Guggenheim has apparently co-written an "Arrow" novel called "Fatal Legacies".
Now, Guggenheim has caught a lot of flak from some folks for his amateur script writing ("tumblr fan fics") on the "Arrow" show. However, if these excerpts from "Fatal Legacies" are legit (and not parodies, which they almost seem to be!), I'd say that this piece of embarrasingly flat prose is worse than anything we've seen on "Arrow". In a scripted show the action is conveyed through motion, dialogue and actors' interpretations, while in written prose it's all conveyed through the authors' words and style .....and IMHO there are fan fic writers on this very forum who could do a better/more professional job with this material (looking at you Amarice and JDBentz!):
This is almost "Fifty Shades of Grey"-level of bad and (unintentionally) comical writing! I know this isn't the kind of stuff that gets reviewed in the NYT, but there are many "low brow" genre writers out there whose characterization is much more subtle/less clunky than Sara's inner monologue about her relationship with Oliver or her ruminations about the electrifying Olicity "chemistry" and "Smoaking" Felicity....Seems like having other "Arrow" characters praise Felicity and turning them into Olicity shippers is a part of Guggenheim's writing habits.
And it's not really the subject matter that is the main problem, but the manner and style of writing. I found Moira's praise of Laurel equally clunky in some season one eps, e.g. when she told Laurel to her face that being with her made Oliver a better person (talking about their past), especially since the writers ALSO kept emphasizing what a douchebag he was pre-Island! A good novelist/screen writer finds more subtle ways of showing that a character has empathy, or is a good person (or that a romantic relationship is singularly blessed and flawless) than having people TALK about it in forced dialogues. They also try to maintain some continuity which actually make these statements ring true, rather than presenting situations where the supposedly empathetic character does not seem especially tuned in to other people's feelings, or create unnecessary drama which makes the relationship seem less than epic and written in the stars (and that goes IMHO for most of Oliver's more durable romances).
In general, Guggenheim's/Arrow writing is too much telling and too little showing/subtlety/subtext, and that is why it comes off as so (emotionally) flat sometimes.
Now, Guggenheim has caught a lot of flak from some folks for his amateur script writing ("tumblr fan fics") on the "Arrow" show. However, if these excerpts from "Fatal Legacies" are legit (and not parodies, which they almost seem to be!), I'd say that this piece of embarrasingly flat prose is worse than anything we've seen on "Arrow". In a scripted show the action is conveyed through motion, dialogue and actors' interpretations, while in written prose it's all conveyed through the authors' words and style .....and IMHO there are fan fic writers on this very forum who could do a better/more professional job with this material (looking at you Amarice and JDBentz!):
This is almost "Fifty Shades of Grey"-level of bad and (unintentionally) comical writing! I know this isn't the kind of stuff that gets reviewed in the NYT, but there are many "low brow" genre writers out there whose characterization is much more subtle/less clunky than Sara's inner monologue about her relationship with Oliver or her ruminations about the electrifying Olicity "chemistry" and "Smoaking" Felicity....Seems like having other "Arrow" characters praise Felicity and turning them into Olicity shippers is a part of Guggenheim's writing habits.
And it's not really the subject matter that is the main problem, but the manner and style of writing. I found Moira's praise of Laurel equally clunky in some season one eps, e.g. when she told Laurel to her face that being with her made Oliver a better person (talking about their past), especially since the writers ALSO kept emphasizing what a douchebag he was pre-Island! A good novelist/screen writer finds more subtle ways of showing that a character has empathy, or is a good person (or that a romantic relationship is singularly blessed and flawless) than having people TALK about it in forced dialogues. They also try to maintain some continuity which actually make these statements ring true, rather than presenting situations where the supposedly empathetic character does not seem especially tuned in to other people's feelings, or create unnecessary drama which makes the relationship seem less than epic and written in the stars (and that goes IMHO for most of Oliver's more durable romances).
In general, Guggenheim's/Arrow writing is too much telling and too little showing/subtlety/subtext, and that is why it comes off as so (emotionally) flat sometimes.
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