FacebookTwitter
Hatrack River Forum   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Discussions About Orson Scott Card » OSC's the best

   
Author Topic: OSC's the best
Matthew Warner
New Member
Member # 7702

 - posted      Profile for Matthew Warner   Email Matthew Warner         Edit/Delete Post 
Just came over here to tell Mr. Card that he's one of my favorite writers. Whenever I need to take a break from my chosen genre, horror, he's one of the writers I turn to because his stuff is so good. And hell, he even excels in horror (Homebody)!

The last two books I took off my TBR pile, in fact, were The Crystal City and Ender's Shadow. It spurred a long technical discussion with another writer this morning about the necessity of italics when quoting a character's thoughts. I'm on the fence now, as Mr. Card's prose demonstrates that it's not strictly necessary. I'll just have to experiment.

Anyway, since I know you're reading this: thanks again, Mr. C! I love your books, and it's nice to discover that the man behind them is just as interesting.

Matt

Posts: 3 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Orson Scott Card
Administrator
Member # 209

 - posted      Profile for Orson Scott Card           Edit/Delete Post 
Italics to show thoughts are so 1935.

Why not just put them in quotation marks, the way Jane Austen did?

Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Michiel
Member
Member # 7649

 - posted      Profile for Michiel   Email Michiel         Edit/Delete Post 
A certain Dan Brown keeps doing it. And look where it got him!
Posts: 64 | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Matthew Warner
New Member
Member # 7702

 - posted      Profile for Matthew Warner   Email Matthew Warner         Edit/Delete Post 
But but but . . . (crackle of Matt's brain cells frying) . . .

Actually, I'm considering showing thought-quotations in the way that you do. For example, from page 451 of Ender's Shadow:

quote:
There was no way, at the beginning of this battle, to predict that the Buggers would make such a mistake. Yet throughout history, great victores had come as much because of the losing army's errors as because of the winner's brilliance in battle. The Buggers have finally, finally learned that we humans value each and every individual human life. We don't throw our forces away because every soldier is the queen of a one-member hive.
I'm referring to the switch from the narrative voice to the character's internal voice that occurs at the sentence, "The Buggers have finally, finally . . ."

I would normally italicize the thought-quotation, but I realize this risks annoying the reader with the font change. That, or I'd recast the quote as indirect discourse . . .

quote:
The Buggers had finally, finally learned that humans valued each and every individual human life. Humans didn't throw their forces away because every soldier was the queen of a one-member hive.
. . . which is normally just fine, but I liked how showing Bean's thoughts your way (and the passage went on for two more pages in his 1st-POV present-tense voice) gave more of a sense of immediacy than filtering it through the narrative verb tenses. I couldn't normally do that because I'd have to cast all those pages in italics, which would simply look too yucky.

Anyway, I'm just in a minor quandary now, trying to figure out what to do. [Wall Bash] What's worrying me is that not all readers will be able to follow the transitions, especially if they occur inside the same paragraph, as in the example given above--or that I won't have the technical skill to pull it off as smoothly as you.

Any words of wisdom you have time to give would be deeply appreciated! [Hail]

Matt

[ April 04, 2005, 10:46 PM: Message edited by: Matthew Warner ]

Posts: 3 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Jonathan Howard
Member
Member # 6934

 - posted      Profile for Jonathan Howard   Email Jonathan Howard         Edit/Delete Post 
You're a WARNER? Ahem, from THE Warner family - sorry - brothers' family?

Edit: Proof, Jonny, PROOF.

[ April 05, 2005, 12:45 AM: Message edited by: Jonathan Howard ]

Posts: 2978 | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Orson Scott Card
Administrator
Member # 209

 - posted      Profile for Orson Scott Card           Edit/Delete Post 
That's the nice thing about using a deeply penetrating third-person-limited point-of-view in the novel - I can drop in and out of the viewpoint character's thoughts at will. Just one of the tools in the toolchest.

Paraphrasing it restores it to narrative from dramatic mode, which is fine, but "cooler" (as in more distant); italicizing the thoughts can be offputting.

If Dan Brown is somebody's model, why in the world are you asking me <grin>?

Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Verily the Younger
Member
Member # 6705

 - posted      Profile for Verily the Younger   Email Verily the Younger         Edit/Delete Post 
Someone once wrote a book called "Character and Viewpoint" that dealt with this sort of thing rather extensively. Now, who was that again? Can't think of the fellow's name. . . .

[Wink]

[ April 05, 2005, 01:50 AM: Message edited by: Verily the Younger ]

Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Jenny Gardener
Member
Member # 903

 - posted      Profile for Jenny Gardener   Email Jenny Gardener         Edit/Delete Post 
Hey, I remember that book! It was really helpful...
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Jonathan K.
Member
Member # 7720

 - posted      Profile for Jonathan K.   Email Jonathan K.         Edit/Delete Post 
I would have to say that my two favorite writers are Orson Scott Card, and Kurt Vonnegut.
Posts: 220 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
quidscribis
Member
Member # 5124

 - posted      Profile for quidscribis   Email quidscribis         Edit/Delete Post 
You have to? Who's holding a shotgun to your head? [Dont Know] [ROFL]
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Jonathan K.
Member
Member # 7720

 - posted      Profile for Jonathan K.   Email Jonathan K.         Edit/Delete Post 
My two favourite writers are Kurt Vonnegut and Orson Scott Card, quit nitpicking and just read.
Posts: 220 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Matthew Warner
New Member
Member # 7702

 - posted      Profile for Matthew Warner   Email Matthew Warner         Edit/Delete Post 
JONATHAN H.: I wish. There's also Senator Warner and Governor Warner. [Cry] Actually, my family's claim to fame is through people like James Arkell, reputed to have invented the paper bag about a century ago, and then through Beech-Nut Packing Co. (I know, I know. Big whoop.) I'd rather be famous through my writing.

MR. CARD: Thanks. I guess I just need to experiment and practice. There's always something to learn. By the way, I bought Lost Boys a couple days ago; looking forward to delving into it.

JONATHAN K.: What books did Q. Nitpicking and J. Read write? [Wink]

Posts: 3 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Jonathan K.
Member
Member # 7720

 - posted      Profile for Jonathan K.   Email Jonathan K.         Edit/Delete Post 
Very good ones. You should read them some time.
Posts: 220 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2