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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Drab Princess, the Black Cat, and the Satisfying Break-up Novel
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10033 Location: Virginia |
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What do you mean "overwritten"? You have used this term in a couple of reviews and I'm not familiar with the term. |
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primalmaximus
Posts: 109 |
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It probably means excessively detailed descriptions and redundant dialogue. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2657 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Yes, precisely. It's a bit like purple prose (excessively fancy and overblown), but more generally applied. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10033 Location: Virginia |
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I was afraid that was what you meant.
To me the extra detail is what sets the scene and the extra dialog helps establish the personalities of the characters. I find that when both the source novel and the manga adaption are available that I greatly prefer the novel. A lot of the time when people reading the manga misunderstand why some character did something or complain of plot holes, it is because of the details left out in the adaption. I think purple prose is a different beast altogether. Look at the second volume of the Lord of the Rings, how many pages did Tolkien waste describing three of his characters running across a grassy field. Yet summing it up like that gives no idea what a feat it was. Probably 2/3 of that volume could be omitted but we would be poorer for it. I guess it falls under different folks, different tastes. Since you seem to feel it is common to Japanese light novels, I suspect it is editor driven. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 2657 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I think we're looking at two different things and calling it the same thing. I wouldn't accuse Tolkien of overwriting any more than I would Thomas Hardy; descriptions serve a distinct and important purpose in both of their works. In fact, intense descriptions are arguably major features of both pastoral and high fantasy works as a genre; I want them there. In many light novels (and I think you're right; it's editorial direction), the description isn't world-or-scene building, it's redundant and overdone; it actively detracts from the scene being set rather than enhancing it. If an author can describe every footfall and make it count, it's not overwriting to me. If I want to start skimming, it is. And purple prose is and always will be to me best seen in any given J. Peterman catalog. 
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10033 Location: Virginia |
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I've been bemused by Andrea Camilleri's Montalbano mysteries set in Sicily have a description of every meal the main character eats. Dona Leon's Brunetti mysteries set in Venice do the same. I have to wonder if it is an Italian thing.
Several of the light novel authors have said in the afterward that the text increased by 20% to 30% in the transition from web novel. I still enjoy being along for the ride though. |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5158 |
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Reading the back-and-forth between Alan and Rebecca reminds me very much as to why I enjoy their writing.
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