According to you and your reading experiences?
Just looking for ideas. :)
Printable View
According to you and your reading experiences?
Just looking for ideas. :)
Short list: Dystopia, faith, redemption, aliens, mystical creatures, love unrequited...
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY
I tend to be less interested in genres and find myself focusing more on the devices used to convey the story. For instance, there are some stories which leave tantalizing unresolved questions, and others which include dramatic internal twists, and still others which rely on the very choice of words to effect an intended result ... things like that.
Apart from devices, for me there are two ingredients which are essential: 1) the story itself (regardless of genre), and 2) the manner in which it is told. A good story can be ruined by a bad writing style and the opposite is true as well.
I can cite one of my favorite books of all time as an example. It is a thriller called Fail-Safe by Eugene Wheeler and Harvey Burdick. The story itself is a nail biter, but in addition, the style in which it is written is mesmerizing. The prose is simple and in no way ostentatious, but is contrived by the manner in which it is both composed and delivered to enhance the tension. Another thing which would probably be considered "device" is that the story flashes to various scenes that are taking place at the same time which involve different groups of people, and often at times of great tension it leaves the present and describes the histories of the people involved in the story which had taken place before the events of the novel. This book would not be considered great literature, but the balance of excellent story and well-chosen prose and delivery made it an extremely entertaining reading experience for me.
Now there are two MOVIES I really like whose books were total duds in my opinion. One was the Peter Sellers movie, Being There, and the other was Dances With Wolves. Now in these cases the original STORY was greatly improved in my opinion by the screenwriters.
/
Interesting piece DATo, especially regards the films.
One of the ones I have watched, (invariably tanked up) so many times, was "Schlinder's List." The book was good; but by Harry, what a dimension was added from the acting / visualisation on the screen.
Stay safe.
M.
I did not read the novel, Schlinder's List, but I can totally relate to how cinematic visuals contribute to the experience. Another example: the opening battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan were probably the most viscerally affecting that I have ever experienced in cinema.