On reading while being a writer...
Feb. 20th, 2008 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agilebritSo, I picked up a book called "Dog Days," by John Levitt, at the library yesterday. Because if you have a dog in there (even if it's not quite a dog), I'll read it.
And it's all right, I guess. It's different enough from Dresden that it doesn't feel too much like a rip-off, although the coattails are fairly obvious to anyone who's paying attention. And there's nothing wrong with that.
My problem is that Levitt has built a world here that requires a good bit of explanation. And it's not that his explanations are bad, or boring, or clunky. His narrator is entertaining enough, after all.
It's just that I'm noticing the exposition.
And I'm at the point where I don't know if I'm noticing it because I'm a writer who hates writing exposition, or a reader who's seen all this before. And it's interfering with my enjoyment of the book.
I used to be able to read for reading's sake. I'm...not sure I can do that anymore. And that makes me kind of sad.
And it's all right, I guess. It's different enough from Dresden that it doesn't feel too much like a rip-off, although the coattails are fairly obvious to anyone who's paying attention. And there's nothing wrong with that.
My problem is that Levitt has built a world here that requires a good bit of explanation. And it's not that his explanations are bad, or boring, or clunky. His narrator is entertaining enough, after all.
It's just that I'm noticing the exposition.
And I'm at the point where I don't know if I'm noticing it because I'm a writer who hates writing exposition, or a reader who's seen all this before. And it's interfering with my enjoyment of the book.
I used to be able to read for reading's sake. I'm...not sure I can do that anymore. And that makes me kind of sad.
