Author Habits That Annoy You

[Allyn Gibson]

One issue I ran into about once a year, thanks to Marvel launching and relaunching Avengers, was finding out how many times I could use the word "Avengers" (or "avenge" or "avenging") in a single sentence without it sounding completely stupid. Answer: about three. For example, something like:

"Following Ming the Merciless' defeat of the Cosmic Avengers on Krakadoom, Captain Proton must assemble an all-new spacefaring Avengers team and avenge their fallen comrades in Marvel's new Spaceforce Avengers series this May!"

Hopefully no English majors will ever scour my PREVIEWS work for overarching themes and motifs.

 

[FredH]

I don't know. You can't make it too easy for the future English major looking for overarching themes and motifs in your oeuvre by just using the same key phrases.

Paging Chris Claremont…

 

[FredH]

"Following Ming the Merciless' defeat of the Cosmic Avengers on Krakadoom, Captain Proton must assemble an all-new spacefaring Avengers team and avenge their fallen comrades in Marvel's new Spaceforce Avengers series this May!"

See, now I want to read this…

 

[I am not Herbert]

Hmmm. So, I generally agree with this, though I once binge-read a single-author series...good books, went by quickly...and because I read them rapidly certain idiosyncrasies became apparent that I might not have noticed if I'd read more slowly or interspersed other books. Once I noticed them, every recurrence of them became just a little amusing and/or irritating depending on my mood at the time.

I have found binge-reading any author's books to be a losing proposition, even if language or tropes aren't reused. Diminishing marginal returns. Space it out, keep things fresh.

 

[FredH]

I have found binge-reading any author's books to be a losing proposition, even if language or tropes aren't reused. Diminishing marginal returns. Space it out, keep things fresh.

I find it depends. Robert E. Howard Conan stories, yes, absolutely. Michael Moorcock stuff, I find it always makes me want to go find some more.