fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2030 ]

[ SECRET POST #2030 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2030 ⌋

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

01.

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02.

[Nana to Kaoru, Oyasumi Punpun, Onani Master Kurosawa]

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03.

[Terry Pratchett]

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04.

[The Hollow Crown: Henry IV]

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05.

[Tori Amos]

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06.

[Dragon Age: Origins]

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07.

[Rihanna, S&M]

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08.

[LotR RPF]

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09.

[On the Road]

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10.

[SM Entertainment - Super Junior, SHINee and EXO]

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11.

[Sherlock]

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12.

[Planescape Torment]

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13.

[The Devil in the White City]

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14.

[CATverse]

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15.

[Fate/stay night]

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16.

[Rammstein]

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17.

[Mass Effect]

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18.

[Metalocalypse]

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19.

[Arashi, V6]

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20.

[Legend of Korra]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 063 secrets from Secret Submission Post #290.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ], [ 1 - personal attack ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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03. http://i.imgur.com/ufC6R.png
[Terry Pratchett]

Could be the Alzheimer's but I also wouldn't be surprised if there's some ghost-writing going on (or will be at some point). It's sad, but you're not obligated to like everything. But I still think it's sweet that you're supporting him anyway.

If you really feel his work's getting unreadable but want to support him, I bet he'd appreciate donations to a charity in his name. Tax-deductible, too...

Part of it might be because he's dictating to someone most of the time now instead of 'writing' it himself. Though the awkwardness of the writing seemed to settle out into his normal style by the end of the last Night Watch book, so it might just have been a matter of him and whoever's typing for him getting into the rhythm of things.

I feel the same. I wish he'd just stop rather than produce works of increasingly bad quality. Snuff was, in my opinion, really bad and if it hadn't had his name on the cover then it would have got slated.

Very sad. He's a wonderful writer and from what I've seen with his documentaries and charity work and things, a wise and compassionate man.

I wonder if in the future Discworld will keep going but with other writers.

Really?

I think they're actually getting better...

Each to their own, I guess.

I think the quality of his books had been going downhill for a while. His last really good book was Going Postal -- and that came out 8 years ago. He was only diagnosed with Alzheimer's 5 years ago.

To be fair, Alzheimer's is often diagnosed after the patient has suffered from it for a while and only after the symptoms are getting hard to ignore.

Yeah, same. Still buy the books and everything. Partly because I keep hoping *this* one will be really good again, partly because I'm the type of person who thinks 'any Discworld is better than no Discworld', but mostly because my grandfather died of Alzheimer* and I would've done anything to make him feel like his work still mattered for as long as possible. I know many would rather he quit while he's ahead (or 'he can still write, he just shouldn't publish it') but I want him to keep writing and publishing for as long as he feels the desire to. And I'll keep buying.

* Yes, I also donate to Alzheimer charities, the two are not mutually exclusive

Wasn't saying you can't buy the books and support a charity-- I was assuming, based on the secret, that the OP may not have considered charitable donations.

Oh, I agree on the still buying books, still hoping they'll get better, and yes, any Discworld is better than no Discworld.

I have a suspicion that my father is sliding into an Alzheimers-like fugue ...

I've been feeling the same way. I don't know if it's the dictating that is making the books suffer or if there is ghostwriting involved, but in Snuff some parts just seemed rather "off" (not the same style as Pratchett's other writing).

And let's face it, the whole Discworld universe has gotten so popular and expanded so much that getting new books out constantly to meet the demand seems to dilute them somewhat. Even with co-writers on board the ideas may run out at some point.

I doubt that getting books out to meet demand is the problem as he was writing two books a year most years from the late 80s onwards. See this list of publication dates on wikipedia. I don't even think it's necessary to dig up a specific reasons - a lot of series/writers lose their edge as they go on (hiii GRRM), and Discworld had an incredibly long run of pure awesome compared to almost anything else out there.

Can you say why you think they're worse? I am pretty damn fussy and while I love Pterry it's no point of personal pride to me to insist that Alzheimer's wouldn't affect a person's writing ability. If I thought the quality was dropping I think I would notice and feel disappointed about it. But I honestly thought Snuff and Unseen Academicals were great. Haven't read Nation but it's been recced to me multiple times.

What are your fave Discworld books? Maybe you're one of those who thought the first few were the best and it's all been downhill from there..?

Not OP

I haven't finished Snuff yet and I enjoyed Unseen Academicals fine. My favourites of the series have been the Guards trilogy, Night Watch (but that might be because I'm a sucker for Les Mis), Thud! and The Truth.
From what I have read of Snuff, and I'm not that far through, the writing style seems pretty different, the humour not as subtle as other books and the scenes choppy and abrupt. It's almost as if the book is trying to rub the jokes in my face like LOOK THIS IS FUNNY whereas other titles just made me laugh seemingly without trying.

TBH I'm finding it hard to get through Snuff. I keep having to put it down.

TL;DR: Vimes/Vetinari narrative requires a degree of subtlety to work and anon thinks that Snuff has lost that and is too heavy-handed for a Pratchett book.

Seconding the above anon. I honestly thought Vetinari went off into Author Tract territory in Snuff and near the end of Unseen Academicals. Vimes sounded a lot more talkative and borderline preachy in Snuff, and I thought [SPOILER ALERT] his reliance on the Summoning Dark to figure out what was going on was really OOC.

I enjoyed Nation,, though, and I'll probably read The Long Earth at some point...

For the record, my favorite Discworld books are Night Watch and Going Postal, so I actually think his middle-to-later books are the best.

I haven't read anything recent of his so I don't know if this applies yet, but...

(Anonymous) - 2012-07-25 01:43 (UTC) - Expand

Re: I haven't read anything recent of his so I don't know if this applies yet, but...

(Anonymous) - 2012-07-25 04:11 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2012-07-25 03:23 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2012-07-25 04:12 (UTC) - Expand

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cbrachyrhynchos - 2012-07-25 04:15 (UTC) - Expand

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yeahscience - 2012-07-25 08:50 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2012-07-25 15:06 (UTC) - Expand

I agree with you, OP.
(Although, Going Postal is now my favourite Discworld book, and that's more recent... though I can't say the same for the ones that came after it.)

Ugh, it makes me so sad. That must be the absolute worst thing that could happen to a writer- to lose your ability to put stories together.

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(Anonymous) - 2012-07-25 06:57 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2012-07-25 19:29 (UTC) - Expand

Total spoiler alert for the Wintersmith--

The way Miss Treason died was so Author's-Id-is-Showing that I legitimately cried during that scene. Because I've been reading his books since I was eleven, and holy crap, that just punched me in the stomach with the loss.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with OP at least a little. Unseen Academicals was really, really hard to read. I only got about two chapters in before I gave up.

I hate that someone with such an incredible mind can get such a terrible disease. :(

I am so bad at telling people apart. u_u I thought he was Thomas Harris at first until I scrolled down further and saw that it was Terry Pratchett.

I agree that Snuff seemed a bit off to me (though I was the only one of my friends to think so, I recall), but the rest of his recent books I enjoyed just as much as his other ones.

One of the anons in this thread mentioned there might have been too much happy!Vimes in Snuff, which would skew the character a little - and yes, I certainly see how that's a possibility. But it might also be that Snuff was a spoof of Regency-period/Jane Austen type books, which would certainly give it a lighter tone than, say, Nightwatch.

I just finished reading Snuff yesterday, and while I liked it, I agree that it wasn't as good as the previous instalments (and usually Vimes/Watch books never let me down). It did feel a little bit ghost written. I think what was missing was the combination of Vimes and Ankh Morpork, as the relationship between the character and the city has always been very complex. I also missed most of the other Watch characters even though most had very small cameos; it wasn't enough. Also Vimes was a lot more sentimental and happier which kind of makes him less interesting, but at the same time it does make sense as he is a) getting older b) now has a child, which I guess would make anyone a little softer.

I hope there will be at least one more proper Watch book before Terry has to give up writing altogether, which will tie up Vimes's story properly and see Carrot/Angua get married!! Their relationship is the only Discworld romance I'm invested in. I would also love another Susan/Death book but I feel as though that would be asking too much.

Argh, I feel so awful for him. It's incredibly sad and unfair that such a great mind has to undergo such a disintegration. I will also always continue to support him, however, he has given me so many years and books of great work and stories.

It really crushes me to agree with you, because the man is one of my personal heroes (and Discworld is far and away my favorite book series ever; one of my other RP journals is for Angua von Uberwald and everything)... but I do agree. The last really good book he wrote was Nation. Since then, it's been getting more uneven. Unseen Academicals was just sort of weird and disjointed, and I honestly hated Snuff more than I've hated a Discworld book since Eric.

I'm still going to buy them, though. I'm probably never not going to buy a Discworld book.

surprisingly, this secret really pissed off my friend. i r amused

Huh. I haven't read Snuff yet, but Unseen Academicals is one of my favourite books in the series; possibly it's just personal taste?

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