Gilligan's Island Syndrome and authors

[Darth K'Trava]

It occurs to me that even the worst formula abusers seem to be...popular. I guess the stereotype is the Harlequin romance. How many different ways can you tell the same story? Many, many people seem predisposed to familiar patterns in their reading.

Or any other romantic fiction. Man and woman meet under dubious circumstances, has someone they know who hate their guts and want to kill one or the other, get thrown together, have mad sex, get thrown apart due to the "bad guy or girl who hates their guts" does something to make the man jealous at the woman (or vice versa), and then after defeating said "bad person", find out they're totally compatable with one another, more mad sex and then live happily ever after.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Louis L'amour is staggeringly formulaic, but immense fun to read. So's Bernard Cornwell.

 

[wingsandsword]

Not an author, but another TV series makes me think of this.

Star Trek: Voyager was very much into the "Gilligan's Island" syndrome. Both shows were based on the idea of being stranded away from civilization, trying to get home, but always being thwarted since success means the end of the show.

A formulaic Voyager Episode was as follows:
1. Voyager is entering yet another area of space it knows nothing about, and finds a remarkable new technology/time-space anomaly which can send them home.
2. Everybody gets their hopes up about being able to go home.
3. Some big catch appears to prevent them from going home. (either the way home isn't real, or the Prime Directive or their Federation morality prevents them from taking it)
4. Voyager continues on to the next sector.

With several of the following stock elements added in to pad out the episode:
1. The Doctor/7 of 9 learns a valuable lesson about humanity (on rare occasion, this can be B'lanna or Neelix instead, very rarely even Tuvok).
2. A crewmember (most likely Harry Kim) is killed or apparently killed by some horrible force, and ressurected or rescued in the end.
3. Paris's hot-shot flying (or more rarely, B'lanna's engineering) both impresses and endangers everybody.
4. A technological Deus Ex Machina is provided at the last moment, which will never be seen again.

The last episode of Voyager even made fun of this pattern, with future-Admiral Janeway coming back to tell present-Voyager to take this way home, since it's the last (of many) opportunities to go home they'll have. It seemed to be a "wink & nudge" at the "we have a way home, but we can't use it because of our moral superiority" formulaic plot of Voyager episodes to say "Take the dang way home, forget your high and mighty Federation morality just this once!".

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Wingsandsword: Haven't you figured out yet that Voyager *is* just a huge RIPOFF of "Gilligan's Island", just more poorly written with less humor and slapstick. It's a pale "imitation" of the original.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Louis L'amour is staggeringly formulaic, but immense fun to read. So's Bernard Cornwell.

I recall reading a year or two back something where Bernard Cornwell not only admitted it, but basically laid out his formula. It might have been in the author's notes of one of his books.

David Eddings is horribly formulaic, at least when I was reading his books -- I gave up a decade or so ago.

 

[jester47]

Lamour is formulaic but he hides it really well.

 

[Staffan]

David Eddings is horribly formulaic, at least when I was reading his books -- I gave up a decade or so ago.

He even admits as much in one of the books in the Malloreon. There's a conversation between Garion and Belgarath that goes something like this:
"Belgarath, doesn't this seem an awful lot like what happened a couple of years ago?"
"Yes, it does. It's because the two competing prophecies like to keep things more or less the same each time."

 

[MaxKaladin]

He even admits as much in one of the books in the Malloreon. There's a conversation between Garion and Belgarath that goes something like this:
"Belgarath, doesn't this seem an awful lot like what happened a couple of years ago?"
"Yes, it does. It's because the two competing prophecies like to keep things more or less the same each time."

I didn't remember that being there. In any case, it crosses series as well because the ones he set in that other world where most of the characters were knights were just as formulaic as the Garion/Belgarath world books were.

 

[Lousifer]

Terry Goodkind's books started to do something similar.

Started? Dude, they've been the same story every time... I used to love the Sword of Truth books. Each book introduces a new Wizards' rule, keeping with the theme of the first book (this is a good "repetition," IMO). However, the rest... Every book, Richard gets captured, neutralized, and/or separated from the wisdom/advice of his grandfather, and turns the enemies' hearts around by the power of his example. He learns some new skill. Every book, Kahlan is in horrible danger.

I don't mind having similar setup for the plot, but every book has the same plot and the same resolution. I loved these books until I read the same book for the 4th time in a row...

Of course, then there's Robert "Living Example of Why Writers Need Editors" Jordan. Guh. His work turned from good fantasy to total literary diarrhea.
Evocative descriptions: Good.
Varying main characters: Good.
Adding 140 or so other "main" characters: Bad.
100+ page PROLOGUES?!?: Worse.
50% of one book devoted entirely to everyone's reactions to the end of the previous book: OMFG, let me throw it out the window

Sorry, just thinking about the time I wasted reading/discussing his books, hoping they'd get better... blah.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Of course, then there's Robert "Living Example of Why Writers Need Editors" Jordan. Guh. His work turned from good fantasy to total literary diarrhea.

He does have an editor - his wife. He's more an example of why writers need editors that aren't related to them.