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Mar. 4th, 2009 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elucrehSo I just finished reading a YA historical romance novel called The Season, by Sarah MacLean--it's the author's first book, so I am trying to be forgiving.
Actually, most of it is quite on par with the more mediocre of Heyer's novels--the plot is reasonably intriguing, I quite like the characters, and it joggles along amusingly, on the whole. It absolutely is up to the quality of, say, Friday's Child.
However, she does fall into the classic debut novelist's mistake of EXPLAINING EVERYTHING. Usually at least twice. Show, not tell, darling, no really, it's better! I get that she's falling in love, I do not need her to sit and soliloquize on the nature of her feelings for more than half a page!
Also, I'm sorry, but your book is set in 1815. When people used the word "fans" in 1815, they were referring to devices for moving air, not to people who greatly admire you. Really. I PROMISE. And, I mean, I would have to check? But I'm like eighty percent certain that debs in 1815 were only allowed to wear pale colors to show how they were maidenly and shy and did not wish to draw attention to themselves. They did not wear emerald green.
If you are going to write a historical novel, either do some in-depth research yourself or, at the very least, have it history-picked by someone who knows what they're talking about. I mean, I was sorely tempted, but I didn't use the phrase "idk" in my academic paper this morning; it's all a matter of context.
Actually, most of it is quite on par with the more mediocre of Heyer's novels--the plot is reasonably intriguing, I quite like the characters, and it joggles along amusingly, on the whole. It absolutely is up to the quality of, say, Friday's Child.
However, she does fall into the classic debut novelist's mistake of EXPLAINING EVERYTHING. Usually at least twice. Show, not tell, darling, no really, it's better! I get that she's falling in love, I do not need her to sit and soliloquize on the nature of her feelings for more than half a page!
Also, I'm sorry, but your book is set in 1815. When people used the word "fans" in 1815, they were referring to devices for moving air, not to people who greatly admire you. Really. I PROMISE. And, I mean, I would have to check? But I'm like eighty percent certain that debs in 1815 were only allowed to wear pale colors to show how they were maidenly and shy and did not wish to draw attention to themselves. They did not wear emerald green.
If you are going to write a historical novel, either do some in-depth research yourself or, at the very least, have it history-picked by someone who knows what they're talking about. I mean, I was sorely tempted, but I didn't use the phrase "idk" in my academic paper this morning; it's all a matter of context.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-05 12:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-05 01:18 am (UTC)