(no subject)

[cimorene]

in news of the crazy, we have a norwegian journalist who thinks jk rowling doesn't really exist but is actually a collection of hacks a la carolyn keene (who wasn't actually all that much a collection of hacks--most of the writing was done by one woman, with a lot of steering from the people who came up with the idea).  i'm with the norwegian rowling translator who comments in the article and who "sees consistent weaknesses in Rowling's writing that no group of hack writers would leave behind".  they give a strong impression of having been written all by one person to me. 

and in news of something else, last night i picked up some random science fiction novel my parents sent me when they were getting rid of old hardbacks.  okay, it's actually high fantasy--a science fiction book club edition from the 70s, called godstalk by pc hodgell, and oh my god, this is like the mary sueiest novel ever.  it's incredible.  it would be a goldmine for a harry potter mary suist.  just when i was asking myself if the book had a single flaw in mary sueness--if it could possibly get MORE mary suish--we came to the scene where she goes into her mystical magical dancing-trance (it's not really dancing, it's a secret form of ancient and mystical martial arts and it does funky things to astral planes or something) while dancing a command performance for the prince in his demon-guarded tower, and the scene wasn't described in nauseatingly loving detail but skimmed over, as were the associated scenes in which she steals the most valuable and famous pair of gloves ever out from under a demon's nose and then escapes down the outside of the tower in a gale, lands in a river and swims to safety.  a-ha!  i said.  it's not the most mary sue thing EVER, because she didn't turn out to be secretly related to the prince or instantly beloved by the demon, right?  ...except then, because of the gloves, she gets to meet the most famous courtesan in the history of the city, who makes a pass at her (right after chasing off her handsome and powerful male lover, who is a master to Our Heroine's apprentice rank in the Guild of Thieves); and based on essentially no clues at all she spontaneously realises that there are love letters hidden in the stolen gloves, and subsequently extracts them, eludes pursuit to race back across the city and openly defy the demon (who is of course intimidated by her)... in order to give the letters, along with a condescending little lecture, to the princess.  please note that this is not even a 20-page section of mary sueness and doesn't even begin to cover her mary sue qualities.  among other things, it has been hinted that she is the offspring of a god, which makes her even specialler than membership in a very rare and exotic race of the magical best fighters EVER could. 

Comments

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

With no money for paper or an office, Rowling reportedly started scribbling out the story of Harry Potter on paper napkins picked up in Edinburgh's cafés

Oh for god's sake, dumbass Norwegian conspiracy loon, at least get your facts straight. Rowling was never too poor to afford paper. She wrote mainly in bookstore blank books. The cafe she favored was run by a relation, and she would go there to write after her baby would fall asleep during her daily perambulation. Her output is by no means too prolific for one person, nor is her writing style overly inconsistent. (Unless, perhaps, she's reading Rowling in translation.)

[cimness.livejournal.com]

yeah, but it seems hard to believe even then. and didn't the article imply that the same guy had translated all of them? i find it easier to believe that she just isn't intelligent or well-read enough to recognise a writing style. or else she just wants attention.

[basingstoke.livejournal.com]

Also, given how tremendously popular HP is, if they had a bunch of people writing they would bring out books hella more often. Once a year, at least.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

word.

[coquettemoves.livejournal.com]

You just won the much-prized Highlight of My Day award.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

i shall prize it muchly.

[copracat]

Godstalk? Godstalk?

As in God's Talk or as in God's Penis? Because I think it could go either way.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

the latter, only i think it's more like the stalking of the powahful jungle cat. (in fact, at one point she saves from drowning a blind kitten of the most expensive colour of the most expensive breed of large telepathic domesticated cat ever. the handler was drowning it but gives it to her as a reward instead, but she has to keep it a secret, because he has to report to the mastah that it's dead.) ah, anyway, godstalk could refer to the fact that she hunts one particular small god through a lot of the book and kills him (the gods are real beings in this universe) and later makes friends with his high priest and resurrects him (the god) and makes him powerful again.

[copracat]

Get out! No, really? Wow. See, fandom did not invent Mary Sue. We brought her with us from Pro fiction.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

my point exactly! i feel sad for all the fangirls who WANT to write mary sues and don't know about this treasure trove of ideas they could rip off.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

You make it sound so worth reading, and I just *know*, deep in my bones, that you have given us the Good Bits version, and that it won't really be that hilarious *at all*.

/whinge of pointlessness

[cimness.livejournal.com]

considering it's from the 70s and never got particularly popular, the odds of your getting hold of it aren't good.

actually, despite a lot of "augh mary sue stab!" i was entertained a lot. the sequel got less completely mary suey and somewhat more exciting, too. however, it ends a bit cliffhangery and i don't think she ever published part 3.