath for the final instalment(I think), but what will I do when dallandra, ebeony,et al are longer a part of life. Thankyou so very much for these beautifully written and charactarized novels. Thanks again Debbie

By: Mark Deniz

Mark Deniz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:10:27 +0000

Hi Katherine,

I’m sending you a message here as I received a bounce back for your e-mail address on your site.

I have a question regarding a possible commission for you and wonder if you could contact me at my e-mail address provided so that I can give you more details.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

By: fritz freiheit.com » Friday link dump

fritz freiheit.com » Friday link dump — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:38:35 +0000

[...] The Obligatory Scene (DeepGenre) [...]

By: Jana

Jana — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:57:52 +0000

I think I could probably do without many of the Obligatory walking-through-dangerous-woods-and-getting-attacked-by-bandits scenes I’ve read. Obligitory depends on the work in question, and sometimes it just becomes gratuitous!

By: Foz Meadows

Foz Meadows — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:37:01 +0000

Carol: I started reading Dart-Thornton’s first series, but stopped midway through the first book - not because of her writing style, but because I wasn’t enjoying her mythology. Maybe one day I’ll try again - who knows?
Ozzy: I spent ages trying to write in a false voice and style, pretty much because I hadn’t realised that you were ‘allowed’ to write the kind of stuff I wanted to. It wasn’t until I stumbled on Neil Gaiman that I was like, ‘hey! You *can* have humour in quasi-straight, serious, real-world, present-day, mythology-grounded fantasy! Huzzah for the king!’ Or something.

By: Beth S.

Beth S. — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:28:24 +0000

Katharine, I definitely agree. But what about an obligatory scene missing in context, but included later as a flashback? Obviously, the author must have a good reason for structuring it that way, but I’ve seen it done to good effect. It seems to work best when 1) the reader knows something is missing but has reason to believe he’ll find out what happened later, even if he doesn’t understand the reason for the delay at the time; or 2) the reader is not aware the event is missing, only discovering later that something happened behind the scenes.

But the scenario you described–with the lead-up to and departure from a battle described, but not the battle itself…yeesh. That would irritate me no end.

By: Ozzy

Ozzy — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:07:43 +0000

Both of you have good points. Very true Foz, if I get bored reading it, how am I supposed to expect readers to stay interested?

And Carol I’ve had that experience as well–when I go back and reread a passage I thought was crap, it doesn’t seem half bad the second time around. Though I always manage to find plenty to change and revise and rewrite I haven’t read anything by Dart-Thornton, but yeah, everyone has their own style. Too much description can certainly get in the way of the story, but it can also add so much (again the balance! argh!). I haven’t been writing for very long, I think I’m still getting used to my own ‘voice’ and am still working the bugs out of exactly how I want things to sound. It seems that with time and practice, that eye for balancing bits becomes something of a sixth sense.

By: Carol

Carol — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:39:30 +0000

Ozzy I know what you mean. Keeping the balance is so important. I worry that I don’t have enough conversation, but when I go back and read it sounds better than i thought it did. I suppose evryone had a distinct style of writing that is just “them”.

Have you read Celcilia Dart-Thornton? She is an aussie writer is is very very descriptive. Normally that type of writing can be too much but I love her writing, its very prose like, and its her personal style. I have read reviews which have dissed her writing (too much description), but I disagree with the reviews, feeling that the people missed the point on her writing, and her style. (I do have to be in a certain frame of mind to read her stuff, but when I do I get completely drawn in). I think everyone has their own style, which has to be taken into account with balance.

Also, I agree that those obligatory scenes can’t be left out…for me its the small things that equal the bigger, better story. I need to get emotionally drawn in, and to do that you need to see those characters developing and interacting, and you just can’t miss those “important” moments. I like David and Charles comments about the character arcs in LOTR, maybe its these that define those obligatory scenes?