- Some variety in the villains. Unless they all have reason to have the same motive (like the Death Eaters in HP--and even then, some were more moved out of fear or family loyalty than sheer prejudice) they shouldn't. AB used to be good about this--Nikolaos wanted the vampire murders solved, Gaynor wanted a zombie raised so he could find the hidden family treasure, Zachary wanted to stay alive, Dominga wanted money, Stirling wanted land to build a resort, Magnus wanted to increase his fey powers, Niley wanted the Spear of Destiny. You had some diverse, creative motives there. Now, however, all the motives of the villains revolve around Anita in some way--they're jealous of her, they're in love with her, they want her dead, and/or they want her powers. Chimera wanted her for his queen, Vittorio wanted her for his Human Servant, MOAD wanted her for her new body, it's pretty much all about her.And that's getting boring, predictable, and it's done really obnoxiously to boot. I would like new villains with new interests, please.
- Speaking of variety in villains, also have variety in personality. The baddies in AB are almost always these over-the-top cruel sadists who torture and rape for the sheer fun of it. That was shocking and edgy at first, yes, but it's unimaginative and exploitative at this point. I'm not saying all villains need to be nuanced and sympathetic and have good sides (though some should!) but when they're all super-ridiuclously-eeeevil and all in the exact same way, it shows a lack of creativity and will cease to interest the reader. Different personalities and modes of operation is just as important as different motives when it comes to having multiple villains who are all independent of each other.
- If there is going to be sex, fine. But it should not delay, interrupt, or take over the plot.
- The tone can be lightened or darkened, but it should remain the same color, so to speak. For instance, Buffy and Harry Potter both got progressively darker, but it was still the same general thing---good wizards versus bad, teens/young adults against monsters. AB's tone, however, has just changed completely. It's gone from hunting monsters to just basically being about Anita's personal life and her harem, with some occasional minor monster crisis on the side if we're lucky. It's not that the tone has just gotten less grim and dark, the entire point of the books has changed from action/horror to badly-done erotica and whining. If a series promises to be something for a reader, it should keep that promise, not steadily degrade into something else entirely. It shouldn't get stale or repetitive either, but, in my opinion, the 'color' should still be consistent no matter what shade it's in.
- Speaking of keeping with a theme, remember how each book used to be named after a supernatural-owned establishment that appeared in that book? That should have been kept. I really hate now how the titles generally have fuck all to do with the book. Seriously, why is Skin Trade called that? I've finished it and I still don't know. Flirt makes sense, but it's still stupid.
- The pacing in Skin Trade was painful. It just...plodded. It crawled. I have decided to never, ever inflict that on my readers (if I ever have any)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-12-18 03:46 pm (UTC)- Speaking of variety in villains, also have variety in personality. The baddies in AB are almost always these over-the-top cruel sadists who torture and rape for the sheer fun of it. That was shocking and edgy at first, yes, but it's unimaginative and exploitative at this point. I'm not saying all villains need to be nuanced and sympathetic and have good sides (though some should!) but when they're all super-ridiuclously-eeeevil and all in the exact same way, it shows a lack of creativity and will cease to interest the reader. Different personalities and modes of operation is just as important as different motives when it comes to having multiple villains who are all independent of each other.
- If there is going to be sex, fine. But it should not delay, interrupt, or take over the plot.
- The tone can be lightened or darkened, but it should remain the same color, so to speak. For instance, Buffy and Harry Potter both got progressively darker, but it was still the same general thing---good wizards versus bad, teens/young adults against monsters. AB's tone, however, has just changed completely. It's gone from hunting monsters to just basically being about Anita's personal life and her harem, with some occasional minor monster crisis on the side if we're lucky. It's not that the tone has just gotten less grim and dark, the entire point of the books has changed from action/horror to badly-done erotica and whining. If a series promises to be something for a reader, it should keep that promise, not steadily degrade into something else entirely. It shouldn't get stale or repetitive either, but, in my opinion, the 'color' should still be consistent no matter what shade it's in.
- Speaking of keeping with a theme, remember how each book used to be named after a supernatural-owned establishment that appeared in that book? That should have been kept. I really hate now how the titles generally have fuck all to do with the book. Seriously, why is Skin Trade called that? I've finished it and I still don't know. Flirt makes sense, but it's still stupid.
- The pacing in Skin Trade was painful. It just...plodded. It crawled. I have decided to never, ever inflict that on my readers (if I ever have any)