Quote:
Originally Posted by SPoD  Oh thank GOD. I thought I was the only one who read this book and thought it was dull. I felt the author missed the boat on trying to parody a clichéd plot and just delivered a clichéd plot, sprinkled with fairly obvious RPG stereotypes. |
Well I'm sorry to hear you didn't like it. I'm pretty happy with the response I've got back from Game Night, in terms of feedback, reviews, and - of course - the ENnie nomination. But I'm not so naive as to belief that I could write a book that everyone could like.
I know from my own, personal experience that there are books I rave about that other people are distinctly "meh!" about, and books that I'm distinctly "meh!" about, that other people rave about. And if you want a guilty confession, I've never been able to get into the Lord of the Rings. Given the number of people that love it, and the degree to which they love it, it's clearly a
brilliant book. But I guess it's not my kind of brilliant. (I'm not going to be so arrogant as try to claim that Game Night wasn't "your kind of brilliant" either, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I accept that I can't write something that everyone will like, and whatever you write some people are going to like it and some people won't).
The only thing I would perhaps say, in reponse to your post and the post you were quoting, is that I wasn't trying to create characters who were RPG
stereotypes; I was instead trying to create characters who were RPG
archetypes, representing patterns of behaviour I've seen at the gaming table. (And behaviour that I've done myself at the gaming table). I've had a lot of fun over the years playing some fairly dysfunctional games (with frequent breaks for laughter) and I wanted to try and capture a slice of a typical roleplaying game, the good, and the bad. There would be no point writing a novel about a good roleplaying game, because you'd have no conflict, and it's conflict that drives a story.
Anyway, having said that, I am sorry you didn't like Game Night, and hope that perhaps you'll live the new novel that I'm currently working on.
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