Because, this isn’t the internet or anything. No one will ever know. 😉
OK, so maybe I’m a little crazy.
But, the point is, I know I’m not the only one who has a shameful little secret, something that, as a writer, I am embarrassed about, and rightly so. You too? Oh good. Well, I’ll show you mine, you show me yours?
I don’t like Tolkien.
That’s right. I’m a sci-fi/fantasy reader and writer and I don’t like Tolkien’s books. I’ve said it. I feel FREE!
(Don’t get me wrong, the movies kicked serious butt. And if the last man I ever see in my life is Orlando Bloom as Legolas, well, I’ll die a happy little writer.)
See?
OK, your turn. What’s your writerly sin?
I despise Faulkner and Pahalaniuk, but I’ve never kept it a secret.
I’ve read precious little good literature – I have a lot of good books, but my reading is usually mystery fiction (I love Robert B Parker, Agatha Christie, et al), but Henry James? Sinclair Lewis? nah . . .
Just now, I’m reading the Great Gatsby for the very first time.
Geez, I forgot to say that I first read the Tolkein trilogy when I was 12, and I read it once again, all the way through, my senior year in high school.
I wanted to read it to my daughter when she first started school, as bedtime reading, but that didn’t last long at all . . .
I can’t stand Fantasy & refuse to read Harry Potter
I thought Dune was so overwrought that I never bothered to read any of the other books in the series.
Hehe, Bran, I finally read them because, well, you have to, right? I liked them, unlike Tolkien which I attempted for the same reason and just could. not. get. through.
Jay and Georgia, I’m the same. I rarely read the reputable literature that makes you look sophisticated or at least “with it.” I go for the sci-fi, fantasy, and, sadly, even less admirable… stuff.
I like the “less admirable stuff” you read 😀
I’d much rather read Terry Pratchett than Tolkien 🙂
I write paranormal romance, but I honestly can’t stand vampires. I’ve read some vampire books, and I can concede they are well written, but the idea of sex with a dead guy is just nasty. So my paranormals are all angels, demons, and faeries… oh and ghosts, but no sex with ghosts. That would be too weird for me too. =)
Oooh, this is going the be hard to say. Might as well just get it out there…*deep breath*
I still haven’t finished the last two Harry Potter books. Yeah, I’m a fantasy writer, but I have yet to actually finish the biggest fantasy series since…well, Tolkein’s.
Thomas Hardy *shudder* Charles Dickens *mimes pistol to open mouth* Tolkien *thumbs through ANYTHING else*
I can’t stand Fitzgerald’s writing. I read the Great Gatsby twice in school, but you can’t make me like it. His prose is too purple for me, and I hardly liked a single character in Gatsby.
Oh someone mentioned Terry Pratchett, so I’ll go ahead and say that.
I can’t stand Terry Pratchett.
I think 95% of his jokes aren’t funny, and why is he constantly making jokes the whole story? Just tell the damn story. He is the very definition of an indulgent author, and you can really see it in his pacing. His books develop well in the first 1/4, then they’re slooooooooooooooooooow, then they end, and the ending really isn’t that good.
I purchased a copy of Ian McEwan’s ATONEMENT because it’s supposed to be this wonderful, enthralling masterpiece of stuff. And I got ten pages in and was like, “Nope. Still chewing on grissle here. Where’s the meat?” So it’s in a box in my closet.
Oh, and I nearly hit Orlando Bloom with my car once. But you already know that, Leah.
Yay! There are other people in the world who don’t like Tolkein and Harry Potter! *feels less alone*
Besides those two… uh… I dunno. I’m a natural iconoclast, so I tend to be pretty hostile to anything anyone tells me is a classic, from Shakespeare (who I have eventually learned a grudging respect for) to George Orwell (I read 1984 when I was 13 and found it an exercise in grinding misery throughout. I know that’s the point, but not my thing at all).
Rik Davnall recently posted..Neomodernism and human rights something a touch more academic
I’m with you. Tokien tends to ramble a lot. I LOVE LOTR but the Two Towers was a total snooze-fest. I poke a little fun at Tolkien in my first book actually.
My Confession: I write my books with the vain hope of them being turned into blockbuster movies. I never think about “will this read well,” instead I think, “Will this look good on camera? Will a stuntman be required for this, or can Jackman do this himself?”
Monica Marier recently posted..Frique and Fragg
I love the idea of science fiction, but dislike most efforts in the genre. And, yeah, I find Tolkien to be horrendously boring. I still don’t get why it took three movies to tell this simple and shallow story.
It puts the ring in the volcano. It does this whenever it’s told.
Vince Watkins recently posted..There She Stood in the Doorway I Heard the Mission Bell
Rik,
“I know that’s the point”
I love it!
Monica, that’s so cool, actually. I’m the opposite, I have no visual imagination at all. I went through the entirety of my book without even a clear picture of what the characters looked like. (I don’t do much physical description, I like to let the reader build a visual for themselves from the character’s personality.)
It’s only as I’ve gotten to a point where I’m in book two and the characters are starting to have kids that I had to decide what they all looked like so I never referred to a kid as having brown hair if I’d implied both parents were blond, or something like that.
Leah Petersen recently posted..My Goodreads Review of Transformation by Carol Berg
Vince, as a sci-fi writer myself, I have very little patience for the technobabble. I gravitate to scifi for the same reason I like fantasy, for the anything’s-possible experience, not so much the science or tech itself. In fact, believable tech and advancements in a futuristic society are one of my biggest struggles in writing it.
Speaking of LOTR, I loved this cracked.com article where it points out that Sauron actually had a point and that maybe it was the “good guys” who were the douches. 😉
http://www.cracked.com/article_18417_the-lighter-side-dark-side-5-villains-who-were-good_p3.html
Leah Petersen recently posted..It’s Tax and REUNION Day!
I don’t like Tolkien either but love the movies.I had to have my arm twisted to see the movies because I thought I’d dislike them too. I also am not a fan of Michael Ondaatje.Horrors sorry Michael.You lost me the first chapter of your book the English Patient.
I just recently read a hard sci-fi novel by a very prominent author who has won TONS of the major awards for sci-fi: Nebula, Hugo, John W. Campbell with multiple nominations for Nebula and Hugo. The book I read was brilliant in it’s treatment of science and for crap when it came to story. I will confess that I am not brave enough to name this author here simply because the world is political and I would love to be published one day! But I was really shocked at the lack of story craft. So there. Meh. Not much of a “dirty secret revealed” since I won’t name him, but there it is.