A minor character decides to take a more prominent role: welcome Sarah.
Introductions
If my name sounds familiar, it's because Sarah is a common name. If Sarah Bidanjiri sounds familiar, well it's either because you know me - since Bidanjiri is not a common last name - or because you have an excellent memory and have seen my name in the past NaNoWriMo U of A Edition's first week word counts. Since the advice of those who have actually completed a novel in a month seem to all say that one of the keys to success is to be committed, I decided that, among other things, I should become more active in the whole process which would entail joining in on the blog. From what I can tell, the only person I know here is Steve (aside from a few of my fellow drop-outs). On the theme of commitment, I also decided to write up my own Magna Cartas; and after some encouragement from Steve and trading of lists, I thought it would be interesting to know what made up other people's lists. So I'll begin, in the hope that I don't end up being the only one to do so here:
Magna Carta I: (What I LIKE in novels)
Well-developed / dynamic /likeable characters
Wit & humour
Travel
Adventure & action
Meanings / subtle messages in story
Stories that make you laugh & cry (or just laugh)
Moral dilemmas
Hope
Thought provoking
Believable
Poetry
A sense of mysticism / mystery
True friendship (& sometimes love)
Quirky characters
Lots of dialogue
Eloquent language (though not in excess)
Cultural elements
Beautiful lanscape / setting
New ideas
A glimpse into humanity
Engaging
Perseverance (stolen from Steve's list)
Magna Carta II: (What I DON'T LIKE in novels)
Stereotypical characters
Preachy messages
Depressing / hopeless stories
Teenage drama
Overly graphic with sex & violence (though there are some exceptions, if it truly helps the plot along)
Purposeless plot (I will have to get over that for NaNoWriMo)
Quick wrap-up endings
Dysfunctional families
Impossibly perfect & unbelievable characters
Long scenery & war descriptions
Writing that gives you a headache (where reading is overly difficult...)
Self-absorbed / un-thoughtful protagonists (with no redeeming qualities)
Cheesy scenes
Cliffhanger endings (with obvious intention of a sequel)
Overly predictable plot
If my name sounds familiar, it's because Sarah is a common name. If Sarah Bidanjiri sounds familiar, well it's either because you know me - since Bidanjiri is not a common last name - or because you have an excellent memory and have seen my name in the past NaNoWriMo U of A Edition's first week word counts. Since the advice of those who have actually completed a novel in a month seem to all say that one of the keys to success is to be committed, I decided that, among other things, I should become more active in the whole process which would entail joining in on the blog. From what I can tell, the only person I know here is Steve (aside from a few of my fellow drop-outs). On the theme of commitment, I also decided to write up my own Magna Cartas; and after some encouragement from Steve and trading of lists, I thought it would be interesting to know what made up other people's lists. So I'll begin, in the hope that I don't end up being the only one to do so here:
Magna Carta I: (What I LIKE in novels)
Well-developed / dynamic /likeable characters
Wit & humour
Travel
Adventure & action
Meanings / subtle messages in story
Stories that make you laugh & cry (or just laugh)
Moral dilemmas
Hope
Thought provoking
Believable
Poetry
A sense of mysticism / mystery
True friendship (& sometimes love)
Quirky characters
Lots of dialogue
Eloquent language (though not in excess)
Cultural elements
Beautiful lanscape / setting
New ideas
A glimpse into humanity
Engaging
Perseverance (stolen from Steve's list)
Magna Carta II: (What I DON'T LIKE in novels)
Stereotypical characters
Preachy messages
Depressing / hopeless stories
Teenage drama
Overly graphic with sex & violence (though there are some exceptions, if it truly helps the plot along)
Purposeless plot (I will have to get over that for NaNoWriMo)
Quick wrap-up endings
Dysfunctional families
Impossibly perfect & unbelievable characters
Long scenery & war descriptions
Writing that gives you a headache (where reading is overly difficult...)
Self-absorbed / un-thoughtful protagonists (with no redeeming qualities)
Cheesy scenes
Cliffhanger endings (with obvious intention of a sequel)
Overly predictable plot
Labels: Magna Cartas
posted by Sarah at 11:24 AM
10 Comments:
Ooh, let me post mine:
Magna Carta I
First person narration
Vaguely neurotic protagonists
Hopeful, but not all together happy, endings
Highly eccentric supporting characters
Interesting friendships
Interesting non-romantic relationships in general
Cameos by the author (or by characters from the author's other novels)
Suicides
Bad decisions and self-destructive behaviour generally
Perseverance
Character-driven novels
Similes, metaphors, and analogies used for humourous effect
Ridiculous dialogue
Magna Carta II
Inaccessible writing
Humourless protagonists
The paranormal as a central emphasis
Abundant sex scenes
Implausibly good matches
Setting-driven novels
Lengthy description of physical details (characters or settings)
Brilliant, courageous, or otherwise admirable protagonists
A partial list, due to time-pressed-ness.
MC1
Colloquial use of language
Creative use of language
Quirky characters
Non-romantic romances (think "I Love You, Man")
Wit
Humour and seriousness mixed together
Female characters who are more than accessories for the males
Self-deprecating yet arrogant protagonists
Intelligent antagonists
Realistically-motivated characters
MC2
One-note characters
Overly formal narration
Unnaturally formal speech patterns
Humour and seriousness split into "funny sections" and "serious sections"
Pretentiousness
Lengthy description of physical details
Over-heroic protagonists
Over-villainous antagonists
Stereotypical characters
Destiny and fate
Man, Jake, I was reading your Magna Carta I - "Creative use of language", "Quirky characters", "Wit", "Self-deprecating yet arrogant protagonists" - and I was thinking that you clearly want to read a novel about me. Then I got to MCII - and its "One-note characters", "Unnaturally formal speech patterns", "Pretentiousness", and "Over-heroic protagonists" - and concluded that perhaps you didn't.
For a while there I also thought Jake was referring to characters that resembled Steve.
Mine!
MG 1:
-Ridiculously overpowered characters
-Power levels (increasing progression)
-Magical artifacts (also very powerful)
-Morally ambigious character
=> Has to be redeemed
-Witty remarks
-Sarcastic narrator
-Action scenes
MG 2:
-Overly descriptive stuff
-Confusing dialogue
-Esoteric, philosophical stuff
-Overly complicated sentence structure/vocabulary
-Unexplained changes in character motivation
-Family disputes
-Slow pacing
"Magna Garta"?
(Also, given our respective novels and Magane Cartas, Chris, it's amazine that we didn't hate each other's novels.)
It's the best kind of Garta.
Also, Steve: it means I want to read novels about people who are like you, but better.
Chris: 100 points for "overly descriptive stuff".
it means I want to read novels about people who are like you, but better.
Why not come right out and say that you want to read novels about yourself?
Because I'm familiar with a little thing called subtlety, you dolt.
Here's mine (still very mucgh a work in progress):
MC1
Wise characters
Underground groups
Unusual creatures
Alliterative (extra points if palindromic) names
Puzzles
Factually based (or faux-factually based if fantasy)
Short chapters
Fast pacing
Much character backstory
Children's novels
Murky moral choices
Farce
MC2
Long descriptive passages
Boring, predictable characters
Sprawling storylines (oh dear)
Overpowering moral themes
Unclear/unnaturally happy endings
Random paranormal explanations
Characters that I wouldn't like in real life
Exhausting use of metaphor
A lack of humour
Extremely implausible coincidences
Flawless heroes
Songs & Poems in the middle of prose
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