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transemacabreThis is a self-indulgent post in which I will bitch and complain about stuff in Sharon Kay Penman's historical fiction that I don't like.
Sharon Kay Penman writes primarily about the Plantagenet dynasty of medieval England, and she is often hailed as Our Lord and Savior of historical fiction. This despite the fact that her writing is very stitled and "samey". By "samey", I mean the tendency some writers have that all their characters kind of talk alike and have the same tics and stock expressions. You know those Migratory Slash Fandom writers who flit from fandom to fandom, fitting the new hot slash pairing of the week into their favorite tropes like a square peg into a round hole, so that their Arthur/Eames is indistinguishable from Stiles/Derek and Stiles/Derek is indistinguishable from their Bond/Q? Well, Penman does something like that, except she gets paid for it. I like to say that she can only write about four characters, and they are Overly Noble Knight, Spitfire Heroine, Bad Boy, and Good Wife. For instance, King John, Prince Davydd, William de Braose, and Geoffrey of Anjou are all Bad Boys. Ranulf's wife, Joan of Wales, Matilda of Boulogne, and Marguerite of France are all Good Wives. And so on.
Penman also is the master of the "As You Know, Bob..." moment, when one character turns into a dumbass so another character can patiently explain something to him that she should by all rights now already. This is also called infodumping, and it needs to be killed with fire.
Example, from Here Be Dragons:
"I'm not going back," Llywelyn said, at once capturing their undivided attention.
"You both know the history of my House, know how my uncles Davydd and Rhodri cheated my father and my other uncles out of their rightful share of my grandfather's inheritance. They carved Gwynedd up between them as if it were a meat pie, forced my father, Owain Fawr's firstborn, into exile, brought about his death whilst I was still in my cradle. His blood is on their hands and they've yet to answer for it. I think it time they did."
He is telling this to his BEST FRIENDS Rhys and Ednyved. Why the fuck do they need to be told this? They grew up with Llywelyn. It's not like they're gonna say 'Holy shit man, what do you mean you're a prince and your uncles are nogoodniks who deserve to die? I had no idea. Tell me more.' Llywelyn's only known them since they were small enough to be bathed together.
Here's another one, from When Christ and His Saints Slept:
"I'll tell you what I know," Stephen said reluctantly. "Your father and others were hunting in the New Forest with his brother the king. William Rufus was shot by mischance -- took an arrow in the chest -- and died there in the woods. He had no sons, which meant his crown would be claimed by one of his brothers. Robert was the firstborn, but he was on his way back from the Holy Land, and your father... well, he was luckier, for he was within riding distance of Winchester, where the royal treasury was kept. He headed for Winchester at a gallop, and by sunset he was calling himself England's king. As you know, Robert eventually challenged him, and ended his days confined to the great keep of Cardiff Castle in South Wales. More than that, I cannot say. No man can."
Stephen here is talking to his cousin Ranulf (Penman's OC illegitimate son of Henry I) who has grown up at court and knows his dad. So why the fuck does he need the whole ugly saga repeated like Stephen is reading aloud a page from a history book? It ain't like Ranulf has been living in a hole in the ground all his life. And I think Ranulf probably knows already that his uncle Robert was a Crusader prince, as that was kind of a Big Fucking Deal back in the day.
If you're gonna infodump, try to do so in a way that doesn't come across as A) repeating something out of a history book, B) telling a character something they already know, and C) failing to advance the plot or develop the characters in any way, shape, or form. I mean, if Stephen HAS to tell Ranulf this story, how does his telling reflect Stephen's feelings about it? Is Stephen trying to get Ranulf to think a certain way about his father? We don't know, because Penman doesn't put any personality into this scene. It's just there. Stephen and Ranulf are just talking heads.
While I'm at it, here's something that's bothered me since I first read When Christ..., which is ostensibly the story of the civil war between the empress Maude and her cousin Stephen for the throne of England: Why are Maude and Stephen guest-stars in their own book? It's like Penman wanted to write a book, but didn't actually find Maude and Stephen all that interesting. You get barely any personality from Stephen, so there's no sense of tragedy about him, and Maude is sort of halfway between an Overly Noble Lady and a shrew. I mean, this is a conflict for the ages, a human drama on an epic scale, and Penman fast-forwards through the book to get to Maude's more interesting son, the future Henry II. Half the good stuff happens off-screen. And instead of giving Maude and Stephen page time, Penman invents a fictional half-Welsh brother for Maude, Ranulf, so he can go adventuring in Wales and Find Himself, because that's what I bought a book about The Anarchy for.
I may be back later with more Penman rants. I got a lot to bitch about when it comes to this author.
Sharon Kay Penman writes primarily about the Plantagenet dynasty of medieval England, and she is often hailed as Our Lord and Savior of historical fiction. This despite the fact that her writing is very stitled and "samey". By "samey", I mean the tendency some writers have that all their characters kind of talk alike and have the same tics and stock expressions. You know those Migratory Slash Fandom writers who flit from fandom to fandom, fitting the new hot slash pairing of the week into their favorite tropes like a square peg into a round hole, so that their Arthur/Eames is indistinguishable from Stiles/Derek and Stiles/Derek is indistinguishable from their Bond/Q? Well, Penman does something like that, except she gets paid for it. I like to say that she can only write about four characters, and they are Overly Noble Knight, Spitfire Heroine, Bad Boy, and Good Wife. For instance, King John, Prince Davydd, William de Braose, and Geoffrey of Anjou are all Bad Boys. Ranulf's wife, Joan of Wales, Matilda of Boulogne, and Marguerite of France are all Good Wives. And so on.
Penman also is the master of the "As You Know, Bob..." moment, when one character turns into a dumbass so another character can patiently explain something to him that she should by all rights now already. This is also called infodumping, and it needs to be killed with fire.
Example, from Here Be Dragons:
"I'm not going back," Llywelyn said, at once capturing their undivided attention.
"You both know the history of my House, know how my uncles Davydd and Rhodri cheated my father and my other uncles out of their rightful share of my grandfather's inheritance. They carved Gwynedd up between them as if it were a meat pie, forced my father, Owain Fawr's firstborn, into exile, brought about his death whilst I was still in my cradle. His blood is on their hands and they've yet to answer for it. I think it time they did."
He is telling this to his BEST FRIENDS Rhys and Ednyved. Why the fuck do they need to be told this? They grew up with Llywelyn. It's not like they're gonna say 'Holy shit man, what do you mean you're a prince and your uncles are nogoodniks who deserve to die? I had no idea. Tell me more.' Llywelyn's only known them since they were small enough to be bathed together.
Here's another one, from When Christ and His Saints Slept:
"I'll tell you what I know," Stephen said reluctantly. "Your father and others were hunting in the New Forest with his brother the king. William Rufus was shot by mischance -- took an arrow in the chest -- and died there in the woods. He had no sons, which meant his crown would be claimed by one of his brothers. Robert was the firstborn, but he was on his way back from the Holy Land, and your father... well, he was luckier, for he was within riding distance of Winchester, where the royal treasury was kept. He headed for Winchester at a gallop, and by sunset he was calling himself England's king. As you know, Robert eventually challenged him, and ended his days confined to the great keep of Cardiff Castle in South Wales. More than that, I cannot say. No man can."
Stephen here is talking to his cousin Ranulf (Penman's OC illegitimate son of Henry I) who has grown up at court and knows his dad. So why the fuck does he need the whole ugly saga repeated like Stephen is reading aloud a page from a history book? It ain't like Ranulf has been living in a hole in the ground all his life. And I think Ranulf probably knows already that his uncle Robert was a Crusader prince, as that was kind of a Big Fucking Deal back in the day.
If you're gonna infodump, try to do so in a way that doesn't come across as A) repeating something out of a history book, B) telling a character something they already know, and C) failing to advance the plot or develop the characters in any way, shape, or form. I mean, if Stephen HAS to tell Ranulf this story, how does his telling reflect Stephen's feelings about it? Is Stephen trying to get Ranulf to think a certain way about his father? We don't know, because Penman doesn't put any personality into this scene. It's just there. Stephen and Ranulf are just talking heads.
While I'm at it, here's something that's bothered me since I first read When Christ..., which is ostensibly the story of the civil war between the empress Maude and her cousin Stephen for the throne of England: Why are Maude and Stephen guest-stars in their own book? It's like Penman wanted to write a book, but didn't actually find Maude and Stephen all that interesting. You get barely any personality from Stephen, so there's no sense of tragedy about him, and Maude is sort of halfway between an Overly Noble Lady and a shrew. I mean, this is a conflict for the ages, a human drama on an epic scale, and Penman fast-forwards through the book to get to Maude's more interesting son, the future Henry II. Half the good stuff happens off-screen. And instead of giving Maude and Stephen page time, Penman invents a fictional half-Welsh brother for Maude, Ranulf, so he can go adventuring in Wales and Find Himself, because that's what I bought a book about The Anarchy for.
I may be back later with more Penman rants. I got a lot to bitch about when it comes to this author.
