Common First Author Mistakes - What are they, and are there SF speficic ones? - rec.arts.sf.written

Message from discussion Common First Author Mistakes - What are they, and are there SF speficic ones?

Dorothy J Heydt

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More options Jul 4, 7:42 pm

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written

From: djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)

Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 14:42:49 GMT

Local: Fri, Jul 4 2008 7:42 pm

Subject: Re: Common First Author Mistakes - What are they, and are there SF speficic ones?

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In article <b3fb00d6-b38e-4f61-a13f-665e545fa...@m73g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>,

<phdu...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I was reading one of the Locus First Novel threads, and LWE said:

><i>I can report that
>at least one person I trust says it's got all your standard
>first-novel problems and isn't very good.</i>

>And I was wondering, what are these problems? The only one I can
>think of is the 'kitchen sink' problem, where every cool idea the
>author's ever had shows up in one book, but I'm sure there's more.
>Are there any sfnal specific first novel problems?

Mary-Sue-ism, probably, in which the author models her*
protagonist on herself* and paints her* much larger than life.

E.g.,

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051212

Deus ex machina is also a possibility....
____
*Or if masculine, it's a "Barry Stu."

Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djhe...@kithrup.com

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