Month: March 2010

What I’ve watched: NieA_7

I really wanted to like NieA_7.  I really did.  When the Physicist and I first started it, it seemed like it was going to be a lighthearted romp.  The characters were quirky and interesting and the series’ premise of aliens living peacefully among humans seemed like it could be really cool.

Alas, our enthusiasm was short lived.  The characters in NieA_7 manage to be even flatter than those in Wolf’s Rain.  Niea, the titular character, is amusing to watch, but her antics never progress beyond pratfalls.  Her roommate Mayuko spends the entire series moping and sulking like she’s the Queen of Emoland.  The other characters occasionally have funny lines, but, for the most part, they just exist.

Given how flat the characters are, it should come as little surprise that the plot leaves a lot to be desired.  Not much actually happens beyond Niea hamming it up and Mayuko sulking.  Subplots are hinted at: the bathhouse where Mayuko lives is facing financial difficulties and Niea has a difficult relationship with the other earthbound aliens.  But neither of these subplots end up going anywhere and few things about the series’ underlying mythology are ever explained.  For example, towards the end of the series, the wreck of the mothership that brought the aliens to earth disintegrates into a multitude of shining lights.  It’s hinted that this is a Big Deal, but we’re never told what the hell happened.

Also frustrating was the awkward attempt at drama.  After about seven episodes of lighthearted comedy, NieA_7 tries its hand at drama and fails miserably.  Drama only works if you have a compelling plot and interesting characters.

Pros

Funny.

It’s short.

Cons

Flat characters.

Forgettable plot.

Deliberate obscurity.

FINAL GRADE: C.

Shifting gears

Last spring, I took a break from my WIP and wrote a short story involving the novel’s antagonist.  I submitted the story to my writers’ group and, while it received generally favorable comments, one member made a particularly trenchant criticism: he said that my writing was too academic.

What he meant was that I had unknowingly structured my story much like a paper.  I started out with a ‘thesis’ and the rest of the story consisted of the ‘proofs.’  Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for suspense and, consequently, the story kind of plodded along.

That incident taught me that I’d have to unlearn (or at least ignore) a lot of the writing skills I’d picked up in grad school.  In academia, you’re supposed to make your point as clearly and concisely as possible with a minimum of obfuscation (though I’ve read many articles where that wasn’t the case!).  But in fiction writing, you must delight in deception in order to build a sense of suspense in the reader.  Instead of giving them a road map, you’re often giving them vague or even misleading directions.

As I work through the revisions of my WIP, I’m on the lookout for any instances of ‘academic’ writing.  Thankfully, I haven’t found any yet, so perhaps I learned my lesson.