> > > <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."

>    I've usually seen "Marty Stu", actually.

>    Another common first author mistake is "overkill" in the background.
> Sort of related to the Kitchen Sink problem, the author in this case
> is afraid that the reader may miss some aspect of the background the
> author thinks is important, and ends up with thousands of words of
> infodump and As You Know Bobbing that turn out not to be really
> needed.

>    Some first authors have the opposite problem: things that are
> obvious to them, they assume are obvious to the reader, and thus
> critical, need-to-know information... isn't there.