Encountering intelligent personalities has become so rare that it is now a profound experience for me when I meet someone whose level of intellect matches mine. Now I'm not saying that I'm some long-lost descendent of Einstein; I just mean that I've become unusually accustomed to conversing about topics whose matter will in no way increase my intellectual knowledge. You see I don't really understand how talking about the most recent celebrity breakups or their twitter updates is going to benefit me. Nor do I understand how talking about pointless mundane tasks or other people is going to change my point of view of the world; besides questioning the mere single digit I.Q. levels of certain people, that is. This is why I tend to feel incredibly happy if I meet a person who will not only fangirl with me on Moffat's genius but will also discuss topics that genuinely matter.
An example of this is discussing books; being an aspiring writer myself, I indulge in reading when I cannot write and after reading quite a number of literary titles, I believe I can distinguish between good books and bad books. I'm a harsh critic but to elaborate on what I just said, I mean that after reading a lot it is easy to critique different authors and books. A writer does not necessarily have to be a great writer to write a brilliant book, he or she just needs to have the skill to creatively form a plot and make all the puzzles fit by the end. Or not if you're one of the writers of "LOST", in which case any confusion is thereby forgiven automatically because come on, it's "LOST" after all. Anyway, aside from the pointless babbling, I mean to say that I thoroughly enjoy discussing books because it's fascinating to look at different aspects of a book from different POVs. A recurring theme in Young Adult novels is the presence of paranormal races and most of the cheesy love triangles which turn into squares and even love hexagons if you've read "House of the Night" series. I don't know if it's just me but it seems like most of today's writers seem to exploiting age old paranormal ideas. Whatever happened to creativity and originality? Or maybe researching a bit and using up creatures other than werewolves, vampires or fallen angels.
Another thing I've noticed in most Young Adult novels is that if it's the paranormal romance genre, a female character will the choice for a protagonist for a majority of writers while if it's fantasy-fiction, a male protagonist is the popular choice. Not to be cliche, but I would like to see a book where the girl does not have low self-esteem and where a guy is not the only hero in a war. I'm not saying I haven't read any such books but judging from the majorities, my opinion is that writers need to, crudely speaking, get out of their safe haven and explore new writing horizons and territories. For once. I'd like to read a book and say now THAT is a writer who could match the likes of George R.R. Martin. Although this wasn't meant to be a rant about writers and Young-adult genre writers, it has unconsciously become the dominant theme of this blog entry. Oh and that reminds me if you ever see Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater then stay AWAY from that book because the only thing good is the cover and unless all the books on Earth were destroyed and it was the only book left, I would NOT suggest reading it. Although in that case, you could probably rewrite Harry Potter (if you're a Potterhead who has memorized every line) and take the credit for saving Sirius Black, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Fred and Dobby.
Until then,
Happy reading and may your swords stay ever sharp.
Note: if you're a Sherlock fan and are still suffering then I would suggest you read Sir, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock series because there is still some time till series 3 and there's only so many times we can watch it. Or is there?
*Ordinary minds, hmph.*
An example of this is discussing books; being an aspiring writer myself, I indulge in reading when I cannot write and after reading quite a number of literary titles, I believe I can distinguish between good books and bad books. I'm a harsh critic but to elaborate on what I just said, I mean that after reading a lot it is easy to critique different authors and books. A writer does not necessarily have to be a great writer to write a brilliant book, he or she just needs to have the skill to creatively form a plot and make all the puzzles fit by the end. Or not if you're one of the writers of "LOST", in which case any confusion is thereby forgiven automatically because come on, it's "LOST" after all. Anyway, aside from the pointless babbling, I mean to say that I thoroughly enjoy discussing books because it's fascinating to look at different aspects of a book from different POVs. A recurring theme in Young Adult novels is the presence of paranormal races and most of the cheesy love triangles which turn into squares and even love hexagons if you've read "House of the Night" series. I don't know if it's just me but it seems like most of today's writers seem to exploiting age old paranormal ideas. Whatever happened to creativity and originality? Or maybe researching a bit and using up creatures other than werewolves, vampires or fallen angels.
Another thing I've noticed in most Young Adult novels is that if it's the paranormal romance genre, a female character will the choice for a protagonist for a majority of writers while if it's fantasy-fiction, a male protagonist is the popular choice. Not to be cliche, but I would like to see a book where the girl does not have low self-esteem and where a guy is not the only hero in a war. I'm not saying I haven't read any such books but judging from the majorities, my opinion is that writers need to, crudely speaking, get out of their safe haven and explore new writing horizons and territories. For once. I'd like to read a book and say now THAT is a writer who could match the likes of George R.R. Martin. Although this wasn't meant to be a rant about writers and Young-adult genre writers, it has unconsciously become the dominant theme of this blog entry. Oh and that reminds me if you ever see Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater then stay AWAY from that book because the only thing good is the cover and unless all the books on Earth were destroyed and it was the only book left, I would NOT suggest reading it. Although in that case, you could probably rewrite Harry Potter (if you're a Potterhead who has memorized every line) and take the credit for saving Sirius Black, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Fred and Dobby.
Until then,
Happy reading and may your swords stay ever sharp.
Note: if you're a Sherlock fan and are still suffering then I would suggest you read Sir, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock series because there is still some time till series 3 and there's only so many times we can watch it. Or is there?
*Ordinary minds, hmph.*
Haha, tastefully expressed.
ReplyDeleteMm, the bromidic otioseness of most YA-pop-fiction is excoriable.
You like GRRM?! xD
How many have you read?
And, out of curiosity, what, according to you, are the things that "really matter"?
Mustafa
http://justanotherthoughtjournal.blogspot.in/