[ SECRET POST #5358 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5358 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 31 secrets from Secret Submission Post #767.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

05. https://i.imgur.com/iynD7bT.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

good question, they don't even have the excuse of interesting worldbuilding

but the better news is that it's perfectly fine to enjoy trash, even if you feel like you shouldn't. i've watched movies and read books that i've actively disliked multiple times just because i somehow enjoyed some aspects of them a lot

[(Anonymous)]

The books have great action sequences, they're often pretty funny, and the magic is really cool.

But tbh I stopped reading them a while ago because I wasn't interested in the bigger apocalypse plot and I wasn't emotionally attached enough to most of the characters to stay despite that.

[sabotabby]

I hate-read the first one and had no desire to read any further or be in Harry Dresden's head a second longer than was required, but I like all kinds of other things that are flaming garbage so you do you, anon. Nothing wrong with enjoying the things you enjoy.

[(Anonymous)]

Bravo to you. I managed maybe 4 chapters.

[sabotabby]

I am very stubborn and pretty much never nope out of books once I've started. Plus people liked them and I wanted to see what the fuss was about.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, the general recommendation is to start with a later book. I think it's usually book 3?

I happened to start with book 6 because that was the only available book and I was looking for new urban fantasy to try.

[kittydesade]

The author just flat out was not the writer he was by book ... I'd say book 4. Now, whether he was a better writer later in the series or just a different kind of bad is a matter of opinion.

[feotakahari]

Snarky dialogue?

[(Anonymous)]

I’m not OP, but I share basically their entire list of things that make them hit the back-button.

And for me, snarky dialogue is one of them. At least when it’s snark without substance or wit. And Harry’s snark feels a lot less funny and clever than he seems to think.

Which could be funny if he was portrayed as someone trying to seem cool and witty, and failing. But the narrative really wants you to think he’s succeeding.

Whether the snark works is a matter of personal taste, of course. Just chiming into say that snarky dialogue isn’t a selling point on it’s own.

[(Anonymous)]

Did you start reading them before all that stuff started to annoy you?

[(Anonymous)]

As someone who read up to the Hades vault plot and then matured a lot in the years waiting for the next one, do you have tips on how to get back into it?

Because I saw a loooot of the weird sexist stuff when I tried to dive into the new book duo and was not drawn back in at all. Like, "men writing women" levels of sexist. And I went from the "oh, but it's just the character who's sexist" to the "yeah but the author has to decide to put it in or write them that way and if it's unintentional it's how they think of people who aren't men" mindset between the books.

[(Anonymous)]

So why would you want to get back into it?

AYRT

[(Anonymous)]

Because I liked the world and quite a few of the characters

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like the Dresden Files has a lot of concepts I like and I love geek humor. But the actual execution of the books was a big let down.

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

The female cop? Mouse the huge dog? Bob the skull?

I dunno. I gave up at Skin Game I think or my reread for Skin Game. I have no interest in picking up Peace Talks. In those six years I could start putting what I didn't like about Dresden into words. I wasn't reading for Harry. I'll tell you that. Then Butcher managed to ruin both Karrin and Butters imo and I was like "yeah, no." And Molly is just yikes. And most of the other published UF stuff isn't any better. (side steps away from Patty Briggs with wide eyes.)

At least Butcher supposedly has an outline. (Glowers at GRRM.)

I wrote my Heathens Books as kind of a response to Dresden and Mercedes Thompson books, so there is that? I mean they're only urban fantasy, if post apoc science fantasy set in a city is your thing, and you like werewolves. It's also 3rd Omni. But I missed the UF boat by the time I queried so indie pubbing it was for me and man that is not something I'd recommend even if you're just going "I want an audience" route. -shrug-

"Trash" can be fun and enjoyable, and it can also stink. Sometimes at the same time. Love what you love. I'm not even pretending my books are high art here either. I mean werewolf found family bikers with drama is not exactly a high lit concept. It is what it is.

[scribblesatwork]

...may I ask for a link? Because I noped out of the DF because the hero never learned to be less sexist, and I noped out of Mercy Thompson after the Rape As Drama book (so I think like...book 3).

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

Sure!

https://ginny0.wordpress.com/books/

So, I've got like 8 chapters left to post of the Lone Prospect and you can read the entire first book FREE. If you prefer Royal Road, it's there too. (I'm going to take it down from Wattpad and delete my account as WaP is worthless.)

So, cool fact, Gideon is loosely based on Benton Fraser from Due South, both in looks and personality. Which was entirely unconscious on my part. I hope it makes him a better male lead. o_O

[scribblesatwork]

Awesome, thank you! *bookmarks*

[kamino_neko]

The only stuff here that inherently bugs me is #5 and #6 and that's enough to turn me off the Dresden books, in itself. (I also hate the 'magic inherently interferes with technology' bullcrap. It's OK in a game, if it's used as a balancing issue, but purely as a worldbuilding element, I loathe it.)

I...like urban fantasy in theory, but have a hard time finding stuff that doesn't have all the stuff that bugs me about Dresden, since it so often borrows hard boiled and noir tropes, which have that shit in spades. (Other than, you know, the magic parts.)

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

I agree.

TL;DR version: before giving up and writing my own, like, I went through over 8 UF series and I had to chuck all of them b/c they were basically written to the exact same formula with different character/profession problems and a heaping tablespoon of sexism. And I get a huge part of UF can be wish fulfillment especially for female authors, (since male wish fulfillment is like every genre they write) I would rather read paranormal romance b/c it's at least more honest about the sexism.

And it feels in a way, the magic and electricity not working together well is never used as a real conflict or hardship in DF. It's just one of those "oh, it makes my life a slightly harder but doesn't really matter in the long run." Like, as an author, I know that if I set something up world building wise that has consequences, I'm eventually going to have to show those consequences. (which if you're conflict adverse can be really hard to write.) And Butcher hasn't yet. I ran out of patience. Make something electric blow up spectacularly already. But then he keeps trying to increase the conflict level too and it's getting exhausting.

[(Anonymous)]

I’ve always felt like I’m missing out on something by not loving DF. I listened to a couple on audiobooks (and frankly thought James Marsters did a terrible job) and read at least one more but I can’t remember much about them. I really just remember thinking it was pretty shallow and sexist and that everyone who raved about it just doesn’t read very much so Harry’s world was new and exciting to them.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I can't think of anything I found in this series that I haven't found in some form elsewhere, better written, with far less sexism.

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't start with the first book, but I don't remember which one I did start with, only that I enjoyed it enough to go back and read from the beginning and then buy the next few as they came out. I'd stopped enjoying them as much by Skin Game, which is the last one I bought, and I doubt I'll finish the series.

The sexism just got to the point where I felt like I needed to scrub my brain with soap after reading, and the *moar guns* didn't help.