by James Sanghyun Han (Tay Trefenwyd)

written some time in 1999 (I think... -_-) © (steal this and DIE ;P)

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(In this rant, I'm replying to what someone said on a message board. He was complaining and saying that people who didn't like the same authors he did were only reading fantasy "for instant gratification instead of true storytelling." Naturally, I felt the urge to reply back to this, so here's my rant. The complainant's words are in italics, while mine are plain.)

>That's the thing, Ryath they aren't slow-paced. The thing you have to understand about Tad is that his fantasy, as well as his new sci-fi series, is very REAL. By that, I mean his characters actually have a progression. Of course Simon is going to start off being a dork. Of course Miriamele is going to start off like a spoiled brat. If you could only FINISH the book you would understand what your friend and I are talking about.

Hum, I think you should put better faith in a reader's opinion instead of just thinking that the only reason their opinion differs with yours is because they haven't read as much of your beloved book as you have. :) You're saying exactly the kind of thing people told me when I complained about how bad the first two books of the Belgariad were; they would say things like: "If you only READ the next three books and FINISH the series you would understand why it's so good" or things like: "Of course it's slow-paced, but that makes it more realistic cause the characters grow on you, don't they?" Frankly, contrary to what I was told by others, my opinion of Eddings didn't change much no matter how much I read, though he did get a *little* better.

I agree that sometimes people make snap judgments without reading enough, but on the other hand you can't just assume that their opinion differs from yours just because you feel that no person in their right mind would hate a book you like if they only finished it.

>People who enjoy fantasy for instant gratification instead of true storytelling should re-evaluate why they like fantasy.

Well, I hope you're not trying to imply that people who think that certain books are slow-paced are just looking for instant gratification. That's what one guy I know said to me when I complained about Eddings, and he couldn't be further from the truth. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting around on my butt waiting months for Anne McCaffrey's next books to come out. :p

Also, how can you say that what you call "instant gratification" isn't what you call true storytelling? Even if it isn't, why should people have to "re-evaluate" their love of sci-fi/fantasy? Those comments are why I bothered to reply to your post at all - see, elitism is never pretty, especially among dedicated sci-fi/fantasy readers, who are too few and far between (at least compared with readers of other genres) for you or me or anyone to be defining what is "true storytelling" and what isn't, or to say that people who think certain books are slow-paced just want "instant gratification" and should find a better reason for reading sci-fi/fantasy. If you have your own tastes, then fine, but don't put down the tastes of others as shallow, or uneducated (though this may be the case in many instances), or not "true."

Plus, I think it says a lot about an author if one has to finish the entire book before one can like his work. *g* I mean, with the first Anne McCaffrey book I read, I loved the story by the time I had finished the first two pages; and no, this wasn't because the first two pages were action-packed and filled with instant gratification. :p In fact, they were rather boring, and since I read the books out of sequence, I was also confused as heck. But the author was good enough to suck me in and make me like what she was saying right then. This doesn't mean that I'll hate a book if I don't like the first two pages, and it certainly doesn't mean that I'm only out for a quick fix or whatever when I read sci-fi/fantasy or anything else.

- Tay/James