Holly Lisle vs. RTD

[rabid1st]

Holly Lisle has an ax to grind against what she terms GLS, Genuis-Level Suckitude. She points out that many Pulitzer Prize winning works actually suck. And she's right about that, in my less than humble opinion. But her rules for Suckitude have a particularly telling rule for most of the SciFi "genius" writers out there. She has a rule against hope and one against coherence. There is even a rule against plot. But I immediately think of Rose and Donna and for that matter the Tenth Doctor when I read this rule...

XII. Thou shalt equate self-determination with heresy.

Self-determination is hope on steroids. Self-determination states that things could be better than they are, and believes the individual can do something to make them get better. In permitting your characters to express self-determination, you would be suggesting that your characters -- those malcontent bastards -- might in some way wish to see their worlds improve, or might even take a hand in improving them, or might have confidence in their own competence or the functioning of their own minds.

Read the rest of the rules or more stuff by Holly Lisle at her site...

http://hollylisle.com/index.php/Workshops/how-to-write-suckitudinous-fiction.html

Comments

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that RTD was frequently happy to sacrifice character on the altar of Rule XII. Example - Jack Harkness was the most proactive character imaginable until the end of POTW, when he meekly allowed himself to be left behind and entered a new phase of his existence as the Doctor's bitch.

And how much more powerful it would have been if it had been Martha's own idea to walk the earth and build up people's hope to defeat the Master. Instead, she endured all that hardship to carry out the Doctor's orders, only for him to beg the bastard not to die on him.

No wonder she left after that.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is true. And, needless to say, I agree with Holly that it is a sign of bad writing when your characters must act as Muppets.

I did LOL at the Comic Relief skit Moff did though when he admitted that Amy was a bit of a Muppet. It gave me some hope for the next season. However, I must say the time play aspect of the skit didn't do much to reassure me that Moff is going to stop playing his "I'm so clever" card at the expense of the show. There are only so many times viewers will put up with the time/space slight of hand as his answer to everything. He's used it several times now...and I would bet you he will be using it again to "explain" River.

Rae