Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="scipio" data-source="post: 3368163" data-attributes="member: 16382">Though it's a rough draft, Dolorosa's entry has the most striking characters.  From the start, they don't have that cardboard cut-out feel shared by a lot of fantasy out there.  Of the entries, it has the most promise.  I'll take sarcastic wit and a bit of swashbuckling over stoic caricatures any day.Schoonover has a fresh-feeling story, but not one I want to follow further.The others leave me with a feeling of familiarity - it's all been done and braised, recycled as sandwich meat, and finally reduced to hashed.  We've seen it all before - the overcrowded and racially/ethnically diverse party, all of whom happen to get along fine, the labored dialogue and exposition.Just to play devil's advocate, is this really a good way to choose a person to write a novel based on a product you're still trying to market?  This could easily degenerate into a popularity contest in which talent becomes secondary.  These are short entries as well, and unlikely to show if your writer has narrative staying power for 50,000 words.  I read a hackneyed metaphor like bronzed effigy in the first sentence and I get doubts as to that.  It feels like you're rolling the dice with something that represents a lot of work on the developer's part.  Just my unsolicited 2 pence.</blockquote>