I'm about 200 pages in and I've found the first thing that really annoys me: - Edit 1
Before modification by Rebekah at 02/06/2010 11:16:09 PM
It's completely inconsequential, but Simmons styles Drood's father as Lord Lucan, a Radical MP who was horribly murdered.
Dude.
You don't name fictional characters who surround real people with names that are already in existence. There was a Lord Lucan in the 1800s, and he most certainly wasn't murdered. Sure, it's a name that sounds good, and there is, of course, the connection with the real Lord Lucan who disappeared in the 1970s (and was the 8th Lord Lucan), but seriously. Choose a different name.
When I explained this to Tim, he was more concerned that a Lord could be an MP. Apparently impossible.
As for Wilkie Collins: he was a fairly unsavoury chap, really. I suspect it's not libel when things are true. For all that, though, I do get the feeling that Simmons prefers Collins' works to Dickens. I can explain that to you better in person than in words.
I agree that it is completely over the top, and almost definitely over long. I'm just 200 odd pages in and I already wish it was finished.
Dude.
You don't name fictional characters who surround real people with names that are already in existence. There was a Lord Lucan in the 1800s, and he most certainly wasn't murdered. Sure, it's a name that sounds good, and there is, of course, the connection with the real Lord Lucan who disappeared in the 1970s (and was the 8th Lord Lucan), but seriously. Choose a different name.
When I explained this to Tim, he was more concerned that a Lord could be an MP. Apparently impossible.
As for Wilkie Collins: he was a fairly unsavoury chap, really. I suspect it's not libel when things are true. For all that, though, I do get the feeling that Simmons prefers Collins' works to Dickens. I can explain that to you better in person than in words.
I agree that it is completely over the top, and almost definitely over long. I'm just 200 odd pages in and I already wish it was finished.