I've read up to Part 2 in the book, but so far I've been a little disappointed. I've read several DK books and enjoyed them, but Dragon Tears seems to violate practically every "rule" of writing.

I have the "Write Great Fiction" series and "The First Five Pages" and all seem to agree on many topics. Maybe I'm just now noticing the "faults" in published writing since I've been reading these manuals and trying some critique boards.

Here's what I've noticed...

Koontz seems to repeat many words when describing things, sometimes only two or three sentences apart.

He also uses "as if..." and "like a..." way too much in my opinion. I don't mind metaphors, but it seems that he uses one in every other paragraph.

There's a part where he goes into a flashback of one character rather abruptly. I'm not sure if she becomes a major character or not (I'm assuming so since he took the time to introduce her entire life history).

The POV changes quite frequently, but at least he separates it with section headings (numbers).

Ironically, his First 13 seems to be quite good (it's referenced in a few writing books I have). Actually, just the first sentence in my opinion.

"Tuesday was a fine California day, full of sunshine and promise, until Harry Lyon had to shoot someone at lunch."

The remaining First 13 aren't so good in my opinion...

"For breakfast, sitting at his kitchen table, he ate toasted English muffins with lemon marmalade and drank strong black Jamaican coffee. A pinch of cinnamon gave the brew a pleasantly spicy taste.
The kitchen window provided a view of the greenbelt that wound through Los Cabos, a sprawling condominium development in Irvine. As president of the homeowners' association, Harry drove the gardeners hard and rigorously monitored their work, ensuring that the trees, shrubs, and grass were as neatly trimmed as the landscape in a fairy tale, as if maintained by platoons of gardening elves with..."

I guess the hook has already happened in the first line, so the rest aren't important?

It's a little annoying to know that an unpublished writer (perhaps one who is quite good) has to overcome so many obstacles (at least from what I gather on this website and the book "The First Five Pages"), yet one that's been published can be sloppy simply because of their name.

I've enjoyed DK's books up to this point, so I'm not sure why this particular book isn't working for me.

Just my thoughts. Anyone else?

quote:

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"people will buy this writer's books no matter what, so it isn't worth the time or expense to edit his books any more"

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