Today I learned that even a story from a genre I don’t particularly care for can survive the treadmill.
What I gleaned about the story: John Irish is a has-been porn star. Once the king of the industry, now even Ron Jeremy won’t return his calls. So it is with a last gasp of hope that he turns up for a mysterious job interview at a strange warehouse on the edge of LA. And the job they offer him is right out of this world.
Find this book on Amazon.
Analysis: It was a nice detail to have John meet up with “two nubile waitress-by-days,” but that’s not how you pluralize a compound word. Just as he may once have entertained a roomful of “sisters-in-law,” this current pair of bimbos should properly be “waitresses-by-day.” It’s a minor beef, and anywhere else in the book I’d probably have let it pass, or If it had come up in dialogue, but as I’ve said before, the first page is holy. It’s the place where the author is still on trial for basic competence. So on that page, I’m a hanging judge.
Note: I’m at the end of the opening scene and it has been, without a doubt, the seediest opening I’ve ever read to a science fiction story. While it’s very much not my cuppa tea, the writing so far has been fairly tight (pluralization issue notwithstanding) and I confess to a morbid fascination with where this space-porn might be heading.
Details: I’ve noticed that the scenes so far have been tightly focused. They don’t meander. The authors pick a single moment, hits his marks, and then it’s on to the next moment. A bit like film work, actually. And I mean that in a good way.
Details: There are a few humorous moments to balance the sleazy ones. It isn’t bust-a-gut funny, but there have been a few wry smiles, and even that much doesn’t happen often for me in IOD.
Note: Grumble. Six or seven paragraphs is a long time to maintain past perfect mode. Over that long a passage, it gets to be a bit of a burden, slowing down the read and making the voice feel more distant. As a general rule, only the first two or three sentences should use it, or the first paragraph, and then you should slip back into simple past until you get near the end of the flashback. It’s not a big problem, but I mention it because, in the absence of other problems, it’s one of the more conspicuous issues I’ve seen so far.
Note: Mars needs men? Seriously? I pondered whether or not to give this a WTF, because other than the male-female reversal, this is such a hackneyed old story cliché. But in the end, I decided that it was perfectly in keeping with the traditions of porn story-telling, so it’s part of the genre package. Hence I made a note here, but no WTF.
I can understand the grumble over maintaining past perfect for a long period of time. Transitioning into past simple seems an effective way to avoid this. I believe you have noted that the end of the ‘flashback’ must be clear, and this seems important. I’m wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing any tricks or tips as to how to make the end clear and obvious, as it would seem you would be going from past simple (flashback) to normal past simple.
Thanks for the help!
There are two ways to transition back to the normal time stream, Mike. Or at least, two that I’m aware of and that seem effective. The first is to switch back to past-perfect for the last few verbs before the transition out of the deeper past. I consider this one to be the trickier of the two, but I’ve seen it work. The risk is that if you’re not careful, it can come across simply as inconsistent tense. In my mind, the more effective solution is to reference the current time directly and/or restate the current context in the first sentence after reverting. For example: “Now, however, on the road to Gash Garnok with nothing but boots and a flail to his name, such victories seemed of little comfort.”
It also helps immensely if the flashback and the “present” context are of distinct situations. Too often I see a warrior in one battle having a flashback to some other battle. Without some really careful signalling, the reader can quite easily get lost between these two scenarios and hopelessly confused.
Yay! I’m always so happy to see someone make it to the 40 minute mark. The fact that it’s a space porn book makes me giggle.
Side note: You have me so paranoid about echoing headwords now that it’s hard to shut off my internal editor while I’m writing my first draft. Thanks a lot! haha!